I bought this absolutely GORGEOUS leather on ebay from a seller called Rolipel Italia, & did I mention already, it is just GORGEOUS!
Its a lovely caramel colour with a bubble print design, & its glossy & thick (almost too thick in fact!) & just stunning.
I bought 2 skins, not knowing how much I'd need, & used 1 & a bit.
so some left over for a smaller project, such as a purse or similar.
I used Simplicity 3828, & what a tough choice it was deciding which one to make.
I eventually settled on the large slouchy style, as I really wanted to show off the leather.
Now my machine didn't really enjoy this experience, & it really put up a fight. A fraction heavier, & I doubt I could have sewn it, even though the seller did say it could be sewn on a domestic machine.
I pulled out all the stops, making sure I used a leather needle, teflon foot, tissue paper, heavy thread etc, but it still wasn't smooth sailing.
As such, I had to modify the design a little to make sure I wasn't sewing thru too many layers (& boy are those leather needles tough! a few times there I thought I was going to break one for sure, but it held against all the odds).
The darts were the most obvious change. Here I cut out the triangle of the darts, placed another piece of leather underneath, & joined the darts by topstitching them together....
the photo should show you what I mean better than my trying to describe it.
For the lining I chose a nice leopard print satin, which co-ordinated nicely.
Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out for my first attempt at sewing with leather.
& even though its nowhere near perfect, I'll certainly be putting it to good use.
Here it is laying flat so you can see the basic shape.
I'm now on the hunt for some softer leather to try another one, as I really love how this turned out.
Wow, I'm impressed and what a gorgeous piece of leather. I have some vinyl that I plan to make purses with, but haven't gotten the courage yet. Very inspiring there and I love the lining too.
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