The other day I posted my leaf tags which were made of leather, and Dianne asked what the leather was like to sew on…. I thought I’d answer the question here.
Leather is easy to work with. I think of it as working with thick paper because, unlike fabric, if you pierce the leather with a needle you have a permanent hole. Leather comes in various weights, from stuff that is very stiff to stuff that is far softer, in the case of my tags I was using a piece of leather that was a medium thickness with a fairly soft hand. You need to use proper thread and needles for your weight of leather.
Most haberdasheries should carry leather machine needles. They are easy to tell apart because they have a diamond shaped tip. If you are working with soft leathers you can probably get away with using a denim needle (as I did, because our haberdasheries don’t carry leather machine needles). When it comes to threads, use a good strong thread like an upholstery thread if you are doing seams. Since I wasn’t seaming, I used a rayon embroidery thread. Sew as normal, but don’t use pins. If you need something to keep the leather in place while you stitch, try using a glue stick, double sided tape or a temporary spray adhesive, just keep them out of the path of the needle so you don’t gum up your machine. Personally, I like using bulldog clips or papercilps as I don’t need to remove the adhesive after sewing.
This was the first time I’d ever done free machine embroidery (FME) on leather, and I was very pleased with how it turned out. The stiffness of the leather allowed me to easy move a small piece around under the foot without needing an embroidery hoop or stabilzer. I did a few samples before starting on the tags proper, but in all I found it very easy to work.
One thing I will mention is the edge stitching. I tried two samples of edging. The first, I cut the leaf shape first then sewed the edging. The second, I sewed in a leaf shape then cut around the edge. The latter seemed to work far better than the former, and I got a much nicer and more even edge. I also like the definition the sliver of leather on the outside of the stitching gave to the overall appearance.
If you are looking to try working with leather, try going to a leatherworker first. They often have lots of scrap bits of leather that they will sell you at a fraction of the price. If you happen to live in the northeast of England and are the near Newcastle-upon-Tyne area on a Sunday, I highly suggest going to the craft market on the Armstrong Bridge. There’s a lovely chap there whe sells his scrap leathers for whatever you think they are worth to you. Have a project in mind, as he often asks what you’ll be doing with your pieces and will always give some helpful hints. :)
Comments
thanks for the helpful hints. I’d never really thought of machine sewing leather — I made muclucks once upon a time by hand… I may try playing with my machine and leather as like felt it wouldn’t fray leaving lots of embellishing ideas…
— quilt Pixie · 2 February 2007, 22:41 · #