LEATHER WORK AND BITS AND PIECES

I've wanted to learn to print on leather since I first saw Bahar Bozaci's work late last year - I planned to take her Skype workshop but then I broke my foot and it wasn't possible; however, last week I had the pleasure of learning from Bahar and am thrilled with the results.

Making the prints is one thing but creating something was something else.  I'm not one to just blindly jump in, rather I read and ponder all the possibilities as well as gather recommended supplies.  I was prepared to have to punch holes and do all sorts of maneuvers but this leather is so soft and my Brother Nouvelle 1500 did a superb job of sewing it; I'm just thrilled.  

Some of the supplies you will need are leather needles, plastic clips (you can't pin leather), double sided tape which was a godsend to hold pieces together.  I bought the really thin tape which worked like a charm and of course some doodads to fasten things together - there is a myriad of choices out there so you just need to determine your function.

So I made a bag and lined it with interfacing/bonded Dupioni - I don't think I would use that again, but I had it on hand but not in love with it, I will use something softer next time.  Since it's for me, it's fine!  

 Since I was left with lots of scraps that were too nice to go to waste, I decided to do the same thing that I do with my leftover felt pieces and stitch them all together to make a piece large enough to make a wallet to match my bag!    (Don't know about you, but whenever I get a new bag, I always must have a matching wallet!) There were some holes to cover up and some strange angles.   I wasn't sure how to do the lining since the leather is so thin it needed body; however, I knew that all those cutouts around the front edges would be a problem.  The answer?  why a piece of felt of course - felt doesn't ravel and I was able to cut around it.  I had an indigo botanical printed piece in my stash, not quite the color I would have selected - but it was the correct size and for this purpose, it worked!  I also added pockets inside for my driver's license, credit card, etc.

 Let me tell you, I really winged it as I had no clue how to do it but didn't want to waste those tiny pieces.  The one problem that I had to overcome was that the magnetic closures I had would show on the right side - more scraps to the rescue, I just covered those areas up with another tiny scrap glued on.  Since this is a learning experience, I will find out how the glue holds up and if I have to stitch later, no problem.

HAGUE LINKER

For the past several months, I've continued experimenting with machine knitting and figuring out the most professional way to put the pieces together.  For my recent coat, since the knitted front panels were too narrow, I found just the perfect dyed lace, wool, and silk in my stash that matched the colors perfectly so I Nuno felted to add to the front sections; it turned out really well and I stitched them together using free motion stitching.  I'm in love with it!

However, now that I have a better idea of how wide to knit the pieces next time, since I'm more interested in cut and sew for machine knitting than shaping on the machine, I did some research as to the most professional way to join the knitted pieces.  Hands down, it appeared that the Hague linker is the way to go and I found one on eBay which was shipped from Nevada (they are manufactured in the UK).  The seller has very good ratings and has been very responsive to questions, but something must have gone awry during shipping as it is hit or miss - sometimes the needle will catch the loop but more times than not and it just won't work properly.  The seller even had a new needle sent from the UK to me but it is still not working. I'm really sad about this as I, as well as my husband, have spent countless hours researching and setting and resetting the needle so at this point unless I can get it to work, it will be quite useless to me.  I will be contacting the seller to help come up with a resolution.