About Stitching With Leather
Leathercrafting, or the art of stitching with leather, has been done for thousands of years. Refined over time, the craft today has developed into a highly specialized field that relies on technique, equipment and hard work. Although the basic skills can be performed by anyone with the proper materials, true leathercrafting requires an artist's eye and the willingness to learn through experimentation.
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Features
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Leather can be stitched by hand or by machine. Machine-stitched leather involves the use of a heavy-duty industrial sewing machine that takes heavy thread, while the more traditional hand-stitching is done with special needles and different types of thread. Most hand-stitched leathercrafting requires several glover's needles and harness needles threaded with either linen thread or artificial sinew. Other useful tools are a stitching awl for poking holes into the leather, a rotary hole punch for punching holes into the leather, and an overstitch wheel, which is used to create guidelines for stitching. Leathercrafters also keep handy rubber cement, beeswax, conditioning oil, rubber mallets and heavy-duty craft cement.
Function
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The basic process of stitching with leather starts with determining the layout, or pattern, that the leather must be cut into. Like in regular sewing, a full-scale pattern is drawn up, sized and placed onto the leather, this time with rubber cement so that it does not slide. All pieces are cut using sharp scissors or a razor knife, with the scissor blade perfectly perpendicular to the leather. Before stitching the pieces together, heavy leather needs to be pre-punched with an awl and mallet, and any dye should be used first. Once the dyeing is finished, all stitching is done and the final product is oiled and rubbed with beeswax for protection.
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Identification
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The most common types of stitches used on leather are the running stitch, the saddle stitch and the whipstitch. Running stitches look like dashed lines and are created by threading the needle through one hole and out another on the opposite side. Saddle stitches are created using two needles at each end of a length of thread. One needle is pushed through a hole to the halfway point in the thread and then the other needle is pushed through the adjacent hole the same way. Unlike the other stitch types, the whipstitch is done through only one side of the leather. The needle is pushed through a hole in one side and then through the adjacent hole in the other side, creating a looped binding. All stitch types are backstitched, which involves going back over part of the seam for reinforcement, and then knotted into place.
Types
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The two most common types of leather are chrome tanned and vegetable tanned. Chrome tanned is most often found in commercial leather products, while vegetable tanned is more expensive, lighter in color and most often used for artistic or armor purposes. Leather can be cowhide, which is fairly thick; pigskin, which is thinner; and deerskin, which is soft and stretchy. Furry leather often comes from rabbits, and other animal skins can be used for different projects. In the commercial world, cowhide and pigskin are often used for belts and handbags, while garment leather is usually buckskin, suede and chamois. Leathercrafted products can be simply stitched together, or they can be decorated with tooling and stamping techniques, which are done using a metal stamp or plate that presses an image into the leather.
Considerations
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Supplies for stitching with leather can be bought both locally and on the Internet. Many leathercrafters buy directly from a tannery or taxidermist, or use bulk leather websites like Tandyleather.Com and Shopforleather.Com. eBay is also an often-used source of leather dealers. Other leathercrafters choose to tan their own raw leather. Raw leather can be acquired from hunters, who often discard the skins, and conservation agents dealing with animals killed on the road. Stitching with leather can become a whole skinning, tanning and sewing process for those that are choosy about their materials.
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