Adding buttons to Lederhosen

[hanzosbm]

Quick bit of information for those unfamiliar:

The typical Lederhosen most people are used to have suspenders to hold them up which attach via 4 buttons. In recent years, the fashion trend has been to forego the suspenders in favor of a belt. Normally, this would be fine, but some manufacturers have used this trend as an excuse to leave the buttons off. 

Being an American, I had to buy my recent pair online, and didn't realize it was missing the buttons till they arrived, and now I need to add them. I've already sourced the buttons, now it's a matter of adding them. 

The way they are attached (as shown in the pictures) is with a strip of leather passing through the button, then that strip is passed through the waistband via a small hole and then sewn down. As the leather is traditionally chamois tanned deerskin (mine is chrome tanned goat, but similar properties) it stretches a bit, so a very narrow backing ribbon is seen onto the back/inside of the leather strip.

So, I know how it's constructed, so what's the problem?

I don't own a sewing machine. 

I'm used to saddle stitching veg tanned, but this is very different. How do I go about doing this? Should I take it somewhere to be done? If so, would a tailor be a better place than a leather shop? Maybe a cobbler?

[hanzosbm]

[hanzosbm]

Any suggestions on this kind of sewing without a sewing machine?  Is it possible, or do I need to take it somewhere to have it done?

[fredk]

That appears to be easy-peasy to hand sew and not easy with a sewing machine

Pull the flat leather lace through the button (I would put a leather spacer between the button and the trousers), through the waistband and sew to a leather patch, then sew the leather patch to the trousers. A fiddly bit of sewing but easily done

[hanzosbm]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

That appears to be easy-peasy to hand sew and not easy with a sewing machine

Pull the flat leather lace through the button (I would put a leather spacer between the button and the trousers), through the waistband and sew to a leather patch, then sew the leather patch to the trousers. A fiddly bit of sewing but easily done

Thank you, Fredk.

I've only ever done saddle stitching after pre-punching the holes with a diamond chisel.  I don't think that would work in this case.  Is there a different kind of needle/method I should use?

[fredk]

I would; take the flat leather lace through the button, through a spacer, through the trousers and through the patch. I would use a small dab of glue to hold the flat lace to the leather patch and sew the lace to the patch with a few stitches. I would splay the ends of the flat lace to either side of the hole in the patch which they come through

Then a small dab of glue to hold the patch in place and sew it to the trousers. I would use a glovers needle, a straight one for sewing the lace to the patch, but a curved glovers needle to sew the patch to the trousers. You can make any straight needle into a curved one by heating its centre up red hot and bending it

By using the curved needle you can go through the patch, the inner layer of the trousers and come back out through the patch again

[Klara]

Does your picture in the second post show the outside of the strip of leather (under the button)? To me it looks as if the thread holding the button's strip of leather was stitched through the leather of the trousers, meaning you don't even need a curved needle. 

You don't absolutely need a glovers needle either, because you can always poke the holes with a round awl (the diamond awls I know are maybe a bit big). And as you know, handsewing is just "needle in, needle out". Your stitches will probably be a bit bigger, but so what... Punching the holes with a diamond chisel might work as well, at least on the strip of leather (on the trousers only if you want holes all the way through).

Do you have a very old pair that is completely beyond saving? Then you could experiment on that. Just to gain confidence sewing that type of leather. 

In any case, I would NOT take the new pair to a tailor or cobbler who very likely never have seen Lederhosen. Before doing that I'd return it to the seller. 

 

 

[hanzosbm]

On 8/6/2022 at 2:53 AM, Klara said:

Does your picture in the second post show the outside of the strip of leather (under the button)? To me it looks as if the thread holding the button's strip of leather was stitched through the leather of the trousers, meaning you don't even need a curved needle. 

You don't absolutely need a glovers needle either, because you can always poke the holes with a round awl (the diamond awls I know are maybe a bit big). And as you know, handsewing is just "needle in, needle out". Your stitches will probably be a bit bigger, but so what... Punching the holes with a diamond chisel might work as well, at least on the strip of leather (on the trousers only if you want holes all the way through).

Do you have a very old pair that is completely beyond saving? Then you could experiment on that. Just to gain confidence sewing that type of leather. 

In any case, I would NOT take the new pair to a tailor or cobbler who very likely never have seen Lederhosen. Before doing that I'd return it to the seller. 

Hi Klara,

In retrospect, I should have numbered the pictures to be able to refer to them easier.

The second picture of the first post, and the first picture of the second post are not MY Lederhose, but rather a pair I found online to try to show how the buttons are often attached.

The rest are mine, but, for good or bad, the manufacturer did a REALLY nice job of hiding the stitching so it's hard to see.

I agree that a curved needle likely isn't necessary, I just have no experience with hand sewing besides saddle stitching. From what I have learned, the typical method is to take a thin thong of leather approximately 2-3 inches long and sew a ribbon/backing along the length of it. That piece is then passed through the button. A small hole/slit is then made in the waistband of the Lederhose (all the way through) and the tails of the thong are fed through the front and come out the inside. Those tails are then sewn down to the waistband (usually all the way through).

I also found a video online where the tails were sewn down around the circumference of the tails rather than back and forth across it. Either way, I'm looking at trying to sew through two layers of the waistband, the two layers of the thong tails, and the ribbon backing them. I don't have any experience with hand sewing in this regard, so I'm not sure how difficult it would be or what gauge glovers needle I'd need, etc.

 

[Klara]

That's why it would be great if you could practice on something else than your good new pair. For example to test if you need a glovers needle or if you can poke the holes with a round awl.

I think the first thing you need to do is get over your fear of handsewing! Hey, saddle stitching is more difficult than working with one needle! So find some clothing that needs some sort of repair (replacing a button on a shirt, putting elbow patches on one, repairing a piece of broken hem) and do it, just to get over your phobia ;) Sorry, but you comes across as handsewing-phobic, for which there is no reason if you can handle two needles for saddle stitching.

Btw, I could imagine saddle stitching working (though I'd not like to try it on the new pair): Punch the holes seperately through the waist band and the button strap, and then line up the holes with the first needle. Might work. Or not...

 

 

 

 

[hanzosbm]

5 hours ago, Klara said:

That's why it would be great if you could practice on something else than your good new pair. For example to test if you need a glovers needle or if you can poke the holes with a round awl.

I think the first thing you need to do is get over your fear of handsewing! Hey, saddle stitching is more difficult than working with one needle! So find some clothing that needs some sort of repair (replacing a button on a shirt, putting elbow patches on one, repairing a piece of broken hem) and do it, just to get over your phobia Sorry, but you comes across as handsewing-phobic, for which there is no reason if you can handle two needles for saddle stitching.

Btw, I could imagine saddle stitching working (though I'd not like to try it on the new pair): Punch the holes seperately through the waist band and the button strap, and then line up the holes with the first needle. Might work. Or not...

 

Well, I wouldn't say it's so much a phobia as an apprehension. You make a good point about trying it first. I'm really not worried about being able to perform the stitches, it's more about not knowing which needles to buy, and not knowing if it'll punch through the leather. But, I suppose if I just stack up 4 pieces of scrap leather and try it out, I'll find out pretty quick. 

I just have to act fast. Time has gotten away from me and I need the buttons added and the back straps of the suspenders finished in 3 weeks. Plenty of time if things go smoothly; cutting it close if I have to pivot.

As a back up, I found an old pre-1930 sewing machine that the previous owners of our home left behind (never realized it was inside of the table we've been using for years). I found a downloadable instruction manual, but it is FAR from straight forward (for me) and it might take some heroics just to get it running.

[Klara]

Is it a treadle sewing machine? Great find, but I would definitely NOT use it for this job. As @fredk has said, this would be more difficult with a sewing machine then by hand.

[fredk]

Use a round point awl, aka a 'scratch awl' to poke round holes through the leather first then use a # 001 (JJ Needles) or a 00 or 000 (Osborne) Glovers Needle with 0.6 to 0.8mm waxed thread to sew up