How to Customize Your Leather Clothes
Refitting a leather dress, coat, or pair of pants is more complicated than sewing traditional fabric. Leather does not forgive wrong stitches that show in the seam lines. That is why needle marks and stitching lines must be correct the first time. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Remove all stitching from leather clothing before you refit it to your body. Carefully cut the seams with a seam ripper. You will need to try on the clothing wrong side out. Have a friend place pins along seam lines, or pin a leather coat or dress to a dress form with the wrong side out. Make sure the dress form is structured exactly for your measurements. You can place a garment that fits you correctly on the form and secure it in the right positions to duplicate your upper torso.
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Use old-fashioned clothes pins and straight pins to fit the leather garment to your own curves or the dress form. Keep in mind that leather shows all pin holes, so make sure you stay within seam areas that will not show when the garment is worn. Never pinch leather too tightly to make it fit your body. Place pins along the exact lines you will stitch on a sewing machine.
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Use tailor's chalk to draw the exact stitching lines before you move to the sewing machine. Make darts, tucks, or hems exactly where they need to be placed. Leather is difficult to sew by hand, but you can baste pieces together loosely before you sew on the machine. Again, stay within the exact lines you will stitch to prevent needle or pin holes from showing when you wear the garment.
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Have someone help you try on the garment that is pinned or basted loosely together before you stitch it together on a sewing machine. Try it on wrong side out with the exact undergarments or outer garments you plan to wear beneath the leather. Leather does not stretch like most fabrics, so you will need to make sure the leather lies smoothly against all surfaces of your body before you do final stitching.
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If your garment is expensive, hire a professional seamstress to help. Leather coats or leather pants are difficult to customize yourself. Removing a waistband from pants or a collar from a coat is tedious work best performed by a professional. If you decide to hire someone, do not take the garment apart before the seamstress examines the garment on you.
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Tips & Warnings
If you get help from a professional, take along the shoes, skirt, and other garments you plan to wear with the leather clothing. A tailor or seamstress will need to hem the finished garment to look correct with heels or shoes.
