albertacountrygirl

Thank you Wizcrafts for the great advice.

I have a chance to buy both of these Singer machines for $50 each. Are either of them any good for sewing on leather? I would only need to sew purses and handles with them. One is a 15J and the other is a 99K. Both are in almost mint condition except that the 99K is missing the bobbin holder.

Hi wolfwomanjo - I would very much appreciate the pattern. Scan and email works for me. My email is: theleatherhut@hotmail.com Thank you very much.

Hi Jo, yes I am still looking for this pattern. I would love it if you could send a copy to me. Can you scan and email or what way is best to send it. Thanks.

Hi there, thanks for responding. Actually I don't have the pattern for the Down Towner so I wouldn't mind it as well. But, the Town Pak is the one I'm searching for. It was a really cute bag. Narrower at the bottom then angled out at the top. Only a small tab that folded over for the closure and had 2 short straps to hang on to (not a shoulder strap.). I made this bag for my mom back in the 70's I think it was. I have located most of my old patterns except for this one. And, wouldn't you know it, that's the one that this customer wants! If worse comes to worse, I can make my own pattern but didn't want to take the time to do that. Hopefully someone has it. I have searched on the Tandy site for their vintage patterns but it is not there. Thanks. Patty

I am actually just in the process of doing that! If I find one I will let everyone here know.

Thanks very much. Somehow I missed seeing the link. Have them now and starting to download.

I am seeking this old purse pattern that was called the "Town Pak". I lost a number of my patterns during a move and this is the only one I have yet to replace. Thanks to all for all your postings and help and advice! I learn so much from many of you!

Thanks very much for sharing. If these are still available I would love to have them. My email is theleatherhut@hotmail.com.

Thanks for the help so far. I do intend on practicing before making the covers. I recently designed and made my own motorcycle seat covers for the front and back seat of my bike. I am currently making my own saddlebags (without a pattern). But - these are things for my own personal bike and not something for a paying customer so I plan to be super careful and - practice, practice, practice! I like to live by my fathers teaching me - measure 4 times and cut once! Aaron, I have explained to the customer about elk being easily stretched out of shape but he is adamant about using it. The elk skins he has are from animals he personally has killed and had the hides tanned. Beaverslayer - I like your ideas a whole lot, especially about using a purchased seat cover as a template. That would make things a little easier for sure. And that's a good idea about using veg tan for the front and sides giving it a more custom look. The head rests I don't think are going to pose a problem at all as you say. His seat is a 40-20-40 split style. I like your idea of inserting a few tooled pieces too. Thanks for a sort of 'pricing' idea. I think its a decent one. The guy said that this is his "dream truck" and dreams are not cheap! Also, I don't have a sewing machine and have for the past 40 odd years done all my leather sewing by hand! So, that means more labor intensive pricing. James - wow! That sounds like one heck of a project and something I would like to do to my own truck! I fully intend on practicing though on a couple of old benches that I have laying around in my garage. I have a few small pieces of elk and deer hides that I can use for practice. So, if anyone else wishes to give me more hints and suggestions, I would love to hear them all. I have no idea what the gentleman wishes to pay and we are meeting up in the next week or so. I do know that he said there is no rush at all on getting them done, he is hoping that someone can do them "in their spare time" is what he said. That might just mean that he doesn't want to pay a proper price too - we will see when we get together I suppose. If he thinks that someone will do what he wants for a couple hundred bucks - well then, sorry fellow - it ain't gonna be this cowgirl!

I just got asked if I could make a set of pick-up truck seat covers. The gentleman has tanned elk skins that he wants to use. The headrests he wants in a tooling leather with some hand tooling done. That is not a problem because I've done tooling for years so I can figure out that part. Also, he wants some fancy lacing to show, and he hasn't explained this part to me yet. I'm thinking that he wants the elk skins joined in places in a nice pattern of some sort and using fancy lacing to show the stitches. My question is (okay - a few questions!): How would I go about doing something like this and how do I figure out how much to charge him? What would be the best way to lace the skins together and using what sort of lace that wouldn't tear apart the skins with a person getting in and out all the time? Should I make the covers to fit exactly like the original or would they look better with "uneven" edges hanging down the front so they just look as if they are laying over the bottom part of the seat? Do I leave on the old seat material and just make a "removable cover"? I've never made anything such as this before but am willing to try. Except that I don't want to go in totally blind and stupid! And, I definitely don't want to abuse or wreck his elk skins. Also, I have never done anything for someone where they have supplied the leather. I know what to charge for my normal things but this has me stumped. So, if any of you have suggestions on how I would complete something like this I would much appreciate it. Help with some sort of instructions would be awesome too if any of you can help there.

Thanks for the help so far. I will contact both companies mentioned. The machine is still at my son's house and I am in the process of rearranging my leather room to accomodate it. It's dang heavy and once it gets where I want it, it isn't going to be moved!

I hope this pic shows up ok.

I have an antique 1921 Singer Cobbler Machine that I just got. Wondering if anyone knows anything about this machine? I want to use it for some leather sewing if possible but I don't do any real heavy stuff like boots - possibly I will start making some saddle bags or something though! Any input is welcome.

Some good ideas there Chancey77. Thanks a bunch. I think you are correct with the idea of losing the elastic and using eyelets. I'm having a real hard job finding any leather that matches the blue in the bike. I think that 2 tone would be awesome but as I said, blue leather is tough to find. I'm even prowling the second hand clothing stores for garments that I could cut up! I have also thought about somehow incorporating tooling leather somehow (with a nice tooled eagle or something) - maybe a nice shaped piece in the center of the 2 seats and the back rest. Don't quite know how that would look but it's another idea. Beads on the laces would look great too. I also thought of using leather lacing in blue to lace the top and side pieces together with. Anyone else with ideas or thoughts would be appreciated. And especially any ideas on what the heck to do with the saddlebags! I think I'll have to make "dummy" ones for shows.

I have a cruiser bike (Boulevard C50T) that I have shown successfully. The bike is blue/white and of course seat, back seat, backrest and bags are black. I want to make "show covers" in white leather for them that I can put on for shows and remove for regular riding. So, this was my idea - make a cover out of white lambskin leather and make it with elastic underneath. This way I could just pop it on or off. This 'cover' is not meant to be used for actual riding so I think garment leather would be ok and easy to work with. I would have the seams for the edges, etc. as they are on the stock seat and back rest so they won't look like shower caps that are just popped over! I also would do some insetting or appliques of exotic leather in some sort of pattern to fancy it up. Another problem is that my stock seat & back rest have studs - how in the heck would I work around those with a 'show cover'? I have no idea how I would do anything with the stock saddlebags! I thought of just building some from scratch that I would just put on for shows. But again, I want white leather - maybe somehow make them out of upholstery leather? What I'm wondering is - do you think this idea would work or does anyone else have any other good ideas? Also - any help on figuring out how to do this would be greatly appreciated, such as how to make patterns because I didn't really want to take apart my stock seat and back rest. I have done leather tooling for many years but have never made anything for a motorcycle before so don't even know where to start. Maybe my whole idea here is just crazy and I should just buy a second seat & backrest and simply recover them? I hope some of you can offer some advice please and thank you!