Sewing Leather - where to buy it and any tips

[lavendersun]

I have had plans to make a few things out of leather for ages, nothing too ambitious to begin with - book covers, small zipped cases, maybe a small saddle bag for my bike.

Can anyone suggest what grade/thickness I should use and recommend where to buy it from. There are lots of offcuts for sale on eBay but I think I would like to buy one useful sized piece to begin with.

Any tips about working with it gratefully received. Obviously I will consider needle size and thread. Do I actually need a leather roller foot? No idea.

I have no idea where to buy the leather but I have sewn it on my ordinary sewing machine without a special foot. My machine only takes Gütermann thread. What you need though is a leather needle which is sort of triangular.

I don't know where to buy it but have also (many mooooons ago) sewn leather without a specific foot.

I wonder if you'd need a specialist supplier for it.

Leprevo are an excellent supplier of leather, leatherworking tools and accessories, so that'd be my first stop for materials. Their website is really helpful too, and suggests what kind of things you might use the various leathers they sell for.

You'll need a leather needle (triangular, so it can pierce the leather) for your machine. If handsewing, wax your thread (just gently run it over a household candle), don't do that if machine sewing, it gums it up.

If you're using thin garment weight leather you should be ok just running it through the machine; go slowly and help it along if necessary because the feed dogs don't grab it very well. If heavier, you should get a saddler's awl and make holes first then sew (and you'll probably end up doing that by hand).

Thanks for the link - that looks really helpful. I have waxed thread and an awl as have repaired my tack in the past, double stitching by hand which is joyful .

This will definitely be machinable. Not sure whether to buy the foot, it is really well thought of.

I will look through the webpage .