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Sewing with leather

18 years ago

Is anyone here sewing with leather? I would really appreciate some help.

I have an old leather jacket, made of leather that is thin enough to be sewn in a regular sewing machine. The jacket is unusable, and I was thinking about cutting it up to make a simple leather cover to protect my journal when I'm travelling. I already have leather needles for the sewing machine, but I need to know which foot is best to use, and what kind of thread?

If you could recommend a good book for beginners in leatherwork, that would be very good. If this project works out, I want to try more complicated stuff.

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Comments (6)

User
18 years ago
Linen thread, and a regular sewing foot, or the roller foot if you have one.
Red_Confetti
18 years ago
And remember to NOT pin your pieces together to hold them... the holes are forever - LOL! You can use tape or clips or little clamps... it depends on the size and weight of your leather. Sounds like it is pretty thin, so probably tape would work fine... just regular "Scotch" type tape.
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You brought me out of lurkerdom with your questions! First of all, you have a cool machine there. Congrats! My machine (Viking)is electronic and has a leather setting. It set itself for a stitch length of 3mm (8 stitches per inch) and tension at 5 1/2. When sewing leather, use a leather needle, size 90, and a leather or teflon foot. Instead of pinning seams, use a hand held stapler within the seam line. It saves your fingers, and you won't bend a bunch of pins. After the seams are sewn to the final fit, trim them down to 1/4 inch. Don't press, but pound them open and flat. A leather mallet is made for this purpose, but any rubber mallet will do. Glue the seams flat with rubber cement to hold them in place. Alternatively, seams can be topstitched on either side of the seam line. That's probably not applicable in your case, but I wanted to give thorough instructions. Good luck, and have fun!!! Hope this helps.
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Well, I did it! I'm the new owner of an old machine. I went in and looked her over better. She's dirty underneath and in the bobbin area. But I did find a hidden compartment that had manuals, and 6 or 7 attachments including a cam attachment w/4 stitch cams. Also realized she has the gas pedal mounted for knee usage, though it needs adjustment to work. I plugged her in and she hummed away, smelling that really cool old mechanical smell. I did not actually run fabric through her, though. They were asking $99. I offered $70, and they called the seller. The seller would only take 80. But after finding the attachments, I thought that was reasonable. Bev~ the table is in good shape, just nothing spectacular about it. I'll take pictures tomorrow and show you what she looks like... Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase. I have nothing like her, and after I find a space for her to sit, I think it'll be fun to play with her.
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Thanks for the info! I didn't have any leather to try out on it. I'm just trying to plan way ahead while I'm still studying upholstery. It would be SO nice if I could use this machine so I can just get straight to work A.S.A.P. That photo isn't really my machine, by the way. Just found it online. Mine looks just like it though, except mine is cream on the door at the needle end and on the top "hood" part. It's so pretty I sometimes leave it out with it's light on just because I like looking at it. How weird is that?! It's just that with the lines & curves, the paint and chrome, and the fine mechanical craftsmanship, it's like a cross between a vintage Timex and a '62 Coupe DeVille. :)
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From what I've read, a commercial machine is largely based on an industrial, but may have some plastic parts, is not as fast, and not recommended for use 8 hours a day, so it's actually somewhere between a home and industrial. A Singer 20U is considered a commercial machine, not an industrial. I read this somewhere a couple years ago, and can no longer find where, so don't have any link to direct you to this. Just threw out the comment, when I read your post, not a big deal, so take it or leave it.
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joansews4u
18 years ago
I can't offer much help since my project is not complete after many months. I tried adding placemat fleece & my machine wouldn't handle it well. I have had lots of interference too. There are some helpful hints I found searching for "sewing leather". If you use any outside topstitching, a teflon foot comes in handy. I am working on a teardrop purse with zippers, multipockets, zippers & etc......even embroidery which turned out very good.

I recently bought some confiscated scissors from e-bay. They were all missing their sheath covers. I bought some out of style leather purses at Goodwill for pocket change & took them apart to make sheaths. It was just 2 pieces sewn together from the right side & I did fine with the teflon foot. Maybe I should have started with simplier projects.

I bought a whole skin to make the purses. I plan to go to an upholster & get them finished. I do think I will try embroidering the design (School logo) & making checkbook covers out of some of the skin. It is an interesting challenge. I like the smell & feel of working with it.
glassquilt
18 years ago
Don't back stitch - tie the threads.
Leather has thick places and thin places. Your jacket may have some. Try to cut your pieces using this to your advantage.
My feeling on the thread is to use thread that will break if there is stress on the seam. If the thread is stronger than the leather, the leather will rip and you'll have one hard time meanding it.

Here is a link that might be useful: leatherworking
glassquilt
18 years ago
here's more information

Here is a link that might be useful: machine sewing
ell_in_or
18 years ago
A good book on sewing with leather is Sewing With Leather and Suede: A Home Sewer's Guide (Hardcover)by Sandy Scrivano. It is pretty inexpensive on Amazon. I took a class from her and she is very knowledgeable and her instructions are clear.

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