Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Patch Job

For months -- months, you understand -- this particular project has been floating around the sewing room. To wit, one pair of jeans (with holes in the knees thoughtfully provided by my son) and a pair of leather patches (already cut out and ready to go). It's really almost embarrassing how long it took me to finally sew those patches on! 




But better late than never, right? I handstitched the patches to avoid opening up the inner leg seams. Which required less work, in a way, but made the hand stitching a bit more fiddly. Hopefully these poor pants will get a new lease on life -- and "just in time" for the fall weather that should be arriving a very, very long time from now. *ahem*

PS -- I just put these through the washer and the dryer, and they came out beautifully! I was a bit worried about how the suede would hold up. Phew!

5 comments:

  1. What a clever solution! I hope cooler weather arrives soon. 'Already wanting to wear winter clothes :)

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    1. Thanks, Danice! I'm definitely ready for cooler weather -- I'd really like to go outside. ;-)

      Blessings,
      Shannon

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  2. Can I ask what leather tools you use/like? Have you found any tools at a good price that you really love?

    Thank you!
    Rachel

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    1. Rachel,

      So far my leather tools are pretty simple -- leather needles (for both hand stitching and machine, though I don't really use the machine needles anymore) and an awl. For this project, I did a running stitch around the edge of each patch with my leather needle (which has a triangular "blade" to cut through the leather), and then another round of running stitches with a regular needle. I like this method, because I've found that using the leather needle for backstitch or for two rounds of running stitch can sometimes cut the thread I'm sewing with -- a huge pain! The awl helps when I want to penetrate really thick leather, or if I want to be sure my stitches are perfectly even. I just recently bought a set of small round punches, but have yet to use them!

      Also, I use thicker, sturdier thread when sewing with leather, for increased durability.

      I'd like to add to my leather tool collection, as a few tools would greatly reduce the time and effort required -- and allow me to do more. But for now it's pretty simple!

      Blessings,
      Shannon

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    2. Thank you so much! That is very helpful. Your leather work has been just lovely!

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