Skiving Machine and Stitching Seams

[SonderingSusan]

Hey Everyone,

 

I skived a seam yesterday , and when i sewed the seam together, i noticed that there was one of two small punctures on the surface of my seam. 

 

I am now wondering, what does everyone else do regarding skiving and stitching seams. Do you stitch on the leather that is not skived/ in a bit further from the skive/ or did i just skive too deep ?

 

Any/ all opinions welcome and appreciated !

 

Thanks,

 

S

[RockyAussie]

Likely you have skived tooo deep. Whether you stitch above the skive or within the skive depends on the job and how you want it to appear. If you want the thread not to show much generally the thicker the better if the leather is soft.

[SonderingSusan]

hey @RockyAussie,

 

thanks for the tip. I have to say I'm not sure what i want to do really with the seam. Its kind of a complicated curved seam- i can post  picture on monday when back in the workshop. 

To be honest i don't have much knowledge about stitching leather and what conditions produce what results. Would you know of any good books or youtube channels about stitching leather seams? 

Thanks for your reply ! Happy St Patricks Day from Ireland!

 

Best,

S

 

 

[RockyAussie]

Happy St Patricks day to you as well if it still is I guess. I cant say I know of any books or video's on stitching in an overall all encompassing way. I guess first thing is are you hand stitching or using a sewing machine and what type if you are? I have too many sewing machine types to mention and although they all mostly work to sew and join stuff together in a similar sort of way they all have their own, can I say personalities. This week I had an operator who could not understand why the edge of the tote she had sewed up when put into shape showed the stitching thread so much down the edge. The tension looked fine and the knotting looked to be in the middle? This machine previously was still set up for very light duty work and the tensions were set to not pull the fabric out of shape on credit card pockets.By tightening the bobbin 1/2 a turn and the top tension about a full 3 turns we still ended up with the knot in the middle but the tightness of how it held was a world of difference better. The point here is that it can take a lot of practice to get the end result desired and sometimes a little advice can help.I would love to see your picture of the seam whenever you are ready.

Regards Brian

[SonderingSusan]

[SonderingSusan]

Hey @RockyAussie / Brian,

 

Thank you for your input and knowledge here, i really am so grateful and delighted to have someone to show this too that is a master of the trade. 

Brian, can you see from the last image above, the way my stitches are sort of leaving holes in the leather as it goes down the seam? would you know how i could sew this to minimize this effect ?

I am sewing on a cylinder arm "highlead" machine. The pictures above are of the seam, which as you can see has rips in it, i skinned the seams and stitched them, then hammered out the seam inside and out. 

Below is some examples of the seam done again. this time, i used amazed stitch, and skived the seams less and did not stitch in the skive as much as i could avoid- 

Thanks again for your adviice on this Brian ! 

 

Best,

S

[RockyAussie]

On 22/03/2017 at 2:48 AM, SonderingSusan said:

Brian, can you see from the last image above, the way my stitches are sort of leaving holes in the leather as it goes down the seam? would you know how i could sew this to minimize this effect ?

The second lot look like you have got it a lot better.

I could not be sure but it looks like your using LR point needles and in a seam that the stitching is not seen I would recommend either a TRI point or even  round points.If the leather has a stiff surface as it appears too I would think it not a good leather for that application perhaps.Now that I see what your trying to do I I would not stitch into the skive at all or at least keep the leather over 1mm thick. When you tap the leather down try gently warming it with a heat gun first until quite warm to hot,  then rub from the inside with a smooth ended hammer or slicker until nearly cool (about 1 to 2 minutes normally here). Then tap around gently onto a dolly until it looks right. Also make sure the thread tension top and bottom is tighter than normal.I hope you got to see my skiving videos as I have seen you having troubles with this in the past and was hoping they may help you some. I forgot to ask which model Highlead? Regards Brian

[SonderingSusan]

Hey Harry,

 

thanks so much for your detailed and thoughtful reply. You , and a few others on here have been my lifeline to solving big problems that no one else can help me with so thank you so much genuinely. it is such a massive help to me !

 

I have not seen you skiving videos i don't think. DO you have a link to them ?

 

I use SCHMETZ needles - Canu; 37:20AX1 Size 22. I was told by the company i buy off that AX needles were good for leather making a sort of diamond cut as they pierce the leather. I would definitely try other types of needles if i though they might be better for some jobs though!

Im going to look into getting a heat gun and using it as you explained ! thanks again for all your help ! 

 

Best,

 

S

[ENC]

If you are using a thread size less than 138/(135) you may be able to go to a smaller needle. This link goes to one of our sponsors and has needle size minimums for thread size .

http://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html

 

Ray

[RockyAussie]

 

Hey Harry,

 

thanks so much for your detailed and thoughtful reply. You , and a few others on here have been my lifeline to solving big problems that no one else can help me with so thank you so much genuinely. it is such a massive help to me !

 

I have not seen you skiving videos i don't think. DO you have a link to them ?

 

I use SCHMETZ needles - Canu; 37:20AX1 Size 22. I was told by the company i buy off that AX needles were good for leather making a sort of diamond cut as they pierce the leather. I would definitely try other types of needles if i though they might be better for some jobs though!

Im going to look into getting a heat gun and using it as you explained ! thanks again for all your help ! 

 

Best,

 

S

On the bottom of this answer you should see my You Tube Channel in blue. This will take you to 3 videos on using a roller foot on a skiver. Glad we could help solving the problems. Regards Brian

[JamesB1991]

Hi, just looking to join and share and learn