Need help hand sewing a leather sofa

[coffeeaddict]

Can't use needle nose pliers - the needle isn't coming out the other end.

One thing I could do is use an awl to make large holes and create new stitches - it will give the sofa a different look, I guess.

I just wanted to check if I wasn't missing a tool that is used that I don't have.

This is a pic of what I bought:

(Only 2 needles supplied - not 3 as I might have said above.)

EDIT:
- One guy quoted me £400 per sofa to fix. 
(The sofas cost £400 each in the first place!)
- Another guy quoted £165 for fixing both sofas. I'm thinking about this one.

Question: if I use a hair dryer, will this make the leather soft and allow the needle to go through easier?

[Renegade Sewist]

Hair dryer might desicate your leather and make it somewhat brittle. I wouldn't try it. As I said before, sometimes you use the pliers to push from behind to get the needle part way through then you grab and pull. Also, as stated circular needles are @$%&*÷!# to use on leather. You have to have the tip at 90 degrees to the hole or your poking into leather, not the opening (hole).

Are you using the awl as I suggested to loosen each hole before you take a stitch?  That's the best suggestion I've got for you.

As for repair price being roughly equivalent to the purchase price I'm not at all surprised. You can't remove the cushions. This is going to be a pain in several body parts for anyone to repair.

No matter how you repair this, new holes, old holes, it's going to have a different look. Unless you duplicate the thread and method of construction it'll be different. Unless you take apart the entire seam and restitch the whole thing it's going to look "repaired" or "mended". It just will. And it's not going to match the other seams which may or may not bug you.

I'd be inclined to fix it as best I could. That might be buying a remnant of upholstery leather that either blends or makes a pleasing contrast and gluing a patch on with barge cement. You could add more patches glued on elsewhere to make it a design feature. Then I'd find a quilt or throw that worked well with the sofa and have that tossed over the offending seam.

Have you disowned the kiddo yet? 

[b15erk]

Just reading the post by @Renegade Sewist  , and I'wondering if gluing a patch might not be the best solution for now - it will at least stop it getting worse.

I've just made a leather Scabbard for Theo, and I broke a curved needle going through the upholstery leather.  I did use glue though at certain points, and it has held well.  The worry for me would be that if you sitched it without stabilising the area, that the thread would cut through the leather.

Jessie