Hello, friends!

Things made of genuine leather are always in trend.

But, without professional knowledge and skills, high-quality tailoring of leather goods is not available to every tailor. Therefore, alternative materials are a great help for beginners and professionals.

Sew from popular nowadays eco-leather or other substitutes natural raw materials are more accessible and easier. Faux leather is easy to cut, sew, glue, has the same width as regular fabric and is easy to care for.

Meanwhile, you need to know some sewing nuances. Otherwise, it is possible already at the cutting stage.

Let's look for the answer to the questions: how to sew eco-leather and faux leather.

I will not inflame your attention with a review of types of artificial leather. This is a broad topic for a separate article. so as not to miss blog updates.

Purpose of publication: consider the features of eco-leather and the processing methods used when sewing items made of artificial leather.

Important! When planning a publication, I realized that I couldn’t tell everything I know in one article.

Today Let's look at the main features of materials and recommendations for working with them.

• Recommendations for quality tailoring...
• A beautiful and practical gift idea.…

Methods of decorative leather processing

Artistic processing of leather

Methods of decorative leather processing

CONNECTING LEATHER WITH HAND SEAMS

Leather products are most often sewn with shoe or moccasin seams. The threads used are strong, not thin, so as not to cut the skin. These can be reinforced with lavsan, thick twisted silk or nylon, cotton threads No. 0 or No. 00. For sewing, you can punch holes with an awl or a punch (1 mm in diameter). Markings can be made according to templates using a metal gear.

Shoe stitch(Fig. 7). It is performed with two needles simultaneously towards each other. In order for the seam to be neat, you need to follow the order of pulling the needles, that is, thread both needles in turn into one hole and always the one on top first, tightening the seam.

Moccasin seam(Fig. 8, a). The thread is threaded into the first hole (from itself outwards), a stitch is made into the second hole. Then the thread through the edge of the product is returned to the first hole and a stitch is made into the second (toward itself), etc. As a result, we get the moccasin seam shown in Fig. 8, b. Having sewn this way, you can go back over the edge, passing a thread into each hole so that you get a cross at the end of the product (Fig. 8, c).

SET OF LEATHER CLOTHING FROM SMALL PIECES OF LEATHER

Large pieces of leather are difficult to find, but they can be replaced with typesetting cloth. There are various recruitment options.

The canvas should be set on the basis. The basis can be non-woven fabric, dublerin, durable fabric, etc. The shape and size of the blanks for the typesetting fabric can be identical (for example, scales, triangles, circles, squares, etc.) and arranged in a certain sequence, forming a pattern (Fig. 9, A). Or different in shape, located “chaotically” (Fig. 9, b). But this randomness is only an appearance, since in both cases the recruitment is carried out in one direction (from bottom to top), sequentially. The impression of disorder is created by the different sizes of the workpieces and their irregular shape.

Pieces of leather for typesetting can be prepared with a folded edge (for thin leather) or a trimmed edge (for thick leather). In this case, it is recommended to sand the skin sections along the entire perimeter. Adjust the workpieces using a straight or zigzag stitch. Before this, they must be glued to the base.

Options for a set of leather fabric are presented in Figure 9, a, b.

BRAID

Braiding is the most common way of joining parts of a leather product and decorating it. When braiding, the edges of the product are perforated and a leather strap is pulled through the holes. For perforation, you can use round or oval punches and chisels. Depending on the thickness of the leather, the braided edges can be roughened or left thick. You can punch the parts to be joined separately, but it is better to glue the edges of the parts together before punching and punch them together. The diameter of the holes for the braid should be 2-2.5 mm, the width of the strap should be about 4 mm, the centers of the holes are usually placed at a distance of 5-6 mm from the edge. Depending on the product, its size, the thickness of the leather used, and the type of braid, these dimensions can vary. The first hole is punched in the corner of the part, the rest are at the same distance from each other (7-9 mm). The corners of the part are rounded to ensure even distribution of the strap around the corner (Fig. 10). It is recommended to wax and polish the straps before braiding. You can pull them through the holes with a special needle, fine-tipped tweezers or an awl.

TYPES OF BRAID

1. Simple braiding with a single stitch (Fig. 11).

The strap should be made of fairly thin leather. Its length is 2.5-3 times longer than the braided edge, width is 2.5-4 mm. Pass the strap through the first hole, wrap it around the edge of the part and pass it through the second hole, tighten it. It is more convenient to braid from left to right. Pass the strap through the corner hole at least twice. The distance between the centers of the holes is approximately 2 times the width of the strap, so part of the end remains open, and it must be tinted and waxed or just waxed. Hide the ends of the strap at the beginning and end of the work by gluing them between the parts.

2. Simple braiding with double stitch (Fig. 12).

Unlike braiding with a single stitch, the length of the strap should be 5-6 times longer than the edge being braided. Perform the work by pulling the strap through each hole twice, through the corner hole - 3-4 times. In this case, the braided end of the product will be completely covered.

3. Venetian braid (Fig. 13).

It is performed in the same way as a simple single stitch. The width of a thin elastic leather strap should be slightly larger than or equal to the distance between the centers of the holes. This will completely close the end of the product.

4. Braiding with a knotted stitch (Fig. 14).

A narrow strap made of thin soft leather is required (width 2.5-3.5 mm, length 5-6 times the length of the braided edge). You should braid from left to right. Pass the strap from the front side of the product through the first hole to the wrong side, leaving the tip about 3 cm. Then pull the long end of the strap from the wrong side over the edge to the front side, catching the loop with it. Carefully place the resulting knot and tighten it. After this, pull the strap through the second hole from the front side to the back, etc. Pass the strap through the corner hole 2-3 times. Glue the remaining end of the strap under the braid.

In addition to those described above, there are other various types of braid (Fig. 15).

LEATHER STRAP SUPPORTS

This is one of the options for decorating products. To complete it you need:

1. Make a stencil from cardboard or thick paper with dots marked on it, limiting the places of the cuts. Using an awl, pin these points onto the right side of the leather in the area of ​​intended decoration.

2. Punch holes. To do this, it is convenient to use chisels, both straight and semicircular.

3. Select the color and cut the straps. Their width should be slightly less than the width of the slot (for thick leather) or the size of the slot (for thin leather).

4. It is better to pull the straps with tweezers. Glue the ends of the holdings on the wrong side.

5. Moisten the cured part and tap it.

Figure 16 shows diagrams of holding straps.

Threads or thinly cut soft split wood can be placed between the base and the support (Fig. 17, 18).

FINISHING PRODUCTS WITH EMBROIDERY

Leather products can be decorated with embroidery using leather straps, threads, or a combination of both. To do this, you can use patterns used for hand embroidery on fabric, for example, cross stitch.

Based on the selected design, it is necessary to make a template with perforation markings for embroidery. You can perforate with punches of various diameters and chisels.

Preparing leather straps includes cutting, waxing and polishing. Straps can be of different widths and colors. Their ends should be secured with glue on the reverse side. You can embroider with short straps, or you can glue a long strap together as you shorten it, but the gluing area should remain on the wrong side.

The size of the hole depends on the number of straps passing through it: the more straps, the larger the hole should be.

When doing embroidery, you should always make sure that the straps are laid with the mesh side down and not twisted.

Samples of elements for creating embroidery designs are presented in Fig. 19.

In options A And G The central holes are larger in diameter than the others. In the bib variants, perforation is performed using both punches and chisels. In options d And e The dotted line shows the direction of pulling the strap.

In options and And h strips of leather or thick threads are laid around the leather stitches.

APPLICATION

A common type of decor is simple applique. Pieces of thin colored leather are used to make it.

The application execution sequence is as follows:

1. Based on the selected drawing, make templates for all parts of the cardboard applique.

2. Using templates, cut out all the details from thin colored leather.

3. Glue the blanks onto the main part of the product in accordance with the composition.

4. Along the contours of the pattern (external and internal), stepping back 1 mm from the edge, use an awl to make holes for the needle at a distance of 3-4 mm from each other.

5. Along the prepared holes, sew stitches with a “forward needle” seam in one direction to the end, and then in the opposite direction, along the same holes, imitating a machine stitch (Fig. 20).

You can use a shoe stitch (see "Joining leather with hand stitches") or stitch the appliqué parts using a sewing machine.

The application can be used when repairing torn products. To do this, give the hole the selected shape, slightly enlarging it. At the bottom, glue a slightly larger piece of leather to cover the hole (Fig. 21).

This type of applique is called a welted one (Fig. 22).

You can sew an applique patch on top. In this case, the stitches should not be too small, because... The strength of the connection is lost as a result. You can lay and stitch a cord along the edge of the applique or fasten it “into a pin” (see below). A narrow hole can be closed with a strap laid out in some pattern. It can also either be stitched or secured “in a pin”. If the product is made of typesetting fabric, then the applique should be bright or shiny.

Options for the elements of the appliqué are shown in Fig. 23.

DECORATING PRODUCTS WITH APPLIQUE
"IN PRINCIPLE"

An interesting option for decor is “attached”. It allows you to make a variety of drawings of quite complex configurations. A prerequisite for using this appliqué attachment technique is that the width of each part of the design should not exceed 5 mm.

Application execution sequence:

1. Based on the selected pattern, select pieces of leather (finishing color in relation to the main color of the product) and cut out the details of the pattern.

2. Glue all the finishing details onto the main part of the product and secure them with a needle and thread. For this:

* match the thread to the color of the area of ​​the pattern to be fixed;

* use an awl to make holes for the needle along the area of ​​skin to be fixed on both sides, and each hole on one side should correspond to a hole on the opposite side of the pattern;

* punctures with an awl should be made on the front side of the design at an angle of 45° to the base, as if hiding the hole under the applique;

* the distance between the holes should be 3-5 mm;

attach as follows:

Fasten the thread from the wrong side;

Bring the needle through the first hole to the front side, pull the thread through the part and insert the needle into the first hole on the opposite side (1);

Bring the needle to the front side from hole 2, throw the thread to the opposite side and insert the needle into hole 2, etc. (Fig. 24).

Note: The fastening stitches should be spaced evenly along the entire length of the pattern being fastened.

3. The direction of the stitches is perpendicular to the edge of the applique. Where the pattern is rounded, the stitches are arranged radially; in this case, the distance between the stitches along the outer contour will be slightly greater than along the inner contour (Fig. 25).

The “attached” applique can be decorated with beads. To do this, punch holes in the leather under the beads slightly smaller than the size of the bead. The bead should fit into this hole like a “nest”. The method of performing the “attached” technique with beads is the same as without it. Only one step is added: after bringing the needle through the first (and all subsequent) holes on the front side, put the bead on a thread and pull it through the part, “seating” the bead in the “socket” (Fig. 26).

The “attached” technique can be used when making a design with a narrow strap made of thick leather. With such straps, placed on the edge, you can lay out the outline of a pattern of any configuration, for example, the patterns shown in Fig. 29.

The execution technology is as follows:

1. Cut thick leather straps 2-3 mm wide.

2. Lay out the outline according to the selected pattern, gluing the straps to the edge.

3. Secure the glued straps using the “attached” technique. The distance between stitches should be from 5 to 10 mm.

Glue thin leather straps in half lengthwise and glue them with the cuts down and the fold up (Fig. 27). This method of decoration is used in the manufacture of jewelry. In this case, the strap is simply glued, no additional fastening is required.

Options for “attached” applications are presented in Fig. 28, patterns for decoration “straps in attachment” - in fig. 29.

EMBOSSING

Relief embossing is a process that creates convex or concave patterns on the surface of leather. This type of embossing is most often used in the manufacture of boxes, jewelry, and bindings. To perform this, it is better to use thin, elastic skin. On light skin the relief is more visible, although dark skin can also be used. Light skin after embossing can be tinted with watercolors or ink, giving the image additional prominence. The thinner the skin, the finer and more complex the relief can be made.

The sequence of relief embossing is as follows:

1. Draw a sketch of the embossing pattern. Transfer it to the base.

2. Transfer the convex details of the pattern onto cardboard and cut them out. In addition to cardboard, hard leather and flat figures made of metal, plastic, and wood are suitable for relief details. You can also use buttons, coarse lace braid, ropes, twisted cords.

3. Glue the ornamental elements onto the base with “Moment” or PVA glue, focusing on the previously transferred pattern. Thin lines of the ornament can be made using threads or cords. To do this, lubricate the threads or cords with “Moment” and after drying with tweezers, place them along the lines of the pattern on a base coated with glue.

4. Cut out a plate of the required size from leather.

5. Carefully coat the leather on the reverse side and the base with the ornament with Moment glue.

6. Place the leather on the base with the ornament and, starting from the center to the edges, with soft pressing movements, press the leather with your fingertips along the edges of the parts, creating a relief image.

7. Slightly moisten the surface of the skin. Use a bone, wood or metal stack to gradually stamp the contours of the pattern, achieving a clear image. Instead of a stack, you can use any thin tool with a blunt end, for example, from a manicure set. It is also convenient to do this with a used ballpoint pen refill, but you need to be sure that there is no paste in the refill.

8. Process the edges of the product itself. Most often, the stock of leather along the edges is roughened and folded inside the product, for example, in a box or folded inside out in a medallion or brooch. The inside of the product or the reverse side must be processed further.

For relief embossing, you can use a wide variety of ornaments and designs. It’s better to start with the simplest geometric ones. It is good to create stylized plant reliefs. Having gained experience and technical skills, you can move on to more complex compositions (Fig. 30).

Relief embossing "crumpled leather"

In this case, the relief is created due to arbitrary creases and tucks. The skin is draped freely and fixed in this position.

Method 1

Moisten the skin thoroughly and place it in a plastic bag for 15 minutes (to rest). Drape the plywood with your fingers or tweezers. Secure the design along the edges of the product with pins or small nails and leave to dry. When the workpiece has dried and the drapery pattern is fixed, coat the back side with Moment glue and glue it to the product.

This method is good because, if desired, the drapery can be redone. If you drape thickly, you can use small pieces of leather, for which you first sand them around the perimeter and glue the edges on the wrong side by 1-2 mm.

Method 2

Coat the inside of the draped piece of thin soft leather with Moment glue, dry it slightly and drape on the glass. Place a stencil under the glass to control the shape and size of the part. This method is faster, but its disadvantage is that it is impossible to redo the drapery in case of failure.

Relief embossing “crumpled leather” can be used as a decor in the manufacture of jewelry, boxes, belts, bags, etc.

Leather items are stylish, beautiful and extremely comfortable, especially in the fall! They have one more advantage: high-quality leather is a durable material. Even if the style is outdated or the appearance is damaged, the skin can be revived. In extreme cases, it will be useful for creating other products.

Approximate leather consumption for outerwear:

• Women's coat (fur coat) - 370-380 sq.dm.
• Women's jacket - 250-260 sq.dm.
• Men's coat - 400 sq.dm.
• Men's jacket - 270-280 sq.dm.
• Women's jacket - 250-270 sq.dm. (for Russian sizes 46-50)
  1 sq. dm = 10 sq. cm

  Before you start cutting
  

Skin preparation. Pieces of leather, no matter whether old or new, should be moistened on the reverse side with a solution consisting of 20 g of table salt, 20 g of glycerin per 1 liter of water, water temperature 30-40 C.


Moisturized skin is easily restored. We can easily tighten up all the unevenness and bulges. We fix the tightened skin and let it dry for several hours. You can fix it with ordinary pins on any surface, the main thing is that the area allows it. Carefully! The pin leaves a mark.

Pattern: The seams on the leather should not be ripped out - stitch marks will remain, so use only a “tested” pattern. It is better to prepare all the details of the pattern in a complete set: 2 front parts, 2 sleeves, etc. Each detail is cut out separately, and errors will be excluded.

Be sure to iron the leather before cutting it, because it shrinks.

Uncover


We work around defects. You can cut either from the wrong side or from the front side, but in any case, you need to mark all the thin places and holes on the leather.

How to decompose? The closer to the center, the stronger the skin. Taking this into account, select the most worn parts of the future product. Stella sent a diagram of the pattern pieces on the skin. Use leather pieces of matching quality for the front and sleeves. The thickness and nuances of coloring should not be ignored, especially for shelves.

Follow the direction. The skin stretches more in the transverse direction than in the longitudinal direction. It is better to cut all the parts along the lobar (along the ridge), deviations are allowed up to 10%. Don't skimp on quality.

Seam lines, markings and allowances. The contours of parts and allowances should be marked with a soft pencil or ballpoint pen, or with finely sharpened chalk. Allowances of the same width make it easier to sew together the cut pieces. Make small allowances along the main cuts: 1 -1.5 cm; You can allow 2.5-3 cm for the hem of the bottom; armhole, sleeve cap - 0.5 cm.

Cut the skin with sharp scissors or, better yet, with a special circular knife. With such a knife, you must make the cut on a special substrate: you can use a sheet of thick cardboard or a piece of linoleum.

Ironing

The leather is ironed from the wrong side with a moderately heated iron, without steam, through an ironing iron. First, of course, be sure to try it on an unnecessary scrap.

The ironing process will make “unsticking” and “breaking” easier.
The seam allowances are opened, glued to the main product with ordinary rubber glue, and then tapped with a hammer on a marble slab (special small hammers are available for sale, but regular ones will do). You need to knock with gentle pressure so as not to break the skin. Thanks to this operation, the seam becomes thinner and neater.

To prevent the tip of the dart from tearing when tapped, glue or attach a piece of material to the top of the dart.

During the “unsticking” operation, it is better to apply the glue with a brush or a wooden spatula in a thin layer, wait a couple of seconds (so that it does not stick to your fingers) and then glue it. Before stitching, it is necessary to dry the glue for an hour, otherwise the needle will get stuck and the quality of the stitch will be poor. Use rubber cement- when it dries, the seams will remain elastic.

Be very careful! Rubber glue comes off well from the front side of the leather, but you can’t get it off the back side, and especially from velor! It must be stored in a tightly closed jar (it thickens when exposed to air). If the glue has thickened, dissolve it with a small amount of acetone.
You can buy rubber glue at any shoe store.

Pad

It is better to use a special adhesive interlining for leather, which is ironed with a moderately heated iron without steam. The skin remains soft and elastic over the entire area. It is possible to glue not the entire surface, but only the seams, but if there are thin places on the skin that are difficult to get around, they should be reinforced with adhesive interlining. The belt is completely glued.


Sewing leather

The details of the leather cut are not swept away, but cut off according to allowances or joined together with ordinary paper clips. For basting, double-sided leather tape and an adhesive pencil for leather are also used.

The skin is ground off machine stitching with large stitches about 3mm long, a small stitch perforates the leather too much and the seams tear. Thin leather can be sewn like fabric using a regular No. 80 needle, turning out the details. However, allowances must be glued or stitched to ensure they lie smoothly.

Stitches on thick skin performed with a special skin needle with a triangular tip. The needle number depends on the thickness of the skin. They scribble it “openly”. One piece has a seam allowance, while the other does not. On the wrong side of a part that is cut out without an allowance, use a pencil to mark the width of the allowance of the other part. Glue the parts on the wrong side one on top of the other with rubber glue and then stitch them together.

The edges are not turned clean, but they adjust one to the other (we are talking about sewing from thick leather). To do this, the parts are first cut out with seam allowances.

The edge of the upper part (collar, side) is wrapped and glued to the lower one. The bottom part is glued to the seam allowance with the upper wrong side, then attached to the side of the upper (wrapped) part. The protruding part of the allowance is cut off close to the stitching stitches.

Do not glue the bottom hem to its entire height, but leave the top 1-1.5 cm open.

If the sewing machine does not feed the leather well or produces uneven stitches , try possible solutions:

• use a Teflon or roller foot;
• use breaking. Tap the seam on a small metal block with a hammer and the thickness will noticeably decrease;
• iron a narrow strip of interfacing over the seam line;
• you can stitch over tissue paper;
• or wet the seam area with soapy water.

  If you are stitching:

• You can place a straight strip of cardboard under one half of the foot so that the finishing stitch does not catch the cardboard.
• For coated leather only. The stitching area can be lubricated with oil (vegetable or machine). This cannot be done on aniline leather - it will leave a cloudy mark.

The story of one bag. Such a detailed MK)

All kinds of handbags are my passionate love, says Brina.
The starting point was a second-hand jacket: a dated style and lots of great leather.
The book "Encyclopedia. Leather" Techniques, techniques, products was a great help. Elena Cherkizova. "AST-press book" 2004. The book contains a lot of useful information and various subtleties that I have not seen in other sources..

At the first stage, it is worth deciding on the dimensions and geometry “in practice”. E. Cherkizova advises taking thin paper for this, which can be folded several times.

The second very important stage is creating a pattern. All lines should be as smooth as possible; it is quite difficult to make any “points” in the seams on the skin.

Cardboard templates make the job easier, especially if the product has complex curves. I would like to draw your attention to the flexible pattern. This wonderful little thing helped me a lot in my work - you can “form” a curve and “edit” it, achieving the ideal result.

The leather can be ironed with a fairly hot iron on the reverse side. If you really need to iron it on the front, you can put a piece of leather on top as an ironing iron: smooth side to smooth side. The texture and shape will be preserved.

The leather can be starched with a spray from a can on the reverse side, ironed through fabric or paper.

There is a special adhesive tape for leather, similar to double-sided tape. Using this tape it is very easy to connect any parts, for example, a valve.

Almost all seams need to be “knocked out”. The leather becomes thinner, takes the desired shape and is much easier to sew.

As a sealant, I used material for packaging household appliances. It resembles smooth foam, something between foam rubber and isolon. Then all the parts are connected using adhesive tape and stitched.

I laid regilin along the zipper line. Without it, when unbuttoned, it will not be possible to get a smooth and beautiful bend. I glued the regiline, and for additional fixation I manually stitched it with an over-the-edge seam. I think this method is quite acceptable for home use.

From the book by E. Cherkizova, I learned about a wonderful method that makes it easier to perform a hand seam. The skin is pierced with a fairly large medical needle (from a syringe). The needle and thread tip is inserted into the hole of the medical needle, and the reverse stroke of this needle pulls out the needle and thread very easily.

When sewing leather, it is very important to tie off all the threads at the beginning and end of the seams, and not to make securing stitches. The tails of the tied threads should be left 1 - 2 cm, because... They slide into the skin and the seams come undone very easily.

How to sew from genuine leather - we will try to answer this question in detail in this master class. There are several simple rules when working with genuine leather.

We will tell you and show in detailed photos how to make a basic seam on a sewing machine, process seam allowances and secure threads, as well as how to make a simple seam by hand.

How to sew from genuine leather: necessary tools and equipment

How to sew from genuine leather with your own hands? In addition to the material itself, you will need a number of required tools.

To cut and work with seam allowances, you should purchase a knife, a hammer and glue. A basic option for beginners can be bought at a construction supermarket, while more professional tools are available in sewing accessories or shoemaking stores.

Knife should be sharp and comfortable.

Hammer you should choose a small one, with a wooden or rubber head, it is designed for tapping seam allowances.

There is a professional glue for those who work with leather goods, it is often sold in large packages and it makes no sense to buy it for one or two projects. Choose a clear, waterproof polyurethane adhesive. Make sure leather is included in the list of materials for which it is intended.

To pre-fix some parts you can use double sided tape. Special adhesive tape for leather is available in the hardware departments, but it is quite expensive. You can use ordinary stationery double-sided tape, but only where the machine stitching will later be laid.

It is also advisable to have rubber mat, which is convenient for cutting leather. Also useful scissors And small pliers.

How to sew from genuine leather on a sewing machine? Ideally, you should have a machine designed to handle heavy fabrics and industrial-type leather. However, you can sew simple models made of medium-density genuine leather using a regular machine.

You will need for this special plastic foot and machine skin needles, which have a special spatula-shaped tip. You also need to purchase leather threads, durable and slippery. The combination of these three components will allow you to sew genuine leather on a household sewing machine.

Let's say a few words about purchasing material. Sold in skins of different sizes, measured in dm2. The price is indicated for 1 dm2 and then the total cost of a particular skin is calculated. Very often, natural leather exhibits various defects: scratches, holes, coloring and texture defects. In order to buy the right amount of material, take all the necessary patterns to the store and lay them out on the skin, avoiding problem areas.

So, let's learn how to sew from genuine leather!

Cutting Basics

Carefully inspect the entire piece of leather in good daylight from different angles. If there are a small number of defects, mark them on the wrong side; if there are many problem areas, mark them and lay out the pattern on the front side.

Cut out the main parts as close to the center of the skin as possible. The edges of genuine leather are thinner and may stretch slightly. They can be used for small decorative details: flaps, belt loops, cuffs, etc.

If you are sewing from natural suede, please note that suede has a distinct pile direction and parts cut in different directions will differ from each other.

If thin leather is wrinkled, you can try ironing it from the wrong side through a slightly damp cloth. Be sure to try it on a small scrap piece first!

Simple seam and seam processing

Remember that, unlike fabric, all needle or pin marks on genuine leather remain forever!

Place the pieces right sides together and align the edges. For additional fixation, you can use office clips or clothespins. Set the stitch length to 3.5-4 mm. Sew to the required length. On both sides, leave the ends of the threads at least 3 cm long.

Pull the threads to one side and tie a double knot at the beginning and end of the seam.

Apply glue to both seam allowances, including the knots.

Unfold the seams and press them to the base. Tap each seam allowance and seam with a hammer.

Pull the threads to the wrong side and tie a double knot. Apply glue to the knot and cut off the tails of the threads.

How to thread the ends of the threads

When working with natural leather, there is often a need to secure the threads in a place where both the front and back sides are in open access.

Thread both threads through a regular thin needle and insert it into the stitch hole next to the knot. Pull the needle out after 2-3 stitches.

Use pliers and a thimble to remove the needle.

Pull the tails of the threads firmly so that the knot goes inside the stitch, into the stitch hole.

Cut off excess threads with scissors.

Hand stitch

Sometimes while sewing, the bottom thread runs out, but the machine still has time to make a few stitches. It happens that the machine cannot cope with the thickness of the leather part and you can only make a series of punctures with a needle. In all such cases, you will need to sew the seam manually along the finished punctures.

Insert the bobbin thread into the needle. Insert the needle into the nearest free hole.

Bring the needle to the front side and insert it again into the same hole, forming a loop around the top thread.

Pull the needle out and pull both threads at the same time, tightening the stitch evenly. Continue until the end of the seam.

Many who are interested in sewing very often have to work with natural and artificial leather. Handmade bags, leather jewelry, various crafts and even leather paintings look very original and stylish. But most often, working with leather involves repairing leather clothing, replacing zippers, restoring torn areas, etc.

There are many books on teaching the technique of sewing natural leather by hand or using a sewing machine, which tell in detail about the purpose of certain tools for working with leather.
I offer only a few basic recommendations that will be useful to anyone who decides to repair a bag, jacket, etc.

In this video you will see how easy it is to sew leather on an industrial sewing machine (or Podolsk type) by installing a Teflon foot on it.

Working with leather has many “secrets” and little details that you need to know and take into account. For example, when cutting out paired parts, you need to remember that leather stretches more in the transverse direction than in the longitudinal direction, so paired parts need to be cut in any direction, but only in the same direction.

Do not chip the skin with pins. Punctures leave marks on the leather, and if you change the zipper on a leather jacket or bag or jacket, you can easily see this.

Soft leather can be sewn on a sewing machine using a regular #80 or #90 needle. But for sewing rough leather or thickened areas, a special needle for working with leather is required. Even for hand sewing leather, the leather needle looks special, instead of a point it has a triangular tip.
When sewing leather, the stitch length of a sewing machine should not be too small, since frequent punctures will cause the leather to tear at the joints.

You need to cut the leather with a special shoe knife on a plastic board or plexiglass. You can also use a wooden surface, but then the tip of the knife will cut into the wood.
A shoe knife, rubber glue, adhesive seam enhancers, a thimble, strong synthetic threads and a small hammer with an awl - this is a must-have kit for any home “furrier” who decides to replace a zipper in a bag or repair a torn section of a leather jacket.

What kind of sewing machine can you use to sew leather?

Not every sewing machine can sew leather; treat your sewing machine with care and do not try to sew thick and rough fabrics, leather products, especially bags. As a last resort, you can use a Podolsk or Singer manual sewing machine, but not modern “seamstresses”, which cost 5 thousand rubles.
To work with leather, special industrial sewing machines are provided or, as a last resort, the instructions should indicate that this machine can be used to sew leather clothes.

If you sew leather on a household sewing machine, be sure to buy special needles and a foot, with a wheel (as in the photo) or a roller. Then the skin under the foot will not “slip” and the machine will easily advance the product without forming a seat on the top layer of leather.

If you don’t have a foot or it doesn’t fit (Podolsk sewing machine), then in order to make the leather move easier under the foot, you can sew it through thin paper, which can then be easily removed.

Sewing machine threads need to be strong and elastic. But only nylon threads (as in this photo) are not intended for machine sewing. They are only used for manual leather work or industrial sewing machines.

How to sew a women's bag from genuine leather. Bag with lining and zip fastening. You will learn many useful tips on how to work with natural leather.

Technology of sewing genuine leather and suede

When sewing suede products, you need to take into account the direction of the pile, otherwise the parts will have a different shade.
The leather is ironed from the wrong side with a low-heat iron without steam through a dry cloth.
To prevent the top part from stretching relative to the other, purchase a special foot with a Teflon-coated sole, as in this photo. Teflon feet cost much less than special leather feet.
The ends of the seam threads must be securely fixed with several knots, since machine stitches on leather products do not secure them and therefore they tend to unravel easily.

Working with leather is impossible without glue. The glue is applied with a brush onto a cleaned and degreased surface. Universal adhesives such as PVA and Moment, as well as rubber glue, are very effective.
Repeat the procedure of applying glue several times to thoroughly saturate the skin. At the same time, make sure in advance that the glue is not too liquid, otherwise the skin will get wet.
Set the parts treated with glue aside until the adhesive has dried “to the point of casting”.
After some time, connect the parts together. Place the glued parts under the press. You can even lightly tap these areas with a hammer.
Using a cotton swab or rag, immediately remove excess adhesive solution so that it does not damage the front surface of the leather.

In this video you will see the technology of sewing a zipper into leather clothing. If you are interested in sewing leather goods, subscribe to our channel and you will learn a lot of useful tips.

How to install fittings on leather products

Any handmade leather item must be decorated with fittings. Large metal rivets and buttons, buttons, blocks, locks greatly decorate leather goods.
Buttons are sewn to the skin only if there are buttons on the wrong side.
Before punching holes for the button, they are strengthened either with pieces of leather or thick adhesive fabric.
Installing buttons requires a special tool. You can get by with homemade devices, but this installation method produces a lot of waste, then purchase more buttons than required.
Before installing a zipper into a leather product, you should secure it. Instead of basting with thread, adhesive tapes or glue are used. Sometimes even ordinary paper clips can “help”.
The edges of the cut skin areas are glued with special skin enhancers (tapes). On one side, a weak adhesive is applied to such a tape.
The puncture with a needle leaves holes, so the seam is done only once. As a last resort, a seam is laid along the old holes.

In this video you will see how to install a denim metal button on leather items.

After finishing working with leather, the appearance of the product can be refreshed.
You can remove marking lines with soap and water and ammonia, then wipe with a cloth moistened with petroleum jelly or glycerin.
Heavily contaminated areas on the skin can be washed with warm, unboiled milk, rubbed with whipped egg white or half an onion.
White skin is cleaned with a mixture of milk and beaten egg white.
Patent leather should be wiped with a cloth soaked in glycerin or cleaned with a swab dipped in milk.
Suede can be cleaned with sawdust soaked in gasoline (the remaining sawdust is cleaned off with a brush), or an ink eraser, as well as fine-grained abrasive paper.
Stains from household grease are removed with gasoline or talc and a solution of oxalic acid. But be careful, you can remove the paint along with the stain.

Leather paint in aerosol packaging is very easy to use: it is sprayed by holding the can at a distance of about 20 cm from the skin and quickly moving it along the surface to be painted. After a ten-minute break, the next layer of paint is applied. This operation continues until the surface of the skin acquires an even and durable color.

How to join layers of leather using a zig-zag stitch.

Some tips on how to sew and cut clothing items made of leather or suede.
1. Select patterns that do not require planting. Complex shapes in this case are easier to create using construction seams than using darts. In the past, tailors tried to use as few stitch lines as possible on leather goods. Currently, leather production has become thinner and softer and leather products have more seams; often even leather clothing or accessories are sewn from small scraps of leather.

2. Kimono and raglan sleeves are easier to make when sewing leather clothes than set-in sleeves. If you are making a set-in sleeve, measure the increase in fit. It should be no more than 1.5 cm. It is better to make a shirt-cut sleeve, as it has a looser armhole.

3. You must be sure that your patterns are correct. Therefore, it is good to use the pattern that you have already worked with. Or the prepared pattern should be checked on a mock-up made of non-woven material (non-woven fabric without glue) or inexpensive fabric, and only after that it should be marked on the skin and cut.

4. Before cutting the leather, mark holes and thin places on the wrong side of the leather so that you can avoid them when cutting. Carefully lay out the patterns, make sure that the paired parts (right and left shelves, right and left sleeves, etc.) are cut out in a mirror image. Mark contours, lines and marks on the underside of the skin with a ballpoint pen or soft pencil, or a special marking pen. Mark seam and hem allowances. Some marks can be made using notches or adhesive tape. The seam allowances should be the same width, which makes it easier to sew together the cut pieces.

5. Leather stretches in different directions in different ways, so when cutting it is necessary to maintain the same direction of paired and mating parts. When cutting suede, you must follow the direction of the pile. The pile should be directed from top to bottom.

6. The needle leaves puncture marks on the leather, so leather parts are not swept away and stitching seams are not ripped out. To pre-connect the parts, use adhesive tape or paper clips. There is also a special pencil for fixing seams from Guetermann. The pencil does not leave a mark on the sewing machine needle. By the way, glue is a certain problem when sewing. It clogs the eye of the needle, causing gaps in stitches and even thread breaks.

7. Use overstitched, overstitched or covered seams. It is not possible to press or press seam allowances like on fabric. Instead, they can be glued with rubber glue or another, which remains elastic even after polymerization (drying). There are special adhesives from Rudolfix, as well as NT 2 glue from Gütermann. If you don't have glue, machine stitch the seam allowances in position.

8. It is recommended to use a special interlining for leather LE 420 as a gasket, which is glued with an iron.

9. The fastener is made with a zipper, loops (stitched, overcast and hinged) and buttons. The buttons must be riveted. They are installed in hardware installation workshops.

10. If you do not have such a convenient tool as in this photo, then smooth the seams with the handles of scissors.
First, place the seam allowances from the inside out using short taps and smooth them out. Then do the same on the front side with the seam groove.

11. Working with leather involves ironing the leather with a non-hot iron without steam through a dry cloth from the inside of the product. Before ironing the item, try it on a small piece of leather.
Ironing leather is not recommended because the hot sole of the iron can cause the leather to change its properties, become stiff and shrink in size. But sometimes when working with leather it is necessary to put an adhesive pad. Then you need to iron very carefully and always only on the wrong side, placing an iron pad under the sole of the iron.

Sometimes genuine leather needs to be stitched using a furrier's machine. In this video you will see how the 10B furrier machine works.