Advice On Sewing Gussets In Heavy Leather.

[VanDutch]

Hope you can provide some advice/tips/tricks.

I am making motorcycle toolbags and other bags from 4mm leather and have been hand stitching the gussets to date. Tried once to machine sew on my Adler but had difficulty in folding the leather and feeding into machine at the same time. Someone mentioned that I'd probably need a Post type machine for this type of work.

cheers

Frans

[Tree Reaper]

Are you notching the gusset corners?

Is the foot pressure adequate?

Sometimes you have to push the leather through to help the machine along.

[rcsaddles]

I glue the gusset to the leather then stitch. That way you do not have to hold it in place as you stitch.

[Matt T]

Yeah, sand and glue on the very edge of the joint, and put some muscle into it.

[oltoot]

Yes, even w/ 50+ years experience I still sand and glue most sewing projects to cut down on the sweat and tears

[VanDutch]

Thanks for your advice guys. I have tried gluing but no success due to the tension needed to bend the leather.. Not sure about notching the leather, won't the notches show?.. Notching may work for inside curves where it is compressed but what about curves where it is stretched?.

[Matt T]

Thanks for your advice guys. I have tried gluing but no success due to the tension needed to bend the leather.. Not sure about notching the leather, won't the notches show?.. Notching may work for inside curves where it is compressed but what about curves where it is stretched?.

Yeah, it will show on outside curves unless you bind the edge.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Matt T

[Tree Reaper]

Depends how careful you are.

You can close the open mouth of the V and all that will be left is a fine line that will be difficult to see and can be masked with dye and wax until you get it perfected but you want to get it as close as you can.

[Paulsleather]

I don't know if this method would work for cycle bags as i'm not sure what type of seams you are making, but it would work on a satchel style bag.

Lightly dampen the gusset and form it into the basic "u" shaped curve you desire. While damp, begin to bend the long edges of the gusset back about 3/8ths of an inch or so. Assuming the gusset runs along the sides and bottom between a front and back panel, when dry you should have a "u" shaped gusset with a rim on the front and back edge that you can now glue and stitch to the front and back panels. It doesn't have to be perfect, just close enough so that your not fighting with the leather so much when you are attempting to join the pieces.

Good luck -

[silverwingit]

You can skive the areas on the inside near the corners before gluing and stitching. That thinning down of the leather makes it easier to manage stitching the corners. You might think about skiving the whole length of the inside edges. Oh to own a skiving machine!

Michelle