Vinyl sewing disaster

Hello everyone,

Well, I bought some pleather (lightweight) to make skirts out of. Today I attempted the first one. The seam on the wrong side joining the back of the skirt together went fine, and I thought "no problem!" Boy, was I wrong. As soon as I attempted to sew on the right side of the fabric, it would not feed through the machine. I broke out Sew Any Fabric for advice and tried using tissue paper on both sides, which worked, but since I could not see where I was sewing the seam was not straight. It does not look very good. This is on the kick pleat in the back of the skirt. I am hand sewing the other side, but frankly, it is not looking good either.

To salvage this, I am going to try to use that no-sew hemming tape or another type of adhesive to finish out the hem and create the waistband. I also thought I might buy some decorative tape to trim out the kick pleat and bottom hem to cover up my hideous stitching. I'll know better when I do the other one. Thankfully, this one was the cheapie black pleather. The other was much more expensive--a brown ostrich like print.

To avoid this disaster in the future, how should I sew leather or vinyl? I did use the right type of needle, but obviously there is more to it then that.

Any tips?

TIA for any advice,

Dawn

The stuff sticks to the presser foot. Use a walking or roller foot. Been there.

I have found on vinyl cushions I solved the foot catching problem by spraying a bit of silicon on a folded over paper towel and then wiping the silicon onto the vinyl for six or eight inches in front of the needle. Sew, repeat, sew, repeat. Works great.

Don't know that I would do that with leather, though. The little leather I have done I did one stitch at a time, pulling the machine over by hand.

Note, I have a Sailrite walking foot machine made for canvas and sail work.

Dawn, I didn't see your original post, but the first question that comes to mind is, is your sewing machine handle thick fabrics such as vinyl and leather? What model is it, and what is rated at? If it is an inexpensive machine that is not designed to handle thicker material,there's not much you can to do coax it into trying.

waistband. I

------------------------ "Old quilters never die, they just go to pieces."

The tips to use either a Teflon foot, or a walking foot are the best ideas. However, if your machine has neither of these, you can buy a Teflon tape that you can then adhere to the bottom of your presser foot. It's absolutely the best way to create a temporary Teflon foot, and the best part is that you can also add this to specialty feet.

In the past, I've bought Teflon tape, very pricey, from one of the mail order sewing catalogs (can't remember, but I think it was Clotilde). Recently, someone said they found similar tape at Home Depot.

Also, when you say you used the right needle, did you use either a ball-point needle, or one with a universal tip? A leather needle is not recommended. Pleather usually has a knit backing, so is sewn like a knit.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

I'm going to disagree, Karen! :) I find the walking foot leaves marks on the leather/vinyl, and the teflon foot still sticks. For this type of the job the best foot is the roller foot - one with little wheels in. I also like to use a leather needle for all leather and imitation leather projects. I find that the leather finish has more effect on the stitch quality than the knit backing.

Husqvarna sell pre-shaped teflon stick-ons for their feet, which can be useful for some finishes.

This is useful information, Kate. I do have a Teflon foot for my Freesia, and I also have a roller foot, but after testing, I ended up using the Teflon foot when I made my Ultraleather skirt a couple months ago. This fabric is fairly lightweight, compared to the knit-backed heavier pleather, and a leather needle would have torn it up too much; the universal point needle worked better for this particular fabric.

It definitely depends on which weight fabric you're using, and your own machine's peculiarities. Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

TEST! Always test! Start with the given advice, and tailor to your needs... :)

This cannot be repeated too often. It's so much better to test on scrap than to ruin a garment. Even with two fabrics that appear the same, the thread may be a different color, there may be some slight difference in the fabric that is hard to perceive, so testing can save tears. (The wet kind.)

I used to do a lot of machine knitting, and we found that the color of the yarn - the exact same yarn - could affect the outcome. Dyes affect fibers. The same can be true of threads and fabrics.

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice. I will try the silicon and teflon tricks. I'm not sure if I have a teflon foot for my machine--I may have to order one. It is a brand new machine, the top of the line regular (doesn't do embroidery) Kenmore machine. It will sew through thickness with ease. This was a very thin pleather, however. Thinner and lighter weight than some wools I've worked with.

I ended up finishing that skirt with that no sew double sided tape rated for use with leather. It actually is holding it together well, probably because it's a lightweight pleather. I don't think I'll do anything with leather or pleather again, though. I don't really like the skirt because it makes a funny noise when I walk. Maybe suede, which I assume would be much easier to sew. I did make some pants out of ultrasuede and it sewed like a dream. The pants are beautiful.

Thanks again!

Dawn

Re: Vinyl sewing disaster