problems with pleather...

 ...kinda like trouble with tribbles.

image from http://www.treknews.net/tag/science/

But seriously, my last purse project involved a little bit of a learning curve with working with pleather. I thought I would share some of my findings in that they might be helpful for you.

1.) The top thread kept breaking as I was sewing along. My first thought was to change the thread. I was using a brand I don't usually use in my sewing machine, and I know she can be fussy about thread brands. BUT after I switched to gutermann thread it was still breaking. So I loosened up the thread tension on the machine and that helped some. I also decided the switch to a larger needle.

2.) When top-stitching, the pleather would stick to the foot and not move along. Big gobs of thread, so frustrating! I had read that you can reduce the friction by sandwiching tissue paper between the pleather and the sewing foot, and also between the pleather and the feed dogs. It was amazing the immediate difference the tissue paper made! I'd read that this trick works with slippery fabrics, too, but this was the first time I'd tried this trick. One tip I'd add is to use a thicker tissue paper is possible, as it tore away from the stitching cleaner. (With some of my cheaper tissue I had to pull all these little specks out form the stitching with tweezers... no fun!) One downside is that it made it harder to see the material to sew my top-stitching perfectly straight and lined up. But slightly less straight top-stitching is better than no top-stitching at all!

3.) And I didn't come to this conclusion until after I'd finished my project, but next time I'll use a longer stitch length.  I normally just toot right along at the 2 setting on my machine for most sewing needs. I noticed some of the plastic coating on the pleather was "flecking" off in between the stitching so that tiny spots of the fabric underside showed through. It's quite tiny, and probably I'm the only one who'll notice so I'm not going to remake the whole thing... but I suspect a longer stitch length would minimize that "flecking." 

4.) Speaking of stitching, don't forget to sew carefully, because unpicking wrong seams will still leave visible little holes in the pleather! 

I certainly learned a lot about working with this material. I hope this was helpful, so that when you pick up a pleather project your learning curve isn't quite so steep!

a handmade purse for fall... made of pleather!

That's right. Pleather. I've never used pleather before BUT I found some soft, not-so-plastic-feeling, brown pleather at Joann's (originally for a bookmaking project which worked fabulous) and thought I'd give it a try. I'd been wanting a new purse, as mine is falling apart pretty bad, but haven't found one that 1.) was the perfect fit for my style/lifestyle and 2.) was not outrageously expensive! That's when I stumbled upon this on pinterest.com:

From "Make It Handmade" Blog. http://www.makeithandmade.com/2013/08/the-foldover-tote.html

"Hmm, I bet I could make that into a perfect fall purse!" And then this happened:

I followed Palak's excellent tutorial, making just a few changes to turn it from a tote to a purse. First, I scaled mine down in size, as her's was a nice big tote. As you can see, I left the top handles off for now. I may add them on later after I use it a smidge.

I also added a lining, partly because I had this fabulous fabric in my stash that was just calling to be a purse lining!

Isn't it lovely? I don't usually buy fabric without an idea for a project already in mind, but this was an exception 'cause I just loved it! (And I still have another yard and a half left for a future project.) To make the line I just followed the same instructions as the bag body (minus the D-ring tabs), to end up with two identical-shaped pieces. I also added an interior pocket for my cell phone and keys to the lining, just below where the bag folds over.

You can't tell from the outside, but I also double-stiched all my seams, just to add some extra strengh.

There is one thing I will do differently from the original tutorial next time. Notice how the top of the bag tapers in slightly, so that the fold over flap isn't wider than the bag body when worn. Palak has you start with two rectangles, stitch the entire sides, THEN measure your desired taper for the top, cut (through the original stitch line) and sew the new sides catching the D-ring tabs in the stitching right where your new taper begins. The problem I found is that I had to unpick some of the original stitching in to get the D-ring tabs to go right at that spot. To make a long story short, if you do this tutorial I suggest measuring and cutting your desired taper BEFORE you sew any side seams.

Over all I think it turned out pretty well, especially with all the fussy-ness of learning to sew the pleather! But that, my friends, is a whole 'nother blog post...