Best Leather Needles For Hand Sewing
Are you working with leather and wondering what the best way to sew leather is?
You might be surprised to find out that sewing with leather doesn’t need to be difficult if you are using specialized leatherworking needles.
Regardless if you want to repair some old boots or want to give a decorative finish to your next project, you will need some of these needles.
That’s why in today’s article, we will cover what needle to use for hand sewing leather.
What needles to use for leather?
Not only needles come in all sizes and shapes, even needles for leather come in many different forms. Ranging from Japanese sewing needles all the way to curved leather sewing needles.
Unlike other materials such as polyester or fabric, leather can be quite tough and gives more resistance.
When choosing the right needle for your project, you need to keep the type of leather you are working with in mind.
Leather is categorized depending on the thickness, which is normally measured in ounces. Of course, the heavier the leather the thicker it will be. With upholstery leather being the heaviest with 12 ounces.
Depending on the thickness of the leather, you will need to use different leather stitching needles. You might be able to use your regular needles with thin leather. But for the thicker variety, you need some specialized leather needles.
If you are using a leather sewing machine it is best to use a cutting point since they have sharper tips than regular needles, normally designated by letters such as “DI”, “S”, “LR” “LL”, and “D”. Since they are extra sharp they can puncture dense materials much easier.
However, if you are hand sewing leather you might want to keep the safety of your fingers in mind and go with a needle that is slightly blunt round point needle for safety. Additionally, you will need a durable one that doesn’t bend or break despite putting some pressure on it.
Recommended Leather Sewing Needles
If you already have a kit of essential leather tools, you are probably only looking to buy needles for leather stitching. The needles by Outus are ideal for hand sewing leather.
They are easy to work with because they have an extra long eye, which makes it easy to thread the yarn through the eye. Since they are made out of stainless steel, they are sturdy enough to deal with leather or most other thick materials.
One needle set by Outus comes with 20 needles, each 5.2 cm in size.
If you are planning to repair your own leather goods and don’t have any tools at your disposal, it might pay off to buy a set of leather needles that also comes with some other stitching tools.
For example, the leather needle set by SIMPZIA includes a stitching awl and leather piercing tool as well.
It also has 7 sewing needles in different sizes and shapes, so you will always have the right needle at hand.
How To Lock A Needle?
While using your leather hand sewing needles, you don’t want to constantly worry about the thread sliding off. That’s why it is useful to lock the needle before you start.
The most popular stitch used to hand sew leather is called the “saddle stitch”. For this technique, you will need a needle on both ends of the thread.
To lock the leather needle into the thread, follow these steps:
- Thread the eye of the leather needle. Rolling the end of the thread into a tip can make things easier.
- Pass the needle through the remaining thread. You can untwist the thread if necessary.
- Pulled the thread you pierced down to the eye of the needle.
- Pull on both ends to lock the thread.
If you are using the saddle stitch, you will now have to repeat the process again with another needle on the other end of the thread.
