Working with Saffiano Leather

[BettyJ]

Hi clever leather workers!

I'd like to ask a question on how to make a stiff leather corner neatly. It's a turned construction so I really doubt I'll have much success, to be honest.

I've been asked by my client to work with saffiano leather. Essentially, it's a chrome tan with a coating on it. Feels kinda plasticy and stiff, it's really not my first choice for this style of bag. Personally, I don't like saffiano leather, it doesn't feel like real leather to me. It feels cheap and nasty and plastic. No smell of leather either, which is what I love most about leather working.

I have tried skiving it really thin, I've cut into the curves to make it fit into the corners better, pretty much anything I can think of and it still looks rubbish. Even my stitching just won't cooperate and look nice and even. 

Essentially, I want the corners to look like the brown pouch pictures. This is a gorgeous chrome tanned German leather that I picked up from the trade expo as a sample hide. I had a few small bits left from a bag I made so I though I'd use them to experiment with. 

I also have a hide of it in a beautiful wine colour and I'm trying to talk them around to letting me use that instead of their leather, as I doubt I'm going to get a nice finished product and I'm way too fussy to do a half measure.

Does anyone have any tips on how I could make the Saffiano work? I've attached some pics of my sample pieces for your info. 

Thanks so much!

[BettyJ]

Update: I've tried a different construction i.e. an inset gusset after a bit of googling saffiano leather bags. It's ok but I'll need to paint away the horrid white edges that my skiving exposed. *sigh* Seriously, this stuff doesn't even smell like leather or feel like it. My husband wouldn't even touch it, said it looked awful and he couldn't understand why they wanted me to use it instead of the brown or burgundy I have at home.

[YinTx]

I'm a bit baffled by the Saffiano leather craze as well.  I've seen it in high end stuff, and I've seen the leather for sale, if you can call it that. Perhaps there is some inherent quality that I am unaware of....

YinTx

[Stetson912]

Have you considered piping? My knowledge on bag making is next to nill but it's a thought that crossed my mind. It would hide the stitching fairly well I think. 

[Stetson912]

Oh and a brief search turned up this somewhat depressing bit of info. Apparently saffiano leather is any tannages that is coated with opaque resin and finished with the cross hatch texture. So that's why it's plasticy feeling. But apparently it's more durable and easier to clean. But, even those attributes just dont make it worth it to me. https://www.google.com/amp/s/minkudesign.com/2015/03/24/saffiano-leather-yay-or-nay/amp/

[BettyJ]

40 minutes ago, YinTx said:

I'm a bit baffled by the Saffiano leather craze as well.  I've seen it in high end stuff, and I've seen the leather for sale, if you can call it that. Perhaps there is some inherent quality that I am unaware of....

YinTx

Tell me about it YinTx. It's just so bleh. I'm trying to talk them out of it but not having much luck. I may refuse to make it. 

22 minutes ago, Stetson912 said:

Have you considered piping? My knowledge on bag making is next to nill but it's a thought that crossed my mind. It would hide the stitching fairly well I think. 

Hi Stetson912

I have but I'm waiting on my foot. I get the feeling that it won't make much difference, to be honest. All of the piped versions I've seen are straight piped, not curved. 

[BettyJ]

18 minutes ago, Stetson912 said:

Oh and a brief search turned up this somewhat depressing bit of info. Apparently saffiano leather is any tannages that is coated with opaque resin and finished with the cross hatch texture. So that's why it's plasticy feeling. But apparently it's more durable and easier to clean. But, even those attributes just dont make it worth it to me. https://www.google.com/amp/s/minkudesign.com/2015/03/24/saffiano-leather-yay-or-nay/amp/

Oh I read this too. Explained why it was a different colour underneath when skived. 

[YinTx]

Huh.  Yeah.  I think I'll not buy any - any time soon.  and hope no one asks for it!

YinTx

[BettyJ]

2 hours ago, YinTx said:

Huh.  Yeah.  I think I'll not buy any - any time soon.  and hope no one asks for it!

YinTx

Yeah me too. I don't understand the fascination of it. 

[RockyAussie]

It looks like a difficult leather to work with. The brown one to me shows signs of overskiving and I would say if you can try the saffiano without any skive and as well change to a point neddle and not a leatherpoint as that will stop the plasticy finish from opening out as much. Also you would need to tighten your top tension maybe 2 or 3 turns and your bobbin tension maybe a 1/2 turn as well. Once stitched....warm up with a heat gun up and down the seam until the leather is quite warm and towards hot then press around to get the shaping sitting as you want. I suggest to practice with some scrap first and try and work out how far you can cut back on your seam allowance and tap down. The back seam in a court shoe has only 2mm or less and is then pressed flat after stitching. A good shoe does still show next to no stitching at this seam. Experiment and have fun learning. Brian

[BettyJ]

2 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

It looks like a difficult leather to work with. The brown one to me shows signs of overskiving and I would say if you can try the saffiano without any skive and as well change to a point neddle and not a leatherpoint as that will stop the plasticy finish from opening out as much. Also you would need to tighten your top tension maybe 2 or 3 turns and your bobbin tension maybe a 1/2 turn as well. Once stitched....warm up with a heat gun up and down the seam until the leather is quite warm and towards hot then press around to get the shaping sitting as you want. I suggest to practice with some scrap first and try and work out how far you can cut back on your seam allowance and tap down. The back seam in a court shoe has only 2mm or less and is then pressed flat after stitching. A good shoe does still show next to no stitching at this seam. Experiment and have fun learning. Brian

Hi Brian!

Thanks so much for the advice, really appreciate it! Yes, it's been a bit of a tricky leather to get any kind of nice result with.

It's nice to meet another Aussie on here too. I'm from Perth but currently living in Singapore.

Yeah I think I went a bit nuts with the skiving on the brown leather. I'll knock it back a little on the next one. I want to make another but with piping. I'm just going to wait for my feet to arrive and then have at it.

Thanks for the stitching advice, I'll go fix the tension on my machine once I'm off the computer. Still getting the hang of it as it's been so long since I've used it. I don't know that I have a point needle, I'll have to go look. 

Oh the heat moulding sounds like a great idea and I don't know why I didn't think to cut down and flatten the seams. I've made ballet flat shoes before and we did this with a tiny seam and then glued it down. Doh!

Thanks and I will do. I've been at this now for about two weeks. It's driving me a bit mad but I know that I'll get there in the end. You don't learn without making mistakes and these last two weeks, well, let's say I've re-learned a lot of stuff I should have remembered. Ah well.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how I go.

[chuckgaudette]

I've made some bags with Saffiano and it is hard to work with. I can be a real pain to get through the sewing machine. 

[BettyJ]

7 hours ago, chuckgaudette said:

I've made some bags with Saffiano and it is hard to work with. I can be a real pain to get through the sewing machine. 

Hi Chuckguadette

It has been a bit challenging to get through the machine. It's so stiff, it's like sewing cardboard. ☹️

[BettyJ]

Success! Thanks so much for the advice Brian! The smaller seam worked better, I changed to a point needle and tightened up my tension in both my bobbin and on my dial. After I'd stitched it, I blasted it with my hairdryer to help mould it. Results are below. I think this is the best I'm going to get so I'm going to practice a bit more before attempting the real thing. Feeling a bit more confident now.

 

[RockyAussie]

WOW.... now that's looking a whole lot better to me...congratulations.

P.S. keep an eye out on @motocouture work. If my rememberer is working right she is from over that side of OZ as well...originally. Cheers Brian

[motocouture]

On 11/25/2017 at 0:50 AM, RockyAussie said:

WOW.... now that's looking a whole lot better to me...congratulations.

P.S. keep an eye out on @motocouture work. If my rememberer is working right she is from over that side of OZ as well...originally. Cheers Brian

Agreed on looking better - might have to use some of those tips myself next time I do a rounded corner!

@RockyAussie your rememberer isn’t broken yet  I’m originally from Albany, WA, then somehow ended up in Pennsylvania with snow and no beaches 

[BettyJ]

On 11/25/2017 at 1:50 PM, RockyAussie said:

WOW.... now that's looking a whole lot better to me...congratulations.

P.S. keep an eye out on @motocouture work. If my rememberer is working right she is from over that side of OZ as well...originally. Cheers Brian

Thanks! I'm quite chuffed with it.   Thanks for the tips, really helped. The guys I'm working with were surprised as they had experienced the same issues and had tried skiving the daylights out of it and that just didn't work.

On 11/26/2017 at 11:50 PM, motocouture said:

Agreed on looking better - might have to use some of those tips myself next time I do a rounded corner!

@RockyAussie your rememberer isn’t broken yet  I’m originally from Albany, WA, then somehow ended up in Pennsylvania with snow and no beaches 

Hi @motocouture! Albany! Wow, I haven't been down there in years! Been a while since I've lived in Oz too. London for ten years now a side stop in Singapore for who knows how long. I don't know how someone who hates the humidity as much as I do landed up here! hahahaha! 

[RockyAussie]

Just curious ....have you checked out the Chek Hong tannery. We get a lot of skins sent to us from over there but I have never been there myself. Another really good tannery is Heng Long Leather and we get some skins sent from there as well. Both do a beautiful job of tanning Croc and delve into product making as well I believe.

Regards Brian

[BettyJ]

On 11/29/2017 at 6:22 PM, RockyAussie said:

Just curious ....have you checked out the Chek Hong tannery. We get a lot of skins sent to us from over there but I have never been there myself. Another really good tannery is Heng Long Leather and we get some skins sent from there as well. Both do a beautiful job of tanning Croc and delve into product making as well I believe.

Regards Brian

I haven't actually. Thanks for the heads up.  I've not worked with exotics.

I finished the pouch. I'm not 100% thrilled with it and I'm sure I can do better in future. Those small corners were really tricky, even with the piping foot.

[RockyAussie]

That's not so bad.....a little bit of strategic padding and stiffener before lining and I'd say you'd have it about right. Brian

[BettyJ]

16 minutes ago, RockyAussie said:

That's not so bad.....a little bit of strategic padding and stiffener before lining and I'd say you'd have it about right. Brian

Thanks Brian. Yeah I think that would have helped too. I think I need to find different ways of dealing with this leather. My fav method of folding isn't going to work with it. I'm thinking I should try painted raw edges. Might help stop it tearing from being too thin.

Next project is a laptop backpack with this stuff. Tried so hard to get the client to choose otherwise but they were adamant.  *sigh* 

[RockyAussie]

55 minutes ago, BettyJ said:

Thanks Brian. Yeah I think that would have helped too. I think I need to find different ways of dealing with this leather. My fav method of folding isn't going to work with it. I'm thinking I should try painted raw edges. Might help stop it tearing from being too thin.

Next project is a laptop backpack with this stuff. Tried so hard to get the client to choose otherwise but they were adamant.  *sigh* 

The edge coat method would alleviate quite a few of the folding issues I'd say but to do well will take longer. As long as they are happy to pay ...$$. and the bigger the challenge, the better your skills will be the reward at the end.  Hey...did I say that...?     I do wonder just how many of us do charge enough for this type of work??? Sometimes I charge thousands and not really want the work and they just keep happily coming on back and sometimes to the bone $ and they still want to bargain for less...   Still I keep learning.

[BettyJ]

3 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

The edge coat method would alleviate quite a few of the folding issues I'd say but to do well will take longer. As long as they are happy to pay ...$$. and the bigger the challenge, the better your skills will be the reward at the end.  Hey...did I say that...?     I do wonder just how many of us do charge enough for this type of work??? Sometimes I charge thousands and not really want the work and they just keep happily coming on back and sometimes to the bone $ and they still want to bargain for less...   Still I keep learning.

It will, I'm still trying to think it through but I'll start experimenting soon to see how it looks. Will probably still use the piping but with a slightly thicker cord for more structure.

Hahahahaha! Yes I'm all for improving my skills and charging for that.

I add a "tax" for jobs I don't want to do. It helps me to not complain and just get the job done.   Unfortunately, this time, I don't think I added enough tax. Ah well, you live and learn.

[JeannieH]

Hi everyone!  i am a new leather worker and bag maker...I have been running into a problem with how my seams look on the outside of the bag.  I am very much a perfectionist and after I make a bag...I pinch the seams on the outside..and if I see some thread or holes..I feel the bag isn't up to the standard I want.  I have only made one leather bag.  I have been practicing making bags with cork fabric..(I also have the same problem with the seams with this material) which in no way helped me as far as sewing leather bags lol.  How do you achieve professional seams?  Do you skive or not skive?  Skive, but not glue seam completely flat?  Skive a lot off..or not alot off...glue down but not completely flat?  Help!? lol

Currently I hand skive the leather seam..I use a leather needle size 16 or 18...I adjust my top tension until the top and bottom thread don't show the others thread on the top of bottom ( hope that made sense)..I am sewing with 3 to 4 ounce chrome tanned leather.