> Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:07:10 -0500 > From: "E House" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [h-cost] Re: working with leather, Firefly browncoat > To: "Historical Costume" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; > reply-type=original > > The only two things I've found to worry about with leather are: > A) The thickness of the leather, & making sure that your sewing machine can > handle it--for the browncoat, I used suede that was nearly 1/8 thick, and > though my machine actually was capable of handling 5 layers of it, it caused > all sorts of problems. (But it was the only suede I could find in the right > color, darn it!) You just can't finish thick suede as nicely as you can > finish garment-weight (~1.5oz-3oz) suede, and you'll find yourself calling > the ruttin' coat a piece of gos se often, dong le mah?
So I'm looking for something specifically designated garment weight? That's one of my big concerns - how do I choose a leather or suede, and how do I make sure I get enough of it? I imagine it's sold by hide and not yardage, correct? > > B) Getting the seam right the first time. Any hole you make in the leather > won't close back up again the way fabric would, so ty to aviod ripping out > and re-sewing seams--it'll be obvious, and it will weaken the leather. I have enough experience with PVC to know about the hole punch thing, but not about the thread (below). Thanks for the tip (and you too Chiana!) Also thanks for the browncoats.com links - it's good to see that there's enough of a community out there for there to be some legwork already done :) > > Also, though a lot of people seem to like to use upholstery thread with > leather, I didn't like the result at all; I used glazed cotton hand quilting > thread, and it worked very well. > > -E House Allison T. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
