Leather Sampler

Here is the finished product. I am in love with leather....thank you Cathy Wiggins. (perhaps i shall blame you later..haha)  And thanks to Uncle Johnny who had a thin piece of calf hide that i could practice on.

It quilted up without a problem. It is about 16 x 21". 

The first set of individual blocks...

It is surprising how leather works in an embroidery machine, with a regular domestic sewing machine, or with a longarm....as long as you use a leather needle it's all good. 

And using the leather dyes is so easy. If you put 2 coats of dye, the color is darker than with 1 coat. 

This started out with 4" embroidered leather blocks. I just stitched the cross stitch outline on the embroidery machine and then painted the sections with leather dye.

This is all from one piece of calf skin that i got from Uncle Johnny....except for the black leather binding and hangers. 

Sewed through 2 layers of leather when attaching sashings without a problem.

Quilted up without a problem....through one or two layers of leather. I used So Fine black thread on the top and bobbin. First I just quilted over the lines where I sewed the sashings on. Then I thought it needed a bit more and quilted something in the middle of each block. Then i thought the border needed a little something, too....so I put some arcs there. I had a ruler for that.

The back is just a piece of black fabric and the batting is a piece of something I had leftover from another project.

And a close up of the back..

Cut 3/4" strips of black leather (from the expensive leather that I bought at Tandy Leather) for the binding and the hanging strips. I just folded the leather over the edges and sewed them down. First did the top and bottom, then the sides. I didn't attempt any mitered corners on this one. ... maybe next time.

I believe the next leather experiment with be an elephant....on black leather. wish me luck