Mel42

anyone have experience with veg tan leather discoloration from exposure to moving air while drying? I’ve been working with a very pale veg tanned leather, wet-stretching it around stool cushions. I have a sort of “drying box” with a fan that I put the cushions in to dry to protect them from dust and such in my work space. I’ve noticed that when placed too close to the fan or a small gap inside the box, the leather can develop a dark discoloration as though a wind burn. Anyone know why this happens or how to better prevent it? Thanks!

I have a new job working with a juki 1541 leather machine. I work with size 69 1/2lb nylon thread and size 22 needles to see through quite thick leather. The thread consistently gets caught in the tension disk and snaps while sewing. Online wisdom is this is caused by threading the machine with the foot down, but when I thread it with the foot up it actually makes the issue worse- the thread feels stuck as soon as I put the foot back down. If I loosen the top thread tension spring I get loops on the bottom of my seams so it's not too tight. Any insights?