Tips: Sewing Your First Leather Garment

I was excited today to see photos of Evan Rachel Wood wearing a leather dress with what looks like black knit for the back of the dress. I love it when I'm accidentally on trend! [Photo Credit: PacificCoastNews]

I am so glad you liked my leather top. I wore it to work this week and got a lot of "ooh, leather!" envious comments from colleagues. Many of you said you now want to try your hands at sewing your own leather garments, to which I say, Go For It! I'm certainly no expert at sewing leather, and I owe a lot to the out-of-print book Sewing with Leather & Suede, but here are a few tips that will help you construct a basic garment:

• Make a muslin first of your pattern, and don't skimp on the fitting details. Get it to the point where you'd get an A on it if you were taking a class on fit.
• If possible, take your muslin with you to the leather store so you can lay your pieces out on the skin. Skins vary in size, and you can save several dollars by buying just the right size skin for your needs. If you're shopping by phone (click here for NYC leather dealers), provide as much detail as possible about project and size needs. I am a pattern size 14 and I used one lambskin—a small skin for this top and a larger skin for the black sleeveless top—for each project.
• Use very sharp scissors or a rotary cutter to cut out your pattern. Use weights to hold your muslin in place as you cut.
• Tools you'll need: regular needles for lightweight skins like lambskin, and possibly a teflon foot. If you can find a teflon foot easily, go ahead and get it because you'll probably use it for other things beyond leather. And you need a rubber mallet to pound seams open. (I had so much fun pounding! It was like being back in kindergarten. Pounding does make my dogs bark, though.)
• Practice on scraps first. Most leather dealers have scraps you can buy for a couple of bucks.
• Only sew with leather when you are as fresh as a daisy and using all your smarts. Mistakes in leather can be fatal because needle holes show. Set your machine speed to turtle, and think, think, think every step of the way. You can take in leather seams but you can't let them out.
• Use binder clips or hair clips to hold leather pieces together as you sew seams. Pin holes will show.
• You can treat leather much as you would regular fabric. It can be pressed with an iron and you can fuse interfacing to it. You can underline it, as I did with a leather tote bag I made recently. Just test pressing and fusing first on a scrap before you touch your garment; always use a press cloth.

Raquel Allegra leather shirt, $622 at Barney's. Image from New York.

Leather tops and dresses are super-hot right now, so don't delay making your own leather garment. New York Magazine has a four-page spread on leather tops in this week's issue, in fact. And to think you can make your own leather top for a fraction of those designer prices! Right now I'm making a leather mini skirt for Annie's birthday; it's from a caramel-colored lambskin that I'm accenting with brown leather piping around the waist. (I needed two small skins for her skirt.)

Hope these tips help, and happy sewing!

Finished: Black Leather Top Great For Layering

The inspiration: This page in the August issue of InStyle magazine, where it touted the versatility of a simple leather shell. (I don't know about you, but I find InStyle to be the best magazine for sewing inspiration. It takes more of a real woman-approach than the other fashion mags do.)

The pattern: This hideously ugly 1999 Simplicity pattern bought on Etsy. I used top B as a starting point, adding a center vertical seam and raising the neckline area.

My interpretation:

Darn black for being such a hard color to photograph.

Fabric: One large black leather skin from Leather, Suede, Skins on W. 35th Street here in NYC ($40). One yard of black wool doubleknit from Mood Fabrics ($20). One yard of black poly lycra lining, also from Mood ($5). Total cost to make this top, excluding pattern, and the 7" zipper was from my stash: $65.

Not only did constructing the back out of wool doubleknit save me money, it also gives this top a slim, figure-hugging fit. I lined the top half of the bodice with a poly lycra lining fabric.

This isn't my favorite cardigan, but it gives you an idea of the layering possibilities. This top also looks great worn over a shirt or turtleneck.

Bottom line: I think this is my most favorite piece I've ever sewn. I feel stylish and sexy in it. "Mom, you look hot," said my 16-year-old son approvingly when I showed it off to him and DH, who also heartily approves. I love that it goes with so many things I own. I actually want it to get a little colder here so I can wear it!

Leather is easy to sew, dear readers! I put off sewing leather for years because I thought I needed a lot of new tools and that my machine couldn't handle it. Not so at all. I have a teflon foot now but leather feeds well with my regular foot, and I use regular sewing machine needles too. Leather for apparel (generally lambskin) behaves so much nicer than many fabrics—it doesn't curl or fray or stretch. If you only use one skin for a front of a bodice or for accent pieces, you can keep your production costs within reason. Just make a muslin first and get it to the point where it's perfect, because the holes your sewing machine needle makes do not come out and will show.

Happy sewing!

Finished: Wool Drape Jacket

The inspiration:

Vince Wool Drape Coat, available at Saks

Etro Wool Coat with Leather Trim, available at mytheresa.com

The pattern:

Vogue 8696

My finished drape jacket:

Fabric: A very lightweight boiled wool with a little bit of stretch to it, from Mood Fabrics here in NYC. Feels like a sweater to wear, not at all heavy like you think boiled wool tends to be. This fabric was so easy to sew, as there is no wrong side and stitches just disappear into it. I did flat-felled seams.

Changes to the pattern: I cut A LOT away from the front of this jacket, plus I rounded the square collar into a wide portrait collar. The original way did not look bad, but it was just too much fabric around the upper body. This pattern runs big, by the way. I also took about three inches off the length. But it's really easy to sew, which is good because I'm making one just like this for my sister.

I really wanted to add fringe to this jacket, like the Etro one, but it just did not work. Too much of a good thing.

Coming up next: A black leather shell that makes a great layering piece. Happy sewing, dear readers!

The Power of a Really Great Handbag

Fendi Chameleon Duffle Satchel, $2,490, available at Saks.*

Okay, so here's my fall/winter wardrobe plan: Shop my closet and invest in a fabulous handbag. 

I've never been one to over-think my handbag purchases. As long as it didn't look cheap and met my stuff-hauling needs, I wasn't too picky about one bag over the other. Then last spring, on a whim, I spent a little more on a designer handbag than I usually do. Okay, a lot more.

But dear readers, this bag was noticed. Well-dressed strangers complimented me on my bag. I could be wearing jeans and a t-shirt and this handbag made me look like I had a summer home in the Hamptons. Store clerks were more eager to be at my service. My daughter Annie emailed me photos of celebrities with the same bag, writing "Look Mom, you're as cool as [famous fashionable persons]."

Considering I wore this same bag every day for over six months, I definitely got my money's worth out of it, and I'll probably pull it out of the closet again this spring. I love that bag and the way it made me feel.

What about you, dear readers? Has a handbag you owned ever made you feel like you just stepped into a higher income bracket? Or are you more of a shoe or jewelry person? Do tell...


*I did not spend anywhere near this amount for my handbag. C'mon, I have a kid in college!

Finished: Leather & Knit Pullover Top in Neutrals

Simplicity 2192, color-blocked in neutrals with a leather front panel.

Here's my second iteration of the Cynthia Rowley pullover top pattern. (Thank you all so much for your compliments on my Dries van Noten version!) This one is made of three different materials: light tan lambskin leather for the front bodice panel (from Leather, Suede, Skins on W. 35th), matching light tan wool jersey for back bodice panel, and a lightweight beige wool jersey for the sleeves (both wool jerseys from Mood).

I have a chunky turquoise necklace that goes perfectly with this top and adds a pop pf color.

This was my first venture into sewing leather, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is. I used a regular sewing machine needle and thread, and my machine took to it like it was plain old cotton. No lining needed, just added the pattern's neck facing made out of the light beige wool jersey. The top is very soft and sweater-like to wear, which I hope to do once it gets a little cooler here in the NYC area.

Using leather for only a portion of a garment is a good way to keep your costs low. You have to buy leather by the entire skin, and skins run about $30-$35 apiece, depending on size and skin type. I took my muslin with me to the leather store to make sure I could cut the front bodice from just one skin. Here's how J. Crew combined a little bit of leather and wool jersey to stylish effect.

The back panel is from a wool jersey that's really close in color to the leather front panel. There is some slight dimpling in the upper armscye which I may resolve with a thin sleevehead, but I'll wear this first and see how it moves before I do anything different.

Apologies for the crummy mirror shot. My regular photographer had the nerve to leave me for her sophomore year of college and my back-up photographer (my 16-year-old son) is more of a clown than a photographer. But this is what the top looks like on me.

Want to know one good thing I've found about getting older? I finally can wear neutral colors. I've always thought wearing neutrals made a woman look so chic, but whenever I wore ivory or tan or beige, people would ask me if I was feeling ill. Seriously. Now my skin tone is lighter, as is my hair color (thanks to my colorist), and I'm wearing neutrals like crazy to make up for all the lost years.

Next up: Failure on tap. A shirt I had really high hopes for collapses and dies near the finish line. I'll analyze where I went wrong and you, dear readers, can weigh in with your opinions. Happy sewing!