Sewing leather

[Sara-S]

I posted in another thread about making a wrist rest for my laptop.  I made it from some scrap flannel, which is A)a little small, due to the size of the scrap I had and B)still a good learning experience.

So next, I want to make a better one from leather. I ordered a piece (soft, pliable stuff, not thick saddle leather) that is the right size. I have also acquired leather needles, feet and suitable thread for my sewing machine.

I did some practice on some scrap leather. Here is what seems to work;
1)Set my stitch length to 5.
2)Sew slowly. As soon as I picked up much speed, thread loops formed. None did, when I went slowly.
3)My machine will tie off the thread (with a push of a button) but with such heavy thread, it leaves a noticeable bump.  So I do it the old-fashioned way and lock it down with some back-stitches. 

I would love to hear any insights from those of you who have more experience with this.

[Renegade Sewist]

@Sara-S you're better off tying off by hand, especially if you are using a heavier than normal sewing weight thread. Easier to reduce the bump that way. As far as back stitching goes it's typically 2 or 3 stitches on leather. What a lot of leather workers tend to do is start in from the edge and sew in reverse first for the few stitches then go forward. Reverse at the finishing end. If however you are sewing all the way around something so your start and stop points meet don't back stitch just over lap maybe 3 to 5 stitches.

You might also like to use a tiny drop of Fraycheck to lock the last stitch or a knot. Do it on the back and use a pin or toothpick. You just want it on the thread, not the leather.

[Sara-S]

Thanks for the hints @Renegade Sewist !  I do keep Fraycheck, so I will use some, when I make my new rest.

[Sara-S]

It was a challenge to sew it closed and that seam doesn't look great. But i's done and comfortable to use;
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