When I first decided to sew a leather jacket, I had many questions. How to sew a cool leather jacket with your own hands? Where to buy leather? How much skin is required for this? What skin should be taken? I couldn’t find answers to these questions anywhere. And in this article I will try to answer all these questions and show step by step the whole process of its creation from a sketch to a finished jacket.
Content
- Idea. Creative source
- Sketch
- Taking measurements, building a structure
- Patterns and layout
- Copy of the model
- Drawing the ornament
- Ornament translation
- Determine the required amount of skin
- Purchase of genuine leather
- Buying zippers
- Purchase of embroidered flowers
- Purchase of lining fabric
- Purchase of fittings and necessary equipment for its installation
- Cutting
- Sewing
- Installation of holnitens
- Embroidery on lining
Idea. Creative sources
The idea to make an exaggerated leather jacket with a voluminous skull, decorated with appliqués of embroidered flowers and holnitens came to me after I saw a leather jacket of the luxury brand “Philipp Plein” at the Central Department Store. The jacket caught the eye because it was very fancy: embroidery, rivets (holnitens), skulls, and even rhinestones. It was the rhinestones that I did not like. I love rhinestones, but not in everyday life. And the second factor that I did not like is its exorbitant cost - 370,000 rubles, which not every girl can afford. Having tried on the “Philipp Plein” jacket, I decided to sew a jacket in the same style, but changing some details and, above all, the shape. I decided to make an oversized model.
I really like the video of the foreign singer Kovacs “50 Shades of black”. There, a girl dances in a leather jacket, as if “from someone else’s shoulder” and in big boots. I decided to make the shape of my leather jackets the same exaggerated.
Sketch
First, I drew a sketch on paper and thought through all the details: where the pockets will be located, what shape they will be, how many and where there will be zippers, what decor will be.
Taking measurements, building a structure
I needed these steps:
- OG - chest girth
- FROM - waist circumference
- OB - hip circumference
- OPl - shoulder girth
- OZp - wrist girth
- DLR - arm length
- DLI - product length
- ShSp - back width.
After taking measurements, I built the design of the jacket, modeled its shape. This must be done before buying leather, otherwise you will not know how much leather to buy. I decided to make the jacket longer than the classic leather jacket. Accordingly, it needs to buy more leather.
Templates and layout
I made a layout of the future jacket from the developed patterns. The layout is best done from dense calico (it is better to take white calico, you can easily draw on it with a ballpoint pen). If you take black calico, then you will have to draw and draw on it with chalk.
Sample mockup
Next, I tried on the layout on myself, specified the fit of the jacket according to my figure, indicated the length of the jacket, the location of the pockets, corrected the shape and size of the selection, the length of the sleeves (to do this, you need to clench your hand into a fist and mark the length of the sleeve at the level of the bones protruding on the fist).
Drawing the ornament
It was during the fitting that I determined how the ornaments would be placed on my future jacket. To do this, right on the layout that I put on myself, I roughly drew an ornament with a red and black ballpoint pen: intertwining red and black curls. Then, having removed the layout and laid it out on a flat surface, I corrected the swirls of the ornament and drew them well with a pen.
Ornament translation
I put a tracing paper on top of the layout with an ornament and translated the patterns in two colors: black and red curls separately. Before cutting them out, be sure to glue the tracing paper on the reverse side with construction (paper) tape, it will make the pattern more dense and it will be convenient to cut it out with scissors and then use it as a curl pattern for an ornament.
Determine the required amount of skin
I laid out all the patterns on the table and carefully looked at how much space they occupy on the table. It was difficult to determine by eye how many skins I would need. Therefore, I took the patterns with me when I went to buy leather. I advise you to do the same. When you choose a skin in a warehouse or in a store, lay out these patterns on the skins and then you can determine exactly how many skins you need.
If you sew a jacket for yourself, then you can save money and sew some part from 2 parts, but if this jacket is made to order, then the customer may not like the extra seams, so keep this in mind. You can arrange the patterns on the skins as you like, even at any angle. Skins are not a fabric where it is necessary to place everything, taking into account the direction of the shared thread. When buying leather, be sure to inspect all skins carefully so that there are no holes or damage on them.
Purchasing genuine leather
Purchasing leather is an interesting and crucial moment. I used to buy leather from the Country of Leather company, but this time I was very disappointed, deciding to buy leather at the old address. Such a once rich assortment of leather has disappeared. Searching on Google, I found the company “Tavro”. I was driving and worried if I could find what I needed there. From the VDNKh metro station, you need to take a bus for about 6 more stops. But this Tavro leather warehouse exceeded all my expectations. This is truly a leather paradise! The company “Tavro” is located in a spacious room, where all types of natural leather are neatly hung by color.
The main thing is not to make a mistake in the thickness of the skin. If you buy too thick leather, the jacket will turn out too bulky and very heavy. The warehouse of the company “Tavro” is now my favorite place to buy leather. There is a huge selection of genuine leather of various shades, textures and densities. For a long time I chose among a dozen shades of black and decided to take the clothing leather of cattle of fine dressing in black with the color marking “Bronze”, 0.6 - 0.8 mm thick, made in South Korea at a price of 28.00 rubles / sq. dm (260, 40 rub/sq.ft) the minimum size of such leather is 250 sq.dm. The price of one such skin varied from 7,000 to 8,500 rubles. I needed 2 skins (about 500 - 600 sq.dm). For decor, I chose a small skin of bright red. Here we also buy a bobbin of special threads for leather.
Buying zippers
I chose Japanese made zippers. They can be bought at the store “Luck” (M. Avtozavodskaya) or “Isadora” (m. Tretyakovskaya).
Purchase of embroidered flowers
For the application, I needed embroidered flowers in two shades of red, blue and yellow. Searches in stores and warehouses for the necessary embroidered flowers did not give any results and I had to order them in various online stores.
Purchase of lining fabric
I bought 2 m for the lining of a jacket in the Seasons store.
Purchase of fittings and necessary equipment for its installation
I purchased eyelets, holnitens and a press for their installation at the Protos warehouse. Keep in mind that in “Protos” accessories are sold only in bulk.
Cutting
We lay out the skin and select the highest quality areas of the skin for cutting large parts (shelves, back, sleeves). For the belt, select the longest piece of skin along the edge of the skin. Then we lay out other, smaller patterns on the skin (selection, cuffs, pockets). Cut with seam allowances. Croim.
Tailoring
We sew a jacket according to the tailoring technology. We glue the seam allowances with a special adhesive tape for leather or “Crystal” glue and slightly break it with a hammer, do it carefully so as not to damage the skin. We grind first the details of the shelves with the picks, the details of the back, the sleeves. Before connecting the shoulder seams and sewing in the sleeves, we sew on appliqués of embroidered flowers, sew on an appliqué in the form of a skull and curls in red and black. For volume, we put felt under the curls and under the skull.
I noted the location of the appliqué flowers and sew them on the leather jacket.
Installation of holnitens
Then we put holnitens, and then we collect all the details of the jacket, we sew in the sleeves and sew in the zipper.
Embroidered lining
Sew on the lining. We embroider the customer’s name on the lining. And also decorate with applique. At the very end, we put a button on the pocket. The jacket is ready.
Sewing a leather jacket is a rather complicated process; one household sewing machine is indispensable here. It is better to sew leather on special industrial sewing machines.
In tailoring leather jackets, you can do without a special press for installing holniten and eyelets, and use tongs to install them, which are sold in almost all sewing accessories stores. If you are sewing a jacket for yourself, then you can get by with tongs, but if you are sewing a jacket for a customer, then I advise you to still purchase special presses for their installation. With the help of a press, the installation of fittings is of better quality and takes less time than with the help of tongs.
Thank you for reading my article. I hope it helps you create the jacket of your dreams 
