Friday, May 6, 2011

Jim's iCoat

This is so not a quilty project, but I had fun...

I was trying a little experiment to see if I could sew with leather.  My first problem, I had no leather.    I put out a plea to my Friday Girls for an leather purse or coat that I could use and guess what... Kathy F.'s hubby had a beautiful old well worn jacket that he gave up, just for my experiment.  

I waited a few days, just in case he had regrets, but I got no call.  So I cut up this lovingly worn jacket.  I got a nice pile of leather bits to work with.
I was searching for patterns to make a blackberry case for my daughter.  I didn't find a blackberry pattern, but I did find this a free pattern for an iPhone case.  It's a great start and I can make minor adjustments to blackberry case.   

What I found out, is that when you sew leather together, you can't use pins.   Also, it's hard to mark on leather.  I tried my new quilters chalk pencil, and my new Frixion pen.  Neither worked.  So I came up with the idea to trace around the template using a piece of chalkboard chalk directly on the leather. 

I was afraid my stitching would be wobbly, so I stitched before doing the final cutting out of the case.  I used jeans thread in the upper and bobbin thread and a leather needle.  Everything worked like a charm. 

What do you think?   Here it is all trimmed.   I sure hope it fits.

Kathy F. is coming for coffee today and this will be a surprise for her.  I think she already has a nice iPhone case.... but will she be able to resist using this cute little case made out of her hubby's favorite jacket?
 

3 comments:

Donna's chitchat said...

would you like me to go to Frenchies and get you more leather. There are so many nice leather coats there.. well, they are nice coats... they are usually hideous.. but the leather is nice..

Cute case.. fun stuff!

Anonymous said...

Kathy F will love her surprise. Did you sew with your Featherweight? What a clever idea. Lucy

Anonymous said...

Well, since it was my template you used...I think it's FABULOUS! As far as pinning, sometimes just using a little roll or two of scotch tape between layers (that can be removed later) does the trick. Isn't sewing leather fun?! And no fraying, I love that. Thanks for linking to my project.

-Cathe Holden
justsomethingimade.com