National Clothesline

As you may already know, if you have ever tried it, it is difficult to impossible to hand-sew suede and leather items with a sewing needle made for sewing cloth.

The needle just won’t go through the skin. The needle might go through a thin, soft skin like a lambskin or sheepskin leather, but it will probably break rather than penetrate a cowhide or pigskin leather.

The reason is that the skin is made up of a network of dense, interlocking fibers that resist penetration by a round-shaped needle such as is used in hand sewing of cloth.

To sew buttons or anything else onto suede or leather, you must use a special leather needle. These needles differ from the conventional cloth needle in that the point is not round but triangular and each edge of the triangle is razor sharp so that when the needle is inserted into the skin the three edges of the point will actually slit the skin, allowing the needle to penetrate like a hot knife through butter.

Leather needles, sometimes called glovers needles or leather craft needles, are readily available at any local leather craft store. Of course, a heavy thread should be used with this needle to fasten buttons and other hardware to suede and leather.

An alternate method to fasten buttons would be to use a device that inserts plastic loops through the skin to hold the buttons in place. These plastic loops must be resistant to drycleaning fluids.

The same sewing principle holds true when sewing suede and leather with a sewing machine. It is absolutely essential that the sewing machine, whatever the make and model, be fitted with a special leather needle for sewing leather. If you try to sew with the standard sewing machine needle made for cloth, it will probably either bend or break off before it goes through the suede or leather skin.

These leather needles can readily be obtained from a sewing machine supply store for any sewing machine by requesting a leather needle and specifying the make and model of your machine.

For example, if have a Singer 3115 sewing machine, ask for the leather needle for the 3115 Singer sewing machine. Of course, a heavy-duty sewing machine would be desirable as some of the skins that you may be sewing together can be quite thick.

A sewing machine made specifically for suede and leather would be ideal. A heavy-duty machine capable of sewing even the thickest of suedes and leathers would also be able to sew a saddle stitch and would have a walking foot that would not scuff the surface of smooth leather items.

What if you don’t have a leather sewing machine and can’t justify the cost of one at this time but you still want to sew suedes and leathers? You can make due with the sewing machine you have for many minor sewing repairs.

To use your standard sewing machine to sew suede and leather items, begin by getting the leather needle. Then if you need to replace lost saddle stitches you can slowly hand-feed the leather needle into the lost saddle stitch needle holes to replace the saddle stitches that are missing. You will have to raise the sewing machine foot to see where to sew the saddle stitches.

You will have to do the same thing when sewing smooth leather to prevent the foot from scuffing the surface of the leather.

Remember that sewing is the method used to replace undone seams, hems, and loose buttons and trim that were originally sewn on. However, patching of torn or ripped suede and leather is accomplished by gluing a piece of similar suede or leather to the backside of the torn area being patched using a cleaning fluid resistant glue like Royaltone Perma-Hold Glue. The end result of using the glue patch technique is far superior to trying to darn or mend leather using a sewing machine or hand sewing technique, which usually ends up leaving stitch marks and a scar like those found on the Frankenstein monster.