How to Grade a Leather Seam

People new to sewing probably shouldn't sew with leather.

Sewing with leather raises a few challenges, one of which is to make the seams appear less bulky. The act of grading a seam reduces the amount of material in the seam, which improves the outside appearance of the garment or item made from leather. There are tools to make sewing leather easier, and it's important to use sharp leather needles and scissors for cutting, sewing and trimming the leather.

Things You'll Need

• Ironing board
• Iron
• Heavy brown paper
• Sharp straight scissors

Instructions

1. Turn the leather garment inside out to access the seams that need trimming. Some of the seams that benefit from trimming in a leather garment are the collar seams and armhole sleeves, although sewers can grade all the seams.

2. Set up the ironing board and turn the iron on to the rayon setting. Place the heavy brown paper over the seam and lightly press down on the leather to open the seam. You can use the unprinted side or back of a paper grocery store bag if you don't have any brown paper available. You may have to lift the paper to flatten small areas of the seam as you go. Some people use tape when sewing leather, but it's not a good idea to use either tape or pins to hold the seams flat when pressing them. Pins leave holes and tape melts.

3. Trim one side of the seam with sharp scissors. You may find it's easier to use straight embroidery scissors for trimming the seam rather than the scissors you use to cut fabric from patterns. If your seams contain more than two layers of leather, grade them gradually by leaving one with the normal seam allowance, another an 1/8 inch narrower and so on until you reach 1/8 inch, the narrowest you should attempt.

References

• Burda Style: Grading Seam Allowances
• Leather Association: FAQ