Grizz

We have the opportunity to get a Nakajima Rex 345 2L sewing machine. Does anyone know if it has a walking foot. Also would it be suitable for sewing thick leather. I have seen photos but difficult to see much and i cant find any info online. I would also like to find out the measurement for the arm on the machine. Any help greatfully received.

I am trying to find a pattern for a leather Fedora hat similar in style to this: Can anyone help or point me in the right direction. Many thanks Grizz

Does anyone know where I could buy or get plans for a wooden table top to fit my SInger 29K 53 pathc machine. I usually use it to sew inside pockets and sleeves but would like the option to use it with a bigger tabletop surface. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Does anyone know where I might be able to get a 4" brass buckle? We're making a leather belt for a Santa and he wants the belt to be 4". The best I've found is 3" and it would mean cutting the belt down at the buckle end to fit, but he'd really like it 4" all the way around. He wants it to be a brass or gold look buckle. Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks for the really good info...We'll try that method:)

Hi, We're making a new leather hand tooled cover for an old metal water canister. The owner wants it to look weathered since the canister is antique. I wondered if anyone had any good ideas how to get a weathered, distressed look to the finish on the leather. We're going to hand tool the leather and then dye it black. I've experimented with antiquing the leather and applying black dye over the top and wiping it off and it give a bit of the result that I'm after. Any other suggestions? Squirrel

Thanks again. I put the final white outlining coat on the belts this morning and they are looking good:) I used the belts that I had already dyes and antiqued, but we're going to buy some of the Fieblings oil dye to use next time. I noticed on another thread that you were talking about white antiquing for the outlining...Is that an actual product or had you used the white paint and antiqued over it? Again, thanks for saving my belts and I'll post a photo when they have been sprayed and finished.

Thanks for the amazing advise.. It sounds perfect, I just hope it is as easy as it sounds. I was using Tandys dye and antique stain, would the Fieblings work better? It is a water based dye that I'm using. Do I still need to spray the supersheen after I've painted the white outlining?

Yes, Yes, Yes...That is exactly the result I want. How do you get it?

Hi, This isn't Grizz, it's his other half who also joint runs the leather business. My name is Squirrel. I'm having some problems and thought I'd turn here for help:thumbsup: I've painted and outline letters on our belts in the past and had no problems. I'm trying to do 4 belts at the moment and encountering all sorts of problems and I'm ready to just start again or toss them out!! I've got the belts dyed and antiqued and then started to paint the letters. It took a few coats of paint to get a nice red color, I'm using Tandy Cova. Then I started to outline the letters in white and the red started to run. My white started to turn pink!!! I've never had this happen before and I did notice that the red seemed very thick to usual. Does the paint have a shelf life? I wondered if it had gone off. I dont know whether to dye entirely over the belts again and retry painting, or whether there might be a better solution. Is there anything other than paint that I could use that might work. Any help appreciated:) Squirrel

Yep, all of those tanneries are a good few hours away. I'll take a look at Waterhouse though, thanks for the info.

Try cutting out S shapes, C shapes and circles, getting progressively smaller.

I like to actually go to a supplier to see and feel any leather that I buy. Although I do get leather sent to me from the Tandy Leather shop in Montgomery, AL, but only because we know the manager well and trust his judgement. Other than there I wont buy over the internet, even though I know I could get it cheaper. Does anyone know of a tannery that is around my area...Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee etc. I'd like the option to go to a tannery occasionally and choose leather.