Replies

1. 
   Teaf5 | Aug 30, 2006 12:46am | #1

   Surprisingly, fleece and leather have a lot of similarities: you don't need to finish the edges, they often don't need interfacing or facings, and you don't want to make any stitching mistakes on either, because the needle marks will mar the leather and ripping out fleece seams is a real pain.

   Given that, you might want to think of the leather more as an applique rather than a binding, for example. Instead of making a folded binding around a collar, you could cut a single strip of leather in the same shape as the outer edge of the collar and topstitch it onto the fleece after assembling the collar. This way, you won't have to deal with bulkiness, puckering, and curves that are difficult in all but the most supple leather, but you get the leather-bound look.

   If you want a fully-bound look or piping, synthetic leathers and suedes would be much, much easier to work with and would complement the fleece nicely.

2. 
   Marionc032 | Aug 30, 2006 10:44am | #2

   Hi BB,

   I made a denim jacket a some time ago and decided to make the piping and the welts on the pockets out of leather. I happened to have some caribou hide which worked great--much better than cowhide would have been. Caribou (and deerhide) is very soft and flexible and thin enough to sew easily. Plus caribou and deerhide handle very much like fabric because of the softness and flexibility, and its durable. It would be a great match with the polar fleece. The only possible downside is that its not available in a lot of colours.

   Marion

3. 
   Tangent | Sep 03, 2006 10:45am | #3

   When you have to clean the finished item... some leathers do not wash well, either starting to disintegrate, or turning hard.  Find out about washability/cleaning instructions when choosing the leather.  You might be better off with a synthetic.  On the other hand, some imitation leathers don't take much abuse before starting to look ratty. 

1. 
   busybee | Sep 03, 2006 06:24pm | #4

   Hi,     Thanks all of you who replied to my query polar fleece embellishment.  I may try to get some synthetic leather or abandon that part of the project altogether and use something else to embellish.   Thanks for all your help anyway - I appreciate it very much  Busybee

1. 
   MaryinColorado | Sep 05, 2006 08:19am | #5

   If you have a serger you could use a decorative thread like candlelight or perlecrown rayon or one of the new wool threads in the loopers.  Or make your own braid out of these, or make cording or piping with the threads and seams great.

2. 
   woodruff | Sep 05, 2006 09:41am | #6

   You can make ornamental "cording" of the same fleece you are using, or of contrasting fleece. The author, Rochelle Harper, shows how in this video clip:http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/tvt001.asp

1. 
   busybee | Sep 05, 2006 11:21am | #7

   Thanks again to those posts about this subject  -thanks to woodruff too -  I,m reading up on this - I have all the back issues.  Busybee