Issue link: https://docs.hic.us/i/403552
Working With Leather Leather is probably the most feared surface for Embroiderers. There are three very good reasons for this: leather is expensive, you cannot remove stitches and start over if you make a mistake and leather does not possess any of the characteristics of woven or knit goods, the most embroidered and most familiar materials in this industry. When you embroider on leather, you are punching holes in the leather. These holes are permanent. If you place these holes too close together, you will cut your design out of the leather and will be left with a piece of leather with a hole in it the shape of your embroidered design. To prevent this, you must make sure of two things: your density must be reduced and your design cannot contain any short stitches. Density And Underlay Stitches Are Important The amount by which you must reduce your density is based on the type of leather upon which you are embroidering. As a basic rule of thumb, reduce the density by 20 percent. You may be thinking this is not going to produce good- looking embroidery, and you're right. You must now go in and add enough underlay to make up for the reduced top density and the way you put in your underlay is just as important as the amount of underlay you put in. Remember that your underlay-stitch needle penetration cannot land in the same place as your top-stitch needle penetrations, so make sure your underlay stitches are placed at least 1/16-inch in from the outside edge of your column stitch. If you are using a fill stitch, place the underlay at a 45-degree angle to the fill stitch and make sure the underlay and fill stitches are at least 4 millimeters long. The underlay should run in both directions at a 45-degree angle, going left to right and then right to left, both times at an angle to the fill stitch. In making column stitches, the width of the column determines the type of underlay to be used. If your columns are less than 6 millimeters in width, use a running-stitch underlay running down the center of your column. On wider columns, use a combination running stitch and zigzag stitch, making sure that the width of the zigzag stitch is 1 millimeter in from the outside of the column. (A 6-millimeter column would use a 4-millimeter zigzag stitch.) Use The Right Needle And Backing Once you have the design set up correctly make sure you are using the right needle. There are two different possible needles to use: Sharp and wedge. Sharp needles are the most readily available. They do not have the cutting ability the others have and they create the biggest holes, but they will work. Wedge-point needles also are very easy to come by but create smaller holes than the sharp- point needles which close slightly after the needle lifts out of the leather, making the needle holes less obvious. www.hsi.us care@hsi.us 207