Soft Leather Technique

[ebm010]

I have made many roper style products out of veg tan but I want to start using softer leather for more fashion type products.

No experience at all in that arena other than being a very good on the sewing machine.

So I found this old Daytimer leather binder in my attic which is exactly the kind of thing I want to start making.

The interior is no sweat as it is very similar to the stuff I make already in veg.

One thing different in this softer leather is how the outside main cover piece is attached.

In the zoomed in view of detail "A" The front cover wraps around and is sewn around the entire periphery of the product.

The wrap around is less than 1/4 inch and is very consistent around the entire path.

I cant see how this could be done with a pre-cut piece. My thought is it is trimmed after stitching with some sort of precise tool I am not familiar with.

Am I all wrong here?

Hope someone out there has done something like this before.

I miss veg already.

 

HowTo.pdf

[CastleLeatherWorks]

could you possibly post the actual pictures in the forum ?

[LatigoAmigo]

17 minutes ago, Enanez84 said:

could you possibly post the actual pictures in the forum ?

EMB010... I sure hope you don't mind, but I've extracted the images from your PDF and posted them here. So many of us are visually oriented...

[Dwight]

It is a common technique in fabrics, . . . it's called bias tape, . . . this is just the leather version.

It will of course, . . . have to be contact cemented or glued together before it is sewn, . . . otherwise it would run away and look some kind of ugly.

Go to a Joann Fabric shop and let one of the ladies in the sewing machine dept show you how to to it.

May God bless,

Dwight

[LatigoAmigo]

1 hour ago, Dwight said:

It is a common technique in fabrics, . . . it's called bias tape, . . . this is just the leather version.

I have a similar portfolio, with edges that appear to be identical, and there is no bias tape involved. I had considered making one of these, but decided, because of the construction methods used, that it was out of my league... but it looked so easy.

[Dwight]

2 hours ago, LatigoAmigo said:

I have a similar portfolio, with edges that appear to be identical, and there is no bias tape involved. I had considered making one of these, but decided, because of the construction methods used, that it was out of my league... but it looked so easy.

Well, honestly, . . . I had to go check mine, . . . and I was sure I was right on mine.  

It has a thin strip of leather working in place of the bias tape on fabric, . . . it wraps around the edge, . . . showing on both sides, . . . stitched all around the outside of it.

I've done similar, . . . not as intricate, . . . on a bag I made for a lady once, . . . spent hours and hours on it and gave it to her for a wedding gift, . . . she dropped it off at a flea market.

Just don't get discouraged, . . . it can be done with a good sewing machine and a bottle of Weldwood contact cement.

May God bless,

Dwight

[ebm010]

Did a partial de-construction. No additional tape or leather strip.

I'm confident that ,at least for this particular version, the cover leather is cut slightly oversize, stitched and then trimmed closely.

I tried a test piece and was surprised how accurately the trimming could be done. Shears have to be good quality and sharp.

You can ride the point of the shears under the flap and tight along the stich line as you cut.

Thanks for taking the time to help.