cercyonis

Suntanning, eh? Hadn't heard of that one, either! Does it darken thru super shene? Thank you so much for the praise. It really helps when a person has little clue what they're doing! I don't even have a logo yet. I've stirred up some interest in custom smartphone cases, so maybe I'll have to think about that. ~Jennifer

Thank you so much -- it was an insane amount of work. Seran wrap -- great idea! I hadn't seen that suggestion in any of the books I've been poring over. So glad I found this forum.

Thank you guys, so great to get feedback. I kind of came to the conclusion this morning that it was what it was, and I super-shened the rest. I told my mom what happened, and I think she'll forgive me. Rookie mistakes -- I'll try to be more careful next time. I also screwed up by putting super shene not just ON the painted part, but all around it, too. After saddle-soaping the rest of the piece, I noticed the leather was darker where the super shene wasn't. URG! Plus, that made staining around the flowers and initials impossible. Dumb Dumb Dumb. At any rate, here are pics of the finished design. I am now gluing the liner and tomorrow will stitch.

I have worked about, oh, a MILLION hours on this clutch purse / wallet for my mother. I accidentally got a drop of green stain in the wrong area, and thought I could get it off if I quickly blotted it with solvent. Big mistake -- all I got were indelible stains on my leather! I have since tried several different things -- saddle soap, rubbing alcohol, deglazer, lemon juice, deglazer and then saddle soap again, in that order. The saddle soap worked the best, but didn't completely get rid of the blotches. (Unfortunately I'm a perfectionist.) Lemon juice, diluted 1:1, lightened every area it touched, grrrrrrr. I already put super shene on and around the main design, so staining or antiquing is out. Any ideas from the experienced folks about how to get these out? I hate to add super shene to the remainder of the work until I know that nothing else can be done. Also, I'm afraid it will emphasize the blotches. The first photo is before any "treatments," and the second (close-up) photo is after. ~Jennifer

Thanks, Chris. Beautiful green and blue in that picture!

Thanks for the reply, Tim. I was using Createx airbrush acrylic. I bought out someone's hobby, and a lot of that kind of paint came with the deal. I didn't think it was only useful for airbrushing, but maybe? I tried a different type after reading your post, and it worked a lot better. The new paint does have some sparkles in it, though, which might help. I really like your black-eyed susan purse! I'm putting yellow Echinacea flowers on my work. Maybe I'll be brave enough to post pics when I'm done.

I'm making a clutch purse with flowers on the front. I wanted the flowers to be bright yellow, but I don't have a dye that will do that. Is there such a thing? I tried yellow acrylic paint, and it was horrible. I can't stand the chalky look on my beautiful leather. I started by diluting it with water, which just seemed to make the yellow chalk spread out more. So I applied it straight up. Yuck. I wiped it all off with solvent. I hope that was an okay thing to do -- I found out by accident that it removed it. I'm assuming deglazer does the same thing. I found few threads on using regular oil paints. I put a little yellow on some scrap leather, and the color was definitely better than acrylic. I'm worried about the oil penetrating the leather and what effect that might have, though. Plus, I've heard drying time is protracted, so I'm not going to do oil paint on the clutch purse. I purchased a bunch of different Sharpies and other markers, which are quite nice for solid coloring. Not too great where subtle blending is required, though. What other options are there for bright colors? ~Jennifer

Heyyyyyy, nice video! Thanks! But I did notice that your presser foot doesn't extend out in front of the needle and top feed dog (?) like mine does. I have three presser feet. Two are left and both extend in front of the needle, and one is a double, and both of its sides extend pretty far out, too. I guess I could grind off one of the left presser feet, since I have two. That's probably easier said than done. The presser feet I've found for the Artisan are $65 to $95, which seems like an awful lot.

Thanks again for the responses. I'm trying to avoid hand-sewing, naturally, and I did try the rivet at the buckle. I just thought I'd save money and time if I could just sew up to the buckle instead of messing with the rivet. I thought about somehow "shortening" a presser foot, too, but which one? I don't know enough to know which one could stand to be possibly ruined. Well, onto gaining experience.

Hey, thanks for the examples. I don't want to purchase another presser foot at the moment, because they are super-duper expensive! So I'll try some of these methods. The thing is, I've read somewhere that it isn't a good idea to sew straight across the strap. It made sense to me because sewing pokes holes in the leather, which seems to make sort of a perforation across the strap. I figured that's why I've seen a lot of horse-tack straps sewn with a fish-like shape. Does this make sense or does it sound like a buncha baloney? I'm here to learn.

Nope, all the presser feet I have extend out in front of the needle area. Time to spend more clams!

Thank you for the replies. I received a few different presser feet with the machine, so I'll dig and see if any fit the bill.

I'm not much of a seamstress, so why am I trying to learn the basics of sewing on an Artisan 3000 with leather and biothane? To drive myself nuts, I guess. I have done a general search of the Web and this site, but can't find anything specifically about how to get the stitches close to buckles. The presser foot gets in the way. If I lift the presser foot, I get weird stitches. What's the trick? ~Jennifer

Thanks for the replies. I may wait on this since it has those drawbacks and is kind of a long drive.

I am so new to this that I'm almost too scared to post. I would like to sew horse tack -- everything but saddles. I found a lightly used GA5-1 for sale for $800 about 2.5 hours away. I'm at least smart enough to know that I should seek advice before making such an investment. Here is a picture of the machine: Here is what the seller tells me about it: "The machine was bought at Bogle Greenwell in Dallas. It is an import but modeled after the adler 205. Has a 1/2 horsepower motor. Have had it for 6 years but has been used very little because I retired. Its a single needle, lockstitch, has a lift of 15/32", 11" arm. Should work on most materials you want to sew Was being used on saddle repairs and custom leather work." 110 clutch motor (1/2 HP) has a switch to change to 220 (I'm not completely sure how this is accomplished) Would this be a good investment for a total beginner? Like most folks, I don't have a huge budget and this is about as expensive as I could go. I understand that this doesn't have reverse and that a clutch might be a bit tricky at first. I'd appreciate any time y'all can take to give me advice. Thank you. ~Jennifer