A New Zipper for the Black Leather Dress

Recently I wore my new black leather dress which was discussed in the 10/18/14 post 'A Classic Black Leather Dress.'  The fit of the dress is good, but the appearance of the zipper at the neckline bothered me.  The solution?  I removed the zipper and replaced it with a longer zipper.  Here is the revised dress:

A new zipper for the leather dress; note its appearance at the neckline is smooth

The zipper travels over the shoulder and down the back for a few inches.  I used all 48" of the zipper.

The zipper on the back of the dress is an unexpected design detail.

Below is the original dress.  If you look closely, you can see that the zipper top ends at the neckline which is not unusual.  The problem is that the top of the zipper, in my opinion, became a focal point of the garment.

With the new zipper treatment, I feel the viewer's eye returns to the interesting triangular panels of the dress.  I do not enjoy revising new garments, but the second zipper was quick and easy to install.  I plan to wear this garment for many years so I want it to be as pleasing as possible.

A Classic Black Leather Dress

The value of this leather dress lies in the usage of large leather panels, as well as custom fit.  I frequently see leather dresses in designer shows, with price tags of several thousand dollars.  A high price point is associated with large leather panels and minimal piecing.  My dress has twelve leather panels: six in the bodice and six in the skirt.  The skirt features particularly large leather panels.  A similar dress at a lower price point could have double the number of panels to reduce the amount of leather required.

My original concept for the black leather dress was a princess seam bodice,short set-in sleeves, and a skirt with deep pleats along the princess seams.  The muslin is below.

First muslin design was rejected

The muslin dress was boring, even frumpy.  I realized that a more narrow style was required.  I found an interesting pattern in the Autumn/Winter 2014 Burda Easy magazine.  The pattern has an inverted triangle inserted into the bodice center, and a triangle inserted into the skirt center.  Darts are incorporated into the seams that join the triangles to the fronts and backs.  The shaping was not fitted enough for my taste, and the photo below shows pins removing excess fabric from the bust to the waist at center front.

Sheath style dress with triangular insets is interesting; pattern #4G

In the above photo, I pinned out excess fabric in an angled manner because I was tired and not thinking clearly.  The next day, I straightened the excess fabric into vertical darts below.

I added front darts to define the garment waist more

The dress back needed a sway back adjustment as evidenced by the row of horizontal pins at the waist back.  I didn't add darts to the garment back.

Sway back adjustment is needed

The sway back adjustment caused the side sides to no longer hang straight.  They noticeably swung to the back. 

Side seams are swinging to the back rather than straight down

Here are the  #4G pattern pieces:  Front, Bodice Front Inset, Skirt Front Inset, Bodice Back Inset, Skirt Back Inset, and Back.  Later I added a narrow, one piece short sleeve with zero sleeve cap ease.

Burda 4G pattern tissue

As recommended by the University of Fashion leather sewing series, I applied fusible tape along all garment edges to control stretch during sewing. The triangular insets are fully interfaced, but the rest of the leather pieces have fusible tape only along the seam and hem allowances.

3/4" fusible tape, 1/2" seam allowances, 2" hem allowances

To control bulk, I used lapped seams for the triangular insets.  First I chalk marked the stitching lines on the fashion side of the leather.

Dress Back

I used Sobo Glue, but other people like Barge cement.

Glue basting for precise panel placement

The triangular insets were glued in place, then edge-stitched and top-stitched in place once the glue was dry.

I let the garment back dry before top-stitching the triangular inset panels

Below is the bodice front.  I made sure that the glue process maintained a curved shape over the bust line.  There is a dressmaker's ham underneath to help shape the garment as the glue dries.

Glue curves into the garment as needed

Detail of Skirt Back Inset

Detail of Bodice Back Inset

After this project and the silver leather jacket sewn in September, I feel that's enough leather for a while.  I am looking forward to sewing Fall jackets and a coat with woven fabrics.

What Did I Learn about Sewing with Leather?

Sewing with leather was exciting and rewarding, and a little challenging.  Here is my finished lambskin leather blazer:

Silhouette pattern #1912

Here are a few points I learned during the project:

1.  You can make mistakes when stitching into leather and the garment will not be ruined.  Machine stitching into leather does create permanent holes.  However, pressing reduces the size of the holes significantly.  I made a few errors on the collar due to the fabric bulk.  I carefully ripped out the stitching to not tear the leather.  Then I pressed and restitched.  Perhaps thicker skins will not press as nicely, but soft, supple lambskin presses beautifully.

2.  Four layers of interfaced leather is the maximum thickness my machine can handle, and there will be some skipped stitches and seam ripping in these areas.  The areas along the zipper teeth (both the collar and center front edges) have four layers of leather plus the zipper tape.  I used a size 18 leather needle, heavy thread, and a long stitch length.  I was able to stitch these areas to my satisfaction, but it was time consuming.  If you have access to an industrial sewing machine, the jacket construction would be much quicker.  My next leather project utilizes a heavyweight black cow skin.  I plan to lap the seams and stitch through no more than two leather layers in any seam.

3.  When you reduce sleeve cap ease to one inch or less, it is easy to set the sleeve, and cotton batting makes an ideal sleeve head.   The sleeve fills out the cap so nicely and is an ideal amount of "bulk."

Detail photo of cotton batting sleeve head

My sleeve head is two inches wide and cut on the bias.

4.  Sewing with leather is very expensive, so your design should reflect unique styling and fine fit.  It is possible to purchase leather jackets at outlet stores, sales etc. so it would be a disappointment to spend time creating a jacket that you could have purchased as ready-to-wear for the same or lesser amount of money.  I don't think I could have purchased this jacket as ready-to-wear, and especially not a pearlized gray leather jacket. 

Sewing a Leather Blazer

Pattern has unusual double collar piped with metal zippers

Last December I visited the garment district in New York while on a tour hosted by Peggy Sagers, owner/designer of Silhouette Patterns.  I picked up several couture fabrics and two leathers in New York.  This month I am creating a blazer with the gray/gold pearlized calfskin.  The calfskin is very soft, supple, and lightweight.  The photo does not really do justice to the incredible color of the leather, but hopefully the finished garment photo will help.

Pearlized gray calfskin

I began the project with a test muslin which fit me similar to how the red leather jacket on the pattern cover fits the model:  nice in the body, sleeve too full, armhole too low.  There is nothing wrong with the sleeve pattern; it is simply a matter of personal fit preference.  The jacket back fits well, and the back of the sleeve is fine.

Back fit is good.  Back of sleeve needs no adjustment, unlike sleeve front

The jacket front fits smoothly.  However, the armhole is low, almost near the bust center.  The armhole restricts my arm movement which makes the blazer uncomfortable to wear.  In addition, the sleeve has horizontal folds or wrinkles at the elbow.

Fit is good except for horizontal sleeve folds at elbow

In profile you can see that the sleeve needs to bend more to match the position my arm naturally hangs in.

Jacket sleeve needs to bend at a sharper angle to mimic my arm's natural position

Here are the pattern changes:

Raise armhole 1 1/2"

My armhole now measures 19" at the stitching line.

Front yoke armhole needs to be raised 1 1/2"

The outermost collar is actually part of a front yoke which needs its armhole raised to match.

Reduce cap height 1 1/2", dart out fabric at elbow to increase "bend"

The sleeve now measures 20" at the stitching line.  I will ease the 1" difference (20" sleeve - 19" armhole) when setting the sleeve.  I do not believe it is necessary to have more than 1" of sleeve ease, and I always draft out excess beyond 1".  Many patterns are drafted with 2" - 3" of ease which I find difficult to set well, and I don't find a benefit to 2" to 3" of ease.  Clotilde was a major personality in the sewing industry, and she explained to me once that during her years designing costumes in Hollywood, she drafted out all the sleeve ease and set the sleeve to the armhole with a 1:1 ratio. 

My interfacing, thread, and stitching techniques are based upon information available from two sources:

#1 Leather is for Every Body by Silhouette Patterns (http://silhouettepatterns.com/html/media/m_vidleather.htm).  This one-hour video makes working with leather approachable and fun, and it is particularly useful for an intermediate sewer.

#2 The University of Fashion Sewing with Leather Series (http://www.universityoffashion.com/).  This four-part series provides extensive information about sewing a leather jacket in the garment industry.  The videos take several hours to watch, but they are invaluable.  I took several pages of notes which really helped when it came time to start the project.  Without these videos I would not have felt comfortable sewing this gray leather blazer.  The information is primarily for an advanced sewer. 

Following the advice of Silhouette Patterns, I decided to interface all garment panels with fusi-knit rather than the partial interfacings and cold tape utilized by the University of Fashion.  The reason for this decision is that my leather is soft and thin, suitable for a blazer rather than a coat. Non-interfaced panels would not have maintained the desired garment shape.  Stitch length and thread types are important, and the University of Fashion had me sewing with four different spools of thread!

Blazer is Progressing

The blazer is progressing well, and the leather sews beautifully.  I am so glad I did my research on sewing supplies and techniques for this project.

Leather seam allowances press open well, but I wanted a crisp look so I am top-stitching with heavy thread (similar to buttonhole thread).

Topstitching detail

I hope to finish the jacket in the next day or two.