Hand Sewing
Sewing By Hand – What Accessories Are Needed?
Hand sewing is at least a small part of sewing, and you are going to either love it or hate it.
Either way, it is necessary, and you will need most of the items below in order to take on this task on a regular basis. Or at the very least, they will make it easier for you:
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Pin Cushion – A pin cushion that has an emery is the best route to go. You remember the old fashioned tomato pin cushion? If it has an emery it will work even better, and you can even make your own.
The cushion will store pins and needles, and to sharpen them you use the emery. The more popular emery looks like a strawberry.
Needles – It’s good to have various sizes and types of handsewing needles. Typically you can purchase a pack of these that come in a pouch or folder.
Dressmaking scissors of good quality – There are a variety of brands available. Fiskars and Gingher are well designed and built to fit the hand better.
Remember to get the one that fits your dominant hand since they have left and right handed scissors. But even a lesser costing pair will work fine.
Threads – buying thread seems simple enough, but all thread isn’t the same. Make sure that it’s of decent quality for strength and once you find a brand that works well for you stick with it.
Thread comes in a variety of fibers from cotton to silk. Most hand sewing will be ok to use if it’s polyester-cotton threads.
Needle threader – Especially if you are older these are extremely helpful. Makes for quick threading of a needle. A good trick is to add a drop of glue where the fine wire connects to the handle.
Let it dry completely. It will help with strength on the weakest part of the threader.
Thread snips – Generally U Shaped, and have sharp blades at the upper point of the U. A quick snip with them and the threads are trimmed.
Straight Pins – As a tip, glass head pins can be ironed over and the plastic head won’t melt into the fabric. But if you are careful with your ironing, then about any color ball pins will work for general sewing.
Bright colors are easier to see when ironing.
Sewing tape – the tape measure can be cheap as long as the measurements are accurate. There are retractable tapes for sewing that are different than the builder’s tapes.
These will be more flexible. Whichever one you go with make sure the tape doesn’t stretch. This will mess up the accuracy of the measurements very quickly.
Beeswax – If you have a little container of this, you can slide the thread through the container’s slots to coat it with the wax. It will be stronger and prevent tangles and knots.
Hemming Gauge – They are six inch rulers and have a sliding piece that are handy for hems and more. Don’t bend it because it will distort the shape and size of the ruler.
Thimbles – Not popular with seamstresses and tailors anymore, but the newer leather thimbles make these easy to wear and are helpful when sewing by hand.
Seam Rippers – Even the most experience seamstress will need this. If your seam doesn’t look correct, or the stitching is crooked, the seam ripper will save the day.
Small button container – Over time your buttons will accumulate. So a handy little box for them is essential.
Once again, even if you don’t appreciate sewing by hand or handling this task, any seamstress or tailor will have to learn how to at least do some simple sewing by hand. Hopefully this list of tools will help you with this technique.
Hand-sewing leather patches on jeans can be a great way to add personality. You can find leather patches in the shapes of letters, animals, and other cool designs; this is a great way to express your creativity.
The available designs are limitless. Anyone interested in doing this can easily find thousands of different patterns and interesting ideas online by visiting a number of forums, social groups or websites that specifically cater to creative sewing enthusiasts.
There are a few very important things about sewing leather you will need to know before attempting to attach a leather patch to your jeans.
Though such a project does not seem like it would be extremely dangerous, a few safety precautions must be taken to avoid any small mishaps that can turn into big problems.
Safety First
Sometimes, a project such as this will only require the use of dull stitching needles, which can damage your fingers or other parts of your body if enough force is exerted. In a case such as this, there is less of an injury concern as long as you pay close attention and focus on what you are doing.
On the other hand, no pun intended, careless use of sharp needles can result in several physical injuries ranging from irritating finger pricks to infections if the needles are dirty.
Safety concerns about using scissors to cut threads and materials for your project are self-explanatory. Cutting, stabbing yourself or losing a finger would very quickly zap the joy out of your project. Need we say any more about this?
What Tools Do You Need?
We will now look at some of the considerations and some of the items you will need to add leather patches.
Choose The Right Thickness of Leather
Choosing the right thickness and flexibility of your leather is very important because it will need to be bendable, twist-able and even scrunch-able throughout the life of your garment.
Another thing to consider about the thickness and rigidity of your leather is how difficult it will be for you to poke and pull a needle through it.
Use The Correct Thread
The thread that you use must be much more durable and longer lasting than the thread that is commonly used around the household for repairing holes in socks and such. If you can visit a hobby store or leather outlet to purchase the proper materials for your awesome project, that is highly recommended.
Use A Needle Designed For Leather
Leather needles come in a variety of sizes so that you can choose one or more that is easy to handle. They also come in different lengths and shapes to complete specific projects.
Though it is possible to use some of the needles designed for more standard materials, such as cotton and polyester, it would be a little wiser to use a set of needles designed for leather projects.
Have fun expressing yourself, and for goodness’ sake, please be safe.
Using leather to make handmade items can take a while to master. Whether you plan to use real leather or one of the available faux options, you will find the following advice on how to sew leather quite helpful.
1. Don’t Use Pins
Most people prefer to use pins to hold the fabric in place when sewing. While this is fine when working with many materials, it is not a good idea when dealing with leather.
Placing pins will leave holes that don’t close once they are removed. It would be better to use clothespins, tape or paper clips to hold things in place.
2. Do Fitting Ahead Of Time
You can do fittings a few times when sewing on standard fabric; however, this is not the case regarding leather. Every time you create a stitch, it will leave a hole, so there is no way to make alterations once a stitch has been made.
3. Choose The Right Needle
Some sewing needles are made for use with specific fabrics, and leather should use a needle designed specifically for sewing on it. When you are shopping for needles, make sure that you place these at the top of your list.
If you try using a standard needle when sewing leather, there is a possibility that it can bend or break when trying to force the needle through the fabric.
Remember that threading leather needles is a bit more involved than doing so with a traditional needle. It may take you a few tries to master it, so be patient.
4. Practice Your Stitching
As explained earlier, once you create stitches in leather, there is no way to redo them so they have to be done perfectly the first time.
If you are worried about messing things up, grab some scraps and practice your stitches beforehand.
Once you see that you can sew without mistakes, then you can move on to the leather you purchased for your project.
Again, this will take a bit of patience, but this is one of those cases where everything has to be done right the first time.
5. Place Markings On The Wrong Side
When sewing with a pattern, make sure you place all markings on the side of the leather that will not show when the piece is complete.
It’s important to note, marking wheels and transfer tape are not ideal when working with leather. Tailor’s chalk and marking pens are much better options.
Learning how to sew leather can be tricky, especially if you are not familiar with it. Use these tips to learn and find some scrap leather to practice on first.
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