referring now to the drawings , fig1 shows the interior of an automobile having a left side mounted steering wheel 12 , a bucket type drivers seat 14 and a shift knob 16 adapted to control the operation of the vehicle transmission . the steps of the illustrative method are illustrated in fig2 - 10 . the first step consists of the substeps of selecting a suitable amount of top - finished leather of the desired thickness and pliability . the term “ top finished ” is used to describe leather which is either tanned and smooth or sueded on one side using conventional technology and the other or opposite side is left rough . this may be whole or split hides . it is to be understood that the unfinished rough surface in the context of the following explanation is the surface which actually contacts the smooth plastic surface of the shift knob 15 which is to be covered . in fig2 , pieces 18 and 20 have been die - cut from a larger quantity of top - finished leather material in shapes which are complemental to one another , and which , when assembled with the edges 22 and 24 in juxtaposition , will produce an area which initially slightly exceeds the surface area of the shift knob 15 so that the pieces overlap to approximately 3 of an inch . the edge 24 may be provided with a series of small notches as shown at 26 purely for purposes of illustration ; i . e ., the number and sizes of the notches 26 may be varied as necessary to allow the piece 20 to be folded essentially as shown to close the notches and to prevent wrinkling or bumping along the folded or curved area . fig3 and 4 illustrate the next step in the method which is the step of thinning both of the pieces along and proximate to matching edges by removing material from the non - finished surface to produce a new , thinned surface 28 as shown in fig4 . this step is typically referred to as “ skiving ” and may be performed by cutting or abrading equipment . the next step in the production method is to hem the pieces 18 and 20 by applying adhesive 30 to the hemmed surface 28 and folding the hemmed surface on itself to produce a hemmed area 29 . in fig5 , the thickness of the hemmed area 29 is exaggerated slightly ; i . e ., the thinning step may be sufficient to remove enough material such that the hemmed area is approximately the same thickness as the original piece 20 prior to the performance of the thinning step . it may be desirable to use dies in this step to ensure that the hemmed pieces are of the needed surface area . hemming reduces the original surface area so the pieces now exactly match the surface area to be covered . as shown in fig6 , the next step is to thin or skive the entire piece 20 by removing material from the unfinished , underside as well as from the hemmed area 29 to provide a fresh surface 32 opposite the finished surface of the piece 20 . this step is performed not only to make the material more pliable but also to produce a surface which is optimally receptive to adhesive as is further explained with reference to fig8 . looking now to fig7 , the next step of the method is to apply false stitching 34 to the hemmed edge of both pieces , the piece 20 being illustrated in fig7 so as to represent the process step which is carried out on both pieces 18 and 20 . as stated above , the stitching material can be heavy thread and / or strand leather . in addition , holes may be punched in the piece 20 along the edge to lock the stitching . the pre - punching of holes is optional since the use of sharp needles through the thin material may also suffice to penetrate the material for the purpose of allowing the stitching to pass through the material and be pulled tight . the stitching 34 is obviously not pulled so tight as to distort the edge . the stitching used by way of illustration is called “ french ” stitching which runs parallel to the edges to be joined . however , looped or “ baseball ” stitching may also be used . as shown in fig8 , the piece 20 is now fully hemmed , thinned and stitched and is ready to receive on the fresh undersurface a coating of adhesive 38 which is supplied by means of a spray nozzle 30 . the adhesive may also be hand applied . adhesive is also preferably applied to the surface of the shift knob 15 after a brief sanding operation to rough up the surface of the plastic shift knob to make it more receptive to the adhesive . the preferred adhesive is not a so - called “ contact ” cement which would prevent movement of the leather pieces over the knob surface after contact . fig9 illustrates the condition of the two pieces 18 and 20 which have been thinned and stitched and coated with adhesive on the rough underside . the pieces are now applied to the surface of the shift knob 16 so that the false - stitched edges are brought into juxtaposition . the step of actually applying the pieces 18 and 20 to the shift knob 16 can be assisted with suitable custom - made jigs which pre - locate the pieces 18 and 20 and cause them to be brought together on the surface of the shift knob 16 . alternatively , these operations can be performed by hand , adhesive being chosen so as to remain unset for several hours so as to allow the pieces 18 and 20 to be manually manipulated until the mating edges of the leather are essentially gapless and all wrinkles have been manually ironed out . the resulting leather - covered shift knob is shown in fig1 having the appearance of sewn or stitched - together pieces of leather which fully cover the exposed surface of the shift knob 16 . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments but , on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law .