For each product, it is necessary to choose a specific material: for example, leather from gloves is suitable for jewelry - it is soft, elastic and able to convey the most subtle nuance; it is better to sew bags from tougher leather, and if soft leather is used for this, it is necessary to make a lining of dense material.

First you need to make a pattern of the product. If it is complex, it is recommended to pre-sew the model from cheap fabric and, after making the necessary changes, use it as a pattern. In order to cut out the details, the patterns are placed on the wrong side of the skin and outlined with a ballpoint pen.

When cutting out paired parts, you need to remember that the skin in the transverse direction stretches more than in the longitudinal direction, so they need to be cut in one direction. It is impossible to chip off the skin with pins: traces remain on it.

Soft skin is sewn on a machine with a regular needle No. 80 or No. 90; thicker leather requires a special triangular needle. The line should be large, as the skin is easily cut through. If the machine does not advance the leather well, you can stitch it through thin paper, which is then removed. Threads need to be taken strong and elastic: cotton, linen or twisted silk. Nylon threads are not suitable for sewing.

When sewing suede, you need to take into account the direction of the pile: it is better if it is directed from top to bottom.

If the product is assembled from separate pieces of leather, they need to be sewn on interlining or thick cotton fabric. For convenience, they should be glued to the base with rubber glue so that the upper pieces are 0.5–1 cm on the lower ones.

The leather should be ironed from the wrong side with a non-hot iron without steam through a dry cloth.

This is a very important process by which the skin is given the necessary thickness. As a rule, it is required to evenly thin the skin only at the joints of the parts, however, if there is no skin of suitable thickness, it is necessary to grind its entire surface.

Scouring needs to be learned on small pieces of leather that you don’t mind spoiling.

For work, a plastic stand (plexiglass) is placed on the table like a school notebook - at an angle of approximately 70 ° to the edge of the tabletop. The height of the table and chair should be chosen so that the elbow of the bent arm does not reach the table 1-2 cm. The skin is placed on the tile with the bakhtarma up, closer to the front and right edges, and pressed against it with the fingers of the left hand. The knife is grasped from below with the little finger, ring and middle fingers, the thumb rests against the end, and the index finger presses the knife from the top in the center. The knife, index finger and forearm should be in line when working.

Scouring begins from the edges in the direction "away from you". The knife is held with a slight tilt to the right. You need to learn not to plan, but to cut off the layers of the skin: for this, the knife must go parallel to the surface of the plate, without crashing into or tearing out of the skin. The fingers of the left hand should not be located in front of the knife - you can forget and cut yourself.

When scraping, first the long edges are cut off, then the short ones, and lastly, if necessary, the middle.

Do you think that this is too complicated manipulation? Do not worry, with a certain skill and a good tool, grinding does not require the application of physical strength.

Finished products are varnished, beeswax, mastic or shoe polish, applied with a soft cloth, then polished with a piece of flannel - this will protect the product from contamination.

To fix the color, it is recommended to coat the dyed product with leather varnish or egg yolk.

Connecting leather products

Skin stitching

You can sew thin leather details in the usual way on a sewing machine, you just need a special leather needle.

Those who have an old-fashioned oscillating hook sewing machine can sew even thick leather - they are lucky. Thanks to its special design, such a sewing machine makes it quite easy. Modern imported sewing machines have a removable foot with wheels to push the fabric. Such a foot can also be installed on a domestic sewing machine by purchasing an adapter-adapter. Another option to facilitate the work of a sewing machine is a Teflon foot for imported machines. It can be installed on any sewing machine with an adapter.

In the event that the skin does not slide well, you can lubricate the seam with machine oil or put thin paper on top and bottom, and then remove it.

The skin cannot be fastened with temporary stitches; for basting you need to use rubber glue.

The most convenient way to sew is to use a needle - an awl. First, the needle is inserted into the skin. When it moves back, a loop is formed on the opposite side, into which the elongated end of the thread or the second strong thread is pulled. To the end of this thread, you can tie an ordinary, preferably blunt, needle of any size: it is more convenient to thread the thread into the resulting loops.

The result is a seam that resembles a regular machine: both threads form stitches, each on its own side, and the interlacing of the threads occurs between the layers of the skin.

Types of seams

Stitch seam- the most common, used to connect parts. To thin the seam, it is necessary to scrape the edges of the parts to the width of the allowance, then fold the parts with the right sides inward and, having made allowances with rubber glue, lay a line. After that, unfold the parts, remove the remaining glue; bend the allowances in different directions, tap them along the entire length with a wooden hammer and, having smeared with Moment glue, press them to the base (glue).

The stitched seam can be decorated with a piping (Fig. 6). The details are folded with a bakhtarma, between them a double-folded, bakhtarma inside, edging is inserted (Fig. 7). Strips of leather 3-4 mm wide are laid along the line of the future seam on one or both sides. Both parts, edging and strips, are sewn together at the same time, and the strips are not stitched through, but are seized with oblique stitches and take the form of a twisted cord.

Rice. b

This seam can be used in the manufacture of bags, vests, etc. A seam with an overlay of piping on one side will decorate the junction of the sole with the top when sewing slippers.

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Butt seam. It is done in zigzag. It is used to connect parts if it is required to obtain a minimum thickness of the seam (Fig. 8a). It can be reinforced with a braid or leather strip from below or above, as well as on both sides (Fig. 86).

Butt seam is used for set(this is the name of the canvas, assembled from small pieces of leather). The set can be used for sewing bags, vests, cushion covers, etc. The set is available mosaic, from pieces of various shapes and sizes, and regular(geometric), assembled from the correct geometric shapes that make up the rapport of the picture. It can be "parquet", "herringbone" (Fig. 9), "American square" (Fig. 10), "stained glass" (Fig. I).

Adjustment seam. This seam has a closed cut. For its implementation, the parts should be folded with the right sides, the allowances should be smeared with rubber glue, then the upper part should be unscrewed and both parts should be stitched with one seam to the desired edge width.

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This seam can be done in another way: first connect the parts with a stitch, then, having folded the top part, stitch both parts to the desired edge width (in this case, both lines must be done in the same direction).

Overhead seam. It is used when overlapping parts: the cut edge of one part, without bending, is applied to another, also not bent edge, and connected by machine stitching at the same distance from the cuts. The amount of entry of one part onto another is 4–8 mm. For preliminary connection, the allowances can be smeared with rubber glue.

With such a seam, it is convenient to connect parts with a curly cut, made, for example, with zigzag scissors, as well as trimming braid or finishing strips of leather, which can be in the color of the main part or, conversely, contrasting.

This seam is especially good for making mosaic sets. Small pieces of leather should be laid out on a base of material or non-woven fabric so that the upper ones are on the lower ones, match them by color, glue with rubber glue and attach, moving gradually from top to bottom, with a regular stitch or a zigzag stitch.

Pillows made in this way are just a feast for the eyes!

Braid and support

To connect parts, in addition to stitching and gluing, a technique such as braiding is widely used. Pre-perforation is made in the workpiece - holes are punched. It is better to do this with punches of various diameters or a chisel. Since the distances between the holes must be the same, we use a ruler or compass for marking.

When using a punch, you should never pierce the skin by putting one piece on top of another, since the lower one can easily and imperceptibly move. Therefore, we first finish with one part, then we put the braided parts of the parts on top of each other with the front sides inward (there should be a part with holes already punched at the top) and with a round awl we mark the place of the holes on the second part so that the number of holes and the distance between them subsequently coincide.

Various materials can be used for braiding: thin cord, soutache, braid, narrow ribbon, threads, but leather stripes are best suited for this purpose. To get a sufficiently long strip from a relatively small piece of leather, you can use a simple trick - cut it in a spiral (Fig. 12), trying to cut evenly. We need several strips so that their total length is three times the braided edge. After that, the strips are moistened with warm water and wound tightly around the bottle. After drying, the strip will become even; the middle of the skin is not used in the work - the steepness of the spiral is too great.

Rice. 12

To splice our strips, their edges need to be scraped, smeared with glue, folded (Fig. 13) and squeezed tightly. When braiding, you need to try so that the gluing place is on the wrong side of the braided parts or between adjacent holes.

For braiding a part, the width of the strip must be no less than the diameter of the hole. It is important to choose not only the diameter of the hole and the width of the braid, but also the distance between the holes.

Rice. 13

Do not forget that the braid serves not only to connect parts, but is also a decorative element, so you should carefully select its color: it must be in harmony with the color of the base material. The braid can be used when connecting parts in handbags, eyeglass cases, cosmetic bags, sheaths, for finishing the edge in belts, hairpins and vests.

When connecting parts, their allowances should, if necessary, be pre-scraped and glued, and the corners should be rounded with a knife or scissors, since it will not work to braid sharp corners.

Fix the ends of the strips in the following ways:

1. One end of the strip is glued between two parts, and the second is pulled twice into the hole in one of them so that one turn fits on the other (Fig. 14).

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2. The beginning of the leather strip is cut wider, a hole is punched in it. The other end of the strip is pulled into the hole of the part and its own hole, forming a lock (Fig. 15). If two parts are connected, the lock is located between them.

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The braid can be simple, in one or two rows, and complex. Figures 16-20 show a number of simple braids.

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In order to make it easier to thread leather strips into holes, their ends should be pointed; for work, you can use a needle with a large eye.

If there are no punches, then you can punch holes with a chisel.

With the help of a chisel, holes are also punched to perform the so-called “pulling” of pulling through leather strips, braid, cord, soutache, etc. (Fig. 20).

Now let's take a closer look at several options for braids, which will later be useful to us for finishing. The work is very painstaking, but the result is worth it (Fig. 21 a-h). Options b-z can be used for finishing. The technique of execution is slightly reminiscent of cross-stitch. Stitches are obtained by holding two straps. One is threaded from the bottom up (it is convenient to push with an awl), and the other through the same hole - from top to bottom.

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To decorate products, you can use decorative braids that combine the technique of holding and embroidery (Fig. 22-24). Keep in mind, ethnicity is always in fashion!

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Leather is an elastic material that undergoes any deformation, which, when moistened, takes on any shape. These properties are often used to make close-fitting products.

The basis for molding the product can be temporary (for example, when a blank for a bracelet is pulled over a bottle) - in this case, after the skin has completely dried, it is removed; or permanent (if you decide to decorate the bottle itself) - then the base becomes an integral part of the product.

In the first case, the skin should be thick, strong and tough, that is, it should retain its shape well after drying. A blank can be a glass, metal or wooden vase, a jar, a shampoo bottle, a glass or a box of an interesting shape.

An example of making a decorative item based on a small glass vase is shown in Figure 25.

Rice. 25

First, you should make a pattern out of paper: for this, the vase is placed in the center of the sheet and the paper is gathered around it and laid in folds; excess paper on top is cut off, and the pattern straightens out. According to it, taking into account the size and shape of the skin, a blank is cut out.

An interesting effect is obtained when using in this work saddlery yufti, unpainted lining leather, which can be decorated with perforation, burning, embossing, overhead elements in the form of bouquets or ornaments.

On the cut-out workpiece, you should first perform the intended perforation or stamping, and then, after moistening it, pull it onto the base, laying arbitrary assemblies and folds, and wrap it with a wide rubber band in the narrowing points and leave to dry. The product can be dried in the oven or on the radiator: in this case, the skin will become harder and dryer, this will give the structure a more rigid shape.

After the skin dries, the base must be removed and the vase should be finalized. With the help of a burning apparatus, you can make a drawing on it according to your taste and imagination.

At the end of the work, you need to fix the shape of the vase by gluing the folds from the inside or gluing a decorative strap around the bottleneck on top; and the glued leather bottom will increase its stability.

Drapery

In the manufacture of some products, drapery of the skin gives a good effect. This technique can be used both as a decorative and as a masking. If, alas, there are defects on the skin (holes, scratches, colored spots, uneven thickness of the skin), drapery will help hide these imperfections. Drapery is also very convenient in cases where, say, a piece of leather is not enough to tighten the entire surface of the product. In this case, the joints or seams are laid in folds, masking them inside these folds. Skin defects are also removed in folds.

As for uneven coloring, it can just give a special effect to the product. We must remember this when starting to drapery.

To work, you need Moment or 88 glue, tweezers, a knitting needle or an awl. Work is done on a basis. If the drapery is a fragment on a large canvas - for example, on a bag - a piece of leather is draped and glued directly to the canvas. The situation is different if we are not talking about a fragment, but about a separate thing, completely draped. For example, when making a hryvnia (neck decoration), you need to cut out a base from thick leather or cardboard that repeats the silhouette of the product, and when making a hairpin, you can use an old plastic base.

Please also note that the front side of the skin and the front side of the product are not always the same! If the skin has a beautiful bakhtarma, then it can be the front side of the product.

Heat treatment

The skin can be subjected to heat treatment, as a result of which it changes its shape, bends. This property of the skin is successfully used in the manufacture of jewelry, appliqués, and decoration.

The simplest heat treatment option is the "fried button". Several circles of various diameters are cut out of leather (preferably hard). They are placed face up on a heated cast-iron skillet (on an electric stove, you can fry the skin directly on the burner). After a while, the circles will evenly curve upwards (if you remember, the effect is the same when frying sausage circles!), And you will get a convex “button”. Such buttons can be used instead of overhead elements, edging them with a leather strip or cord; you can make hearts of fantasy flowers from them or lay out an ornament from “buttons” of different diameters.

Heat treatment can also be used when making flowers. To do this, leaves and flowers are cut out according to patterns and lightly fried; petals should take a natural shape, slightly bent to the edges. The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the edges of the skin will char and shrink too much.

If this does happen, the edges can be ground off with a chisel or sandpaper.

Particular care must be taken with light-colored leather: it darkens towards the edges, although sometimes this gives the product a special charm, for example, in flower arrangements.

The same effect can be achieved if you use a candle instead of a frying pan - especially if you need not to bend the whole part, but only part of it, as, for example, in flower petals. The part must be taken with tweezers and held over the candle that part that should be convex. You need to keep it until it changes shape.

Burnout

Burning on the skin is performed by a conventional electric burner. It looks especially beautiful on the skin of light tones: white, creamy, beige and sandy. The best material for work is yuft and thick leather. Dear beginners, you should not take thin skin for burning out - without the necessary skill, you will simply ruin it.

It is necessary to work, easily touching the material, to lead along the lines of the drawing with a hot sting of the burner, as calmly as with a pencil or brush. The main thing to take care of during the process is not to linger the sting in any one place, since, having stopped on the skin, it, of course, will immediately burn it. It is generally not recommended to press hard on the material: even if the sting does not burn through it, it will give a too wide black line. Of course, the lines can be different in width, but this should depend solely on the drawing itself.

In order to gain some skill in handling an electric burner, it is better to take thick skin for work: the sting moves easier in it - this is facilitated by its smoothness. If any line is not burned out enough, then you need to pass it a second time with a slightly hot sting. Each started line should be completed to the end, without jumping to others. In order for the lines to be of the same thickness, the sting must be tried to be carried out evenly and with the same, very light pressure.

With the help of burning, it is easiest to depict contour patterns, without transferring various shades of light and shade.

A drawing made by burning on thick leather can be painted with aniline dyes. They are applied with a brush in several steps with a break of 15-20 minutes. After the paints have dried, the drawing is intensively rubbed with a piece of woolen cloth to give it brightness and shine. The resulting color should be fixed with a fixative.

Stamping (embossing)

This is a embossed leather treatment. This is quite painstaking work, here you need to be attentive to the thickness of the skin. Stamping (embossing) can be hot or cold.

Leather trim hot stamping is based on its properties to take a strong imprint from pressing on it with hot metal stamps. For this embossing, leather from 1.5 to 3 mm is suitable. Hand embossing gives a wide variety of patterns thanks to the combination of available stamps.

Stamps can be made by yourself, using ordinary nails with large hats, sawing them with a file to the shape you need (Fig. 26).

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Usually the drawing is imprinted immediately: it is difficult to get on the previous imprint in order to make it stronger. For complex drawings, a preliminary print is made on thin paper, placed on a blank and printed through the paper on the skin with slightly heated tools. Then, having removed the paper, they go through the drawing again with the same tools.

To make a convex (concave) ornament, you need to gently press the stamp from the side of the bakhtarma (or vice versa) until the desired pattern is obtained. The relief of the wrong side should be lubricated with PVA glue.

For cold stamping suitable for leather with a thickness of 0.8–1.2 mm. It is used when you want to apply a pattern to smooth leather, for example, to draw lines along the edges of the frame. To do this, use a roller or other wooden tool that is driven back and forth along the ruler until the line is deep enough.

To perform cold embossing on smooth surfaces, you can use a cardboard template made to measure. A pattern is applied to the cardboard and then cut through with a sharp knife or scalpel. Rounded contours are cut with nail scissors with rounded ends (some of the elements of the pattern may fall out).

After that, the cut out cardboard (template) is glued onto the product, the dropped elements are glued in the right places. After drying, glue and uneven places are removed.

When the template is completely ready, it is pasted over with thin leather, and first it is wiped with a soft cloth, and then they pass along the contours of the pattern with a bone so as not to damage the skin.

After drying, paint can be poured into the recesses: nitro enamel, pentaphthalic gouache or watercolor, diluted with PVA glue. Acrylic paints are widely used.

With the help of oil and acrylic paints, you can paint album covers, jewelry boxes, jewelry and other products made of leather.

Getting started with paints on the skin, it must be wiped (especially fair skin) with a solution of potash (1 teaspoon of potash per 1 cup of warm water). Cotton wool, wrapped in a clean cloth, is dipped in the solution, squeezed out a little so that it does not flow from it, and the skin is carefully wiped with it. This is done so that the skin perceives the paint better, holds it more firmly and is clean enough: the potash solution destroys dirt and perfectly cleanses the skin.

Paint on the skin can not be applied in a thick layer. When working with oil paints, it is necessary not only to lay them thinly, but also lightly, as it were, rub into the material. It is not necessary to take this literally, but it is necessary to adhere to such a rule so that the paint adheres firmly to the skin. Too thick a smear can break, crack and even fall off. A thin layer, when rubbed into the skin, is absorbed into it and firmly adheres to it.

Automotive dyes in aerosol packages can be used to color leather both smoothly and using the stencil technique. Using a traditional stencil, figures are cut out of cardboard or plastic and the skin is painted through the holes. Or, on the contrary, they impose on a leather part (for example, on a future earring) small objects of a clear shape: circles, rings, sticks. After dyeing, a pattern will appear on the earrings.

The pattern obtained by imposing various plants on the skin, for example, maple leaves or ferns, looks spectacular. The leaves are beautifully placed on a plane and sprayed with dye, trying to alternate places that are more saturated with color and less saturated. Such a pattern can decorate the cover of a book, a bag.

Popular design in the technique of hot batik. In a water bath, a piece of an ordinary stearin candle is melted and a pattern is applied to the skin with a brush. The “dry brush” technique looks spectacular when a trace of individual villi is visible. For this, stearin is not collected on a brush. It is advisable to practice on unnecessary pieces of skin beforehand. After applying the stearin, the skin is coated with an aniline dye (sold in hardware stores for dyeing fabrics). The dye is pre-diluted according to the recipe on the package. You can also use colored ink as a dye.

After applying the dye, the skin is dried. A pattern is obtained on the product - the initial coloring of the skin against the background of the color of the dye.

If a multi-color pattern is conceived, the work is carried out as follows:

1. Apply a pattern with stearin to those areas that should remain the lightest - skin color.

2. Paint the surface with the lightest tone of your choice and dry.

3. Apply stearin to those places that will remain light.

4. Dyed with a darker dye. Do not forget that when you mix paints, you get different colors! For example, if you apply blue dye over yellow, it will turn greenish. Dry again.

5. Now a pattern of several colors is visible on the product - skin colors, yellow, green. Stearin is again applied to those areas that remain green. Now you can cover the product with the darkest color - blue, black, brown.

6. Remove stearin from the surface of the skin. Where it lies in a thick layer, it is carefully scraped off so as not to spoil the surface of the product. Can be quickly ironed with a hot iron over newspaper. This procedure is repeated several times. It is necessary to iron quickly and carefully so that the skin does not tighten. This method is suitable for thick leather and leather of medium thickness.

7. To add shine, the surface of the leather is rubbed with wax pastes or colorless shoe polish.

Application

Applique is one of the types of embroidery: patching or gluing a pattern from pieces of fabric onto the main fabric.

The application can be laid on and cut out.

For execution overhead applications the details of the pattern are applied to the main fabric, glued or sewn on. You can sew by hand or by machine, you can fix the appliqué on the product using a braid. Figure 27 shows an example of an invoice application. On thin skin, beads of different colors or beads can be sewn into the center of the flowers.

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For execution cutout appliqué the pattern is applied to the main fabric (leather) and cut out, then pieces of fabric or leather of a contrasting color are placed on its wrong side. If the holes are large, the details are glued along the contour and sewn on, if the pattern consists of a group of small holes, then it is better to put a common piece under them - the background. It can be “grabbed” in several places with glue and secured with a braid (Fig. 28). The lower part can be a lining, for example for a belt.

Created on 07/13/2015

Now in sewing stores there is a huge selection of artificial leather of various textures, patterns and colors. In appearance, it is not inferior to natural leather.

Artificial leather also has its advantages - reasonable price, ease of care and sewing.

But despite the fact that it is easier to sew than genuine leather, there are still difficulties in this matter. You can cope with them and get beautiful products made of artificial leather, knowing some of the nuances of how to sew artificial leather. There are very few of them.

Faux leather has only a few minor problems: "sticking" under the presser foot and needle holes. Also, the seam may tear between the punctures of the sewing needle.

Since the pins will leave puncture marks, leather items should not be fastened with them or basted as usual with a needle and thread. And when you are just cutting out the details, the pattern also cannot be attached to the leather with pins so that it does not move. On the front side of the artificial leather, place the patterns and press them with some kind of load. Use a circular cutter to cut out pieces along the outline of the pattern. Of course, the skin must be placed on a wooden, glass and other surface that cannot be cut or is not a pity. In places where a good even cut is needed, use a plastic ruler.

Often sewing machines come with a set of presser feet, which includes the leather feet. They can be with rollers or made of Teflon. These feet are also easy to find in sewing stores.

If you don’t have special feet, you can try sewing by laying a sheet of wax paper on top of the faux leather. The skin will move well under a regular foot.

When you've finished stitching, gently tear the paper along the sides of the seam and remove. Be very careful not to damage the stitching.

Now for the needles. Use denim needles (100/16). They are sharper and make smaller punctures than other needles. There are special needles for genuine leather. But for artificial leather, they are not so important.

Use a new needle for each faux leather item. Leatherette dulls needles faster than other fabrics.

The stitch can be straight or zigzag. Just do not make short stitches, but lengthen them as much as possible. The small distance between the punctures makes the seam unreliable. Faux leather will simply tear between the holes.

Since it is impossible to baste parts made of artificial leather, for the convenience of sewing, you can fasten the parts with such hair clips or even use glue. As the paw approaches the hairpin, it is removed.

Take your time when laying the line. The movement of the car is better slow. So the line will be neat and even.

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

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

How to sew from genuine leather: the necessary tools and equipment

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

For cutting and working with seam allowances, you should purchase a knife, hammer and glue. The basic option for beginners is quite possible to buy in a building supermarket, and a more professional tool is presented in sewing accessories stores or accessories for sewing shoes.

Knife should be sharp and comfortable.

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

There is a professional glue for those who work with leather goods, it is often sold in large packaging and it does not make sense to buy it for one or two projects. Choose a clear, waterproof polyurethane adhesive. Make sure leather is on the list of materials for which it is intended.

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

It is also desirable to have rubber mat on which it is convenient to cut the skin. Also useful scissors and small pliers.

How to sew genuine leather on a sewing machine? Ideally, you should have a machine for working with heavy fabrics and industrial type leather. However, it is possible to sew simple models from genuine leather of medium density on a conventional 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 threads for leather, 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 the purchase of material. sold in different sizes of skins, which are measured in dm2. The price is indicated for 1 dm2 and then the total cost of a particular skin is calculated. Very often on natural leather there are various defects: scratches, holes, defects in color and texture. In order to buy the right amount of material, take all the necessary patterns to the store and lay them on the skin, avoiding problem areas.

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

Cutting Basics

Carefully inspect the entire piece of skin in good daylight from different angles. With a small number of defects, mark them from the wrong side, if there are a lot of problem areas, make marks and lay out the pattern on the front side.

Cut out the main details as close as possible to the central part of the skin. The edges of natural leather are thinner and may stretch a little. They can be used for small decorative details: valves, belt loops, cuffs, etc.

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

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

Simple seam and seam allowances

Remember that unlike fabric, all traces of a needle or pins on genuine leather remain forever!

Fold the pieces right sides in and match the edges. For additional fixation, you can use stationery clips or clothespins. Set the stitch length to 3.5-4mm. Sew to desired 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 allowances, including the knots.

Expand the allowances and press to the base. Tap with a hammer each allowance and the seam itself.

Pull the threads inside out and tie a double knot. Put glue on the knot and cut off the tails of the threads.

How to thread ends

When working with genuine leather, it often becomes necessary to fix the threads in a place where both the front and back sides are in the public domain.

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

Use pliers and a thimble to pull out the needle.

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

Cut off excess threads with scissors.

Hand seam

Sometimes while sewing, the bobbin thread ends, and 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 hand-sew the seam over the finished punctures.

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

Bring the needle to the right side and prick again into the same hole, forming a loop around the upper thread.

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

Having thought over the design of the future product, making a paper layout and drawing the necessary patterns, they proceed to cutting. The skin does not have a shared direction, which we used to reckon with when cutting fabrics. Therefore, the patterns are arranged as you like, if only to make better use of the useful area of ​​​​the skin.. Suede must be cut, given the direction of the pile. Depending on this, light is reflected from the surface in different ways, and two adjacent parts with different pile directions will look one darker, the other lighter. It is better if the pile is directed from top to bottom.

The cut lines are applied from the side of the bakhtarma with an ordinary ballpoint pen. On the same side, they cut it, laying it on the cutting board with the bakhtarma up.

Basting seams are undesirable when working with leather., as stitch marks remain forever. It is better to grab the parts with rubber glue before final sewing. An unsuccessfully laid seam cannot be torn open, the rows of holes from the needle will remain on the skin. So scribble only for sure.

Not too thick skin will be easier to sew with a needle by hand and even sew on a machine, if its edges are first cut obliquely or, as experts say, “lowered”. This is done with a sharp shoe knife or razor (Fig. XII.6). The skin should lie horizontally, and the blade should only move away from you.

Turn seam it will turn out if the edges of the parts to be sewn are lowered from the side of the bakhtarma. Apply a thin layer of glue to the edges of the parts along the face, let it dry a little and then connect the parts (this is instead of a basting) (Fig. XII.7 a).

Expand the stitched seam, clean off the traces of glue until it grabs, and lightly tap from the inside with a hammer so that it finally straightens and evens out (Fig. XII.7 b).

Now, on the lowered edges from the side of the bakhtarma, apply more resistant glue "Moment" or "Mars". It would be good to strengthen the seam with cloth tape, gluing it from the inside and stitching along the edges(Fig. XII. 7 c).

Butt seam often used for leather sets - like a mosaic of small pieces of leather of medium thickness. Precisely fitted parts with evenly cut edges are glued onto a fabric lining, immediately removing excess glue with a cloth and without waiting for it to dry, lay a large zigzag stitch(Fig. XII.7 d).

Overlap seam often used to make mosaics from small pieces of thin leather. So it is possible to assemble a bag, a belt, and even a vest or miniskirt from seemingly useless small shreds. You don't need to cut them off.

On the fabric lining cut out according to the pattern, lay out the prepared pieces of leather so that the lower pieces find their edges on the upper ones by 4-5 mm. Start sewing them to the lining, moving from the bottom up. Such a connection, unlike a seam in a turn, is smoother and softer.

Butt seam for thick leather(Fig. XII.8) avoids coarse thickening, but requires careful fitting of parts. In fact, it is done as if with an overlap.

The edge of one detail goes down the face, and the other - along the bakhtarma. They are glued together, and the connection is strengthened from the inside with a braid, which is attached with two seams.

It is unlikely that you will be able to get a fairly even edge lowered along the bakhtarma, so it is better to first bend its narrow edge inward and glue it, and only then connect the two parts.

It is impossible not to mention the traditional seam, with which the peoples of the North have long been used to connect the details of their clothes, shoes, bags, mittens. They always emphasize the cut lines with piping made of light, most often white leather (Fig. XII.9).

To do this, two finishing strips of soft and thin leather are cut out: one 1-1.3 cm wide, the other 3-4 mm wide and slightly longer. The parts to be sewn are folded together with the bakhtarma inside. A wide finishing strip is folded in half and inserted between the main parts. Its fold should protrude 2-3 mm above the edges of the parts. A narrow strip is applied along the stitched edge of one of the parts on the front side (Fig. XII.9 a).

And now a seam is being laid, fastening all these four parts at once. With a needle and thread, both main parts and a wide finishing strip folded in half are pierced. At the same time, the thread also grabs a narrow strip with an oblique decorative stitch (Fig. XII.9 b). It turns out a beautiful colored edging, framed by a relief border like a twisted cord. If desired and dexterity, you can lay the same narrow border on the other side (Fig. XIII.9 c). Do not forget that you need to cut out a narrow strip for the border a little longer, as it forms a series of small tubercles in the seam.

Now about the intricacies of working on a sewing machine. Leather under the machine foot behaves differently than fabric.

Watch our videos - lessons on the topic of stitches on the skin: ““, ”“, ”“.

Firstly, it stretches quite noticeably, and you will soon find that the upper part under the presser foot is pulled out, but the lower one is seated by the feed dog. The seam "leads", especially if the pieces of leather are slightly different in thickness. The situation will improve if, before work, wipe the place of the future seam with a cloth dipped in engine oil. Yes, and the line will lie more evenly. The preliminary gluing (basting) of the seam with rubber glue also helps, which does not allow the parts to noticeably move relative to each other.

In any case, the line on parallel edges must be laid each time in the same direction. For example, when sewing in a zipper, you cannot do it in one pass, turning the work at the end of the zipper and attaching its other edge in the opposite direction. Both seams must be laid separately and in the same direction. It is better to scribble thin soft skin by placing a strip of tracing paper, which is then easy to tear off. Tracing paper will give additional rigidity, and the line will lie more evenly, will not tighten the skin.

Rigid leather, which is difficult to pierce with a needle or awl, is easier to sew if it is slightly moistened.

Despite the apparent strength, machine seams on the skin are easy to unravel. The fact is that the threads experience less friction in the skin than in the fabric. Therefore, the ends of the threads must be pulled inside out and securely tied there into several knots.

Thick hard leather cannot be sewn by machine. You have to do this manually, marking the seams with a knurling or a gear marking ruler, which were mentioned above. Puncture a row of holes with an awl along the basting, it will be easier to sew a seam using one of the methods described in the article "". To this it remains to add the method of working with two needles, each with its own thread (Fig. HILO). Note that it’s better not to sew by eye, without manually marking: the seam will look sloppy.

For bags, wallets, key holders and other crafts from thick leather, decorative braiding of the edges with a thin cord or a narrow strip of leather is often used (Fig. XII. 11). In this case, rather large holes are needed, and it is better to make them with punches (Fig. XII.3).

It is not at all necessary to have a long piece of leather to get a long enough strip of leather for braiding parts. Such a strip can be cut from a small patch.

Soak the resulting leather strip in warm water and wrap tightly around the bottle. Wet skin stretches well and should lie flat. When it dries, you will have a long and straight leather braid. For example, from a piece of leather measuring 100 × 60 mm, about 2 m of a strap 3 mm wide is obtained.

For decorative braiding of parts, strips of artificial leather without a backing (such as polyvinyl chloride) are also used.

On fig. HP.13 shows different types of decorative braids. To speed up the work will allow a needle made of an elastic steel strip (Fig. XII. 14), in which the tip of the braid is pinched. Otherwise, it takes a lot of time to thread the soft tip of the braid into the next hole.

The article used materials from the book: Kachanauskaite Laima. "". To fully familiarize yourself with the materials of the book, we advise you to purchase it from distributors or the publisher.

HOW TO SEW LEATHER BY HAND WITH THE HELP OF TOOLS AND ON A SEWING MACHINE?

Genuine leather products have always been valued very expensively, since their service life is practically unlimited. But not every material can be flashed on a typewriter, and it is not always convenient to use it. Therefore, many craftsmen sew only by hand and the quality of their work remains at its best, and the price significantly exceeds the cost of machine-made products.

WE SEW FROM GENUINE LEATHER OWN HANDS

You will need special tools - an awl, a punch and a hammer.

There is also a special tool for pricking, or as it is also called a “fork”:

1. 1. You need to extrude a line on the material being processed, which will take on the role of a guideline when making holes. It can also be applied with a compass;
2. 2. now, using a punch and a hammer, make holes in the workpiece;
3. 3. pre-place a piece of thick rubber under it;
4. 4. if you worked with a pricking fork, you will have to additionally open the holes with an awl for stitching;
5. 5. Having placed the material in the clip, you can start stitching

What kind of thread should be sewn on leather? When performing a saddle stitch, arm yourself with linen threads. Before use, they are recommended to be waxed so that they repel dirt and easily pass through holes in the material.

What needle should be used to sew leather? You will need a strong, blunt-pointed saddlery needle. Ear size also matters. For example, for making shoes, a needle with a fourth eye size is suitable. Pulling the short end of the thread, it should be twisted into a loop. This is necessary so that the thread does not jump off the needle. Now get to work by choosing a seam "forward needle".

You can sew two parts with two needles at the same time. In this case, one of the needles must be inserted into the extreme hole and dragged through. Pass the second through the second hole and pull it down. Now it needs to be inserted into the hole on the other side a little higher than the first and dragged, pointing the pointed tip up.

Both needles are then inserted into the next hole and pulled through.

How to hand sew leather? You can join the parts with a seam over the edge. With this method, it can be quite difficult to fix them in the clamp, so experienced workers give advice to glue the parts with PVA glue. If, after reaching the end, you make two or three stitches with the needle, moving backwards, you will not have to make knots. It is enough to cut the thread at the very surface.

When working with kapron threads, the tails can be melted and then they definitely will not bloom. We sew a bag made of genuine leather: using this method, you can sew not only shoes, but also a bag that will serve you for more than one year.

HOW TO SEW HOOK LEATHER

If you don't have a needle handy, you can learn how to sew with an awl. That is, use it not only for making holes in the material, but also for pushing the thread. Although this is not the best solution, since the thread is easily damaged.

Therefore, the best alternative to a needle is a crochet hook:

1. 1. in one hand, hold the prepared overcast, and in the other, the awl;
2. 2. make a hole on the outside of the workpiece and insert a hook into it: hook the loop of the thread folded in half and pull it to the outside of the product;
3. 3. having disconnected the hook, gently pull one end of the thread so that one part of it is from the outer edge of the outsole, and the other from the inner;
4. 4. make another puncture with a metal tool at the distance you need;
5. 5. insert the hook into the resulting hole again and hook the loop of the thread from the inside;
6. 6. pull it so that the tip of this loop rises 10 mm above the outer side of the product;
7. 7. release the hook, and pull the tip of the fiber you received earlier into the loop formed;
8. 8. it remains to tighten the stitch by pulling the thread from the inside;
9. 9. At the end of the work, as soon as the first stitch you made touches the last one, take 3-4 steps in the opposite direction, and do not thread the new holes, but those that you already have.

WORKING ON THE MACHINE

How to sew genuine leather on a typewriter? On ordinary household sewing equipment, it is quite possible to sew such material, but not too thick. Of course, she will not be able to process the belt, but she will be able to take the skin, with a thickness of 1 to 1.5 mm. But for this she needs to create certain conditions.

What is needed in this case:

• 1. a special needle for the skin, the tip of which has a non-circular section. The end of such a needle has sharp edges that do not push apart the fibers of the material, but cut through them;
• 2. If no stitch formation occurs, you can set the needle thicker and not all the way. But even these measures may not be enough, and if we sew a skirt from genuine leather, then most likely we will have to look for thinner material;
• 3.if the upper thread does not tighten, you can try to change the threads and take not flax, but nylon;
• 4.if the conveyor does not cope well with the advancement of the material, it is necessary to purchase a special Teflon, roller or fluoroplastic foot. Some try to get out of the situation and sprinkle the pattern with talcum powder, oil it, or simply help it move with their hands. You can try all these methods, and as an option, it is recommended to sew over tracing paper, but this is not very convenient.

RULES FOR SEWING PRODUCTS FROM GENUINE LEATHER

It is very important to properly sew leather, especially suede. If you do not take into account the direction of the pile, the cut parts will vary in color. You need to iron the surface only from the wrong side, and the iron should not be very hot and emit steam. Do not forget to enclose a regular cotton fabric. Remember that when working on a typewriter, the seam is not fixed in reverse, which means that you will have to fix the ends of the threads with several knots.

Working with leather almost always involves processing with glue. Glue can be applied with a brush only on a cleaned surface and previously freed from grease. The most commonly used glue is Moment, rubber compound or PVA. The parts treated with glue must be allowed to dry, and then connected and be sure to put under the press. Remove excess adhesive solution with a cotton swab or rag.

Knowing these rules for working with leather, you will not spoil the material, but only improve its properties and qualities. Good luck!

A short video about the creation of a new brand of leather goods