Leather Primer

Materials:

leather fabric
Teflon presser foot
zipper foot
Teflon adhesive sheet
Schmetz leather needles (90/14 NTW)
Glover's needles
permanent contact cement (Barge's)
glue stick
cold tape
thread conditioner or beeswax
seam sealant
binder clips
wallpaper roller
24" seam stick
ruler
permanent marker

Leather tips and techniques

1. Use a Teflon presser foot (figure A) or a Teflon adhesive sheet.

2. Lower the presser foot pressure and lengthen the stitch length.

3. Do not use pins; use binder clips (figure B) to secure leather fabric in place.

4. Use a 1/2-inch seam allowance in leather construction and do not backstitch but rather tie a square knot to finish seams.

5. Do not press with an iron; using a seam stick, finger-press open and press with a wallpaper roller (figure C).

6. Use permanent contact cement and a cotton swab (figure D) for better control of the seam allowances and roll press. Tip: Cement can also be used to hold leather hems in place.

7. Seam allowances can also be stitched 1/16 inch on either side of seam for a sportswear-looking finish (figure E).

Buttonhole tips and techniques

1. Use a zipper foot with a Teflon strip attached to the bottom and move the needle position to the far left.

2. To make buttonhole welts, cut 1-inch-wide strips and fold the welts (strips) lengthwise. Press with the wallpaper press and apply cold tape to stabilize the buttonholes (figure F). Apply glue stick for a temporary bond; fold and finger-press closed (figure G). Cut the strip to the length needed (for this demonstration, the buttonholes were cut into 3-inch welts), tape the two welt pieces together (figure H) and baste across (figure I).

3. Apply stabilizer to the buttonhole area using a Teflon pressing sheet and create the button hole shape with a ruler and a permanent marking pen. Cut "v" shapes at both ends (figure J) and roll-press open.

4. Center the opening over the buttonhole welts and, using the glue stick, glue the "v" shapes to the welts. Fold the back garment and stitch close to the fold using a zipper foot and a Teflon sheet (figure K).

5. Repeat step 4 on the long sides of the buttonhole area; glue and stitch each side (figure L) and roll press.

6. To attach the facing, glue stick into position and stitch in the ditch on all four sides. Tie off thread ends and trim away the excess bulk.

Leather pocket flap

1. Cut two pocket flap pattern pieces and interface the upper section of the pocket flap. Do not interface in the seam allowance area (figure M).

2. Cut out a pocket template from a file folder to use as a stabilizer for folding and roll-pressing the leather. Using low-tack tape, tape the template over the interfaced area and roll-press the seam allowance (this makes an impression for the fold line or seam line) (figure N). Remove the template and clip and notch around the edges (figure O). Using the glue stick, glue-baste and fold the corners (figure P).

3. With wrong sides together, place pocket flap upper section on lower section and glue-baste into position. Note: The seam allowances on the lower section will extend beyond the turned edges of the upper section.

4. Stitch 1/8 inch from the folded edge of the flap and again at 1/4 inch from the first row.

5. Trim away the extending seam allowance and insert into garment as pattern indicates.