A Few More Stitches

 As always, I made something to thank the Friend Who Drives To The Faraway Places.  This time, it was also an excuse to do an experiment I'd been thinking about for a while.

A year ago, I had the idea to make a doll jacket with what was essentially quilted clear vinyl on top of a layer of cotton broadcloth, with sequins trapped between the stitches. It looked cool, but I hadn't drawn out the sewing lines so they were kinda...haphazard.  But it still looked neat!

Unfortunately, the sequins made it impossible to turn the sleeves right-side-out, and the attempt to do so caused the sequins to damage the thin vinyl, so I had to sigh and let this project go.

But the basic idea stayed with me, and yesterday I made a zip pouch with the same approach (but heavier vinyl) on one side

This time, I measured and drew lines on the cotton--although, as part of the overall experiment going on here, I used the roller presser foot for the first time, and...let's just say I need a little more practice finding the center of that thing. But!  The stitching is mostly where it should be.

I stitched the vertical center line first--and of course I used a leather needle--then the horizontal center line.  I placed sequins around the stitching intersection, then stitched on the next sets of lines out from the center. I placed sequins in the four horizontal cells, then stitched the vertical lines outside those. This left the cells around the outside, which I filled with sequins then stitched closed at the ¼" seam lines I'd marked when doing the initial measuring and marking.  That's as much sense as my explanation is  going to make.

I chose a dark blue thin vinyl for the back, a yellow zipper, and glowworm green lining, and assembled them in my usual lined zip pouch way.

The only thing different from normal was that I had the ¼"-from-the-edge existing stitch lines to guide where to sew when attaching things to the front.

This was silly fun.  I'm not sure if I'll try it again, but that's mostly because I can't, at the moment, think of anything else to make from trapped sequins like this. But, the technique is unlocked.

Sewing Vinyl Is Easy.

I use a leather needle to sew leather, vinyl, pleather, laminated cotton, oilcloth, foiled fabrics, and anything with a similar coating.  A leather needle (in, as with all needles, the appropriate weight) is all you need to use to make sewing any leather-like material work without any unwanted sticking.

Because the problem is not the vinyl sticking to the machine bed or the presser foot or the needle, the problem is that the holes made by a standard needle are so small they don't allow the thread to move how it needs to.  Leather machine needles (and glover's needles for hand sewing) have broad tips that cut tiny slits in the material, which makes enough room for the thread to move freely.  I have been using leather needles for machine sewing leather-like materials with no problem for nearly 20 years and I have never needed to change anything else about my machine.

But.

I am still very bad at designing purses.

See, in an effort to remind myself how easily vinyl sews with the correct needle, I dug through my small pieces storage and came up with some vinyl remnants that have been in the stash for a least ten years each (and are still stable, instead of disintegrating like some early 2000s vinyls have) and then gathered other things that seemed to coordinate with them and ended up with this pile of stuff

which, over the course of a few days, I turned into...this

Don't worry, there are many close ups of the bad design decisions under the cut

I Have Strong Feelings On This

 O'er on Tumblr, I mentioned that I have started sewing a vinyl project and am having zero problems with it simply and entirely because I am using the correct needle, and I got this question

I will be making a project this year almost entirely out of leather and vinyl. Please tell me more about this needle and where I can get some.

and here is my answer:

They’re called leather needles or leather and vinyl needles, and are most commonly found made by Singer or Schmetz--I think JoAnn carries Schmetz leather needles and it looks like that’s what Wawak (my favorite site for ordering sewing supplies) carries, too.

Leather needles are more...let’s say they’re more unknown than they are uncommon.

Like all sewing machine needles, they’re available in different sizes for sewing through different weights of material.

They have broad points that essentially punch tiny slits into the material, which allows the thread to move easily back and forth as needed

...whereas standard point needles punch tiny holes that stretch out around the needle and then contract once the needle is removed, essentially increasing the likelihood of the material itself grabbing the thread.

I know people have success sewing leather and vinyl with things like non-stick standard needles and nonstick presser feet and layering the vinyl between tissue paper and applying tape to the machine bed/bottom of the presser foot so the smooth side of the tape is in contact with the project and using walking feet to move things along (or, in rarer, more alarming cases, applying oil to the bottom of the presser foot or powdering the entire project with corn starch/baby powder/talc), but the core problem of sewing leather and vinyl is not that the material is sticking to the presser foot or the machine bed, the core problem is that the thread is getting stuck in the material because the hole is too small.

That’s why hand-sewing needles meant for leather/vinyl--technically called glover’s needles--also have that broad point.

I started using leather needles to sew little pleather doll clothes nearly 20 years ago and have never had any problems sewing pleather, vinyl, leather, or coated/heavily foiled fabrics in that time, and all I do to my machine is switch from a regular needle to a leather needle.

And I am very salty about all of the other advice out there on the internet for sewing leather-like materials 😁