Working with leather

[SewRuthieSews]

I'm not experienced when it come to working with leather but I do have some scraps, one hide and a good sized piece. I also have a 1980s black jacket I'm going to repurpose.

The piece of leather is too stiff and thick for me to sew with my sewing machine, so I thought it could be good cut up into table mats. It's a dark red with a texture embossed into it.

Other than a sharp craft knife and a ruler are there any other tools I need? Do I need to do anything with the edges? Would it look better with some sort of banding marked as a border?

[Bodgeitandscarper]

For thick leather you can burnish the edges - I've never done it but have read about it!  Thinner leather I use Edge Foundation - I think you can use this on thicker leather too, and you can then use leather paint over it if you want.

[HenriettaMaria]

I learned a lot about the intricacies of leatherworking just by watching Suzie Fletcher on The Repair Shop.  She has lots of fancy tools because she's a saddler by profession - most of which you will never need - but it's illuminating to see how she uses them and what she uses them for.

DH wanted to get into leatherworking (and then got distracted by volunteering for the Wildlife Trust) so I bought him a table-mounted pony for Xmas, which is the baby version of the big daddy one Suzie uses.

He also bought himself a demi-lune cutter - he uses my self-sealing cutting mat when he uses that.  If you are intending to sew you will need an awl to make holes through the leather or, if you are working with fine leather, leatherworkers' needles, which have a triangular point with sharp edges for cutting the hole for you.  And some appropriate thread, a block of beeswax for waxing same, and either a stout thimble or a palm - google sailmakers' and leatherworkers' palm to see what I mean.

I think you do need to burnish the cut edges to make them look good.  Suzie does demonstrate what she does here.  Time for a dive into iPlayer or YouTube - there are videos for everything out there :-)

[Bill]

You could hand sew the edges. There are tools which look like a fork for punching sew holes which you can then thread with waxed...err...thread and a leather needle.
There are also stamps with designs on them.

[Hideout Hen]

A lot depends on whether it is veg tan or chrome tanned leather.
( If you don't know what you have. You can test by wetting a small area and moulding it over something, leave it to dry. If it keeps the moulded shape it's veg tan. You can't mould Chrome)
 You can use something like Tokonole to burnish the edges. Paint it on and while still damp, rub it with a smooth glass, wood or bone slicker. Chrome tan will smooth and firm a little, but Veg tan will get a high shine on it.
 You can emboss on veg tan but not on chrome tanned.
The thin leather will look better with hemmed edges and you can sew that on a machine if it's man enough, with a needle for leather.
If you have the patience, you can hand sew. Like others have said. You need a hole punch tool and needles.

[Sara-S]

I do a fair amount of work with leather.  You certainly can cut it up into placemat-sized rectangles. I do that type of cutting with a rotary cutter. You might want to round the corners- not essential, but I think it could look better.  You should certainly burnish the edges.

You treat them with a burnishing agent such as the Tokonole that Hideout Hen suggested.  That is one of the best ones. It works well & unlike a lot of others, has very little odor.  You can find plenty of YouTube vids like This on how to burnish. It isn't hard to do.

Other tools you may want include a corner-rounding punch, a mallet (to use with the punch), an edge beveler & a burnishing tool (sometimes called a slicker).