Nashville is known for it’s singing cowboys and cowgirls. It is a fashionable and happening place, but it is not just the famous singers that make it so special. Behind every Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood there is small army of world-class musicians, lighting and sound technicians, songwriters, producers, stylists, and tailors who make up the layered fabric of Nashville. Nashville definitely has it’s own unique style – hats, boots, rhinestones and leather. Even if you don’t like the music or the style, the creative energy and skilled tradespeople behind the “country” brand is undeniable.

For me, the fashion designers and tailors in this town are truly Nashville stars. It’s a privilege to work in this vibrant community and learn from so many artists. Although I consider my favorite sewing medium to be silk, I have become particularly fascinated with the beautiful custom leather work that I have seen.

There are quite a few designers in Nashville who do custom leather work. Danielle Von Belkom and Ariel Verges (pictured above), two talented sisters and owners of The Showroom (previously Ani & Ari), are best known for the exquisite corsets they create in just about any fabric. This one was created for Miranda Lambert and exhibited at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

My favorite is the leather corset they made for Miranda Lambert when she received Female Vocalist of the year. So cool!

Another great Nashville designer is Savannah Yarborough (below) of Atelier Savas.

The jackets she creates are works of art. I got the pleasure of touring her atelier and I was blown away by her skill and dedication to the custom leather craft. She uses so many fine details in her jackets from a personal embroidered silk charmeuse lining to 14-karat gold stamped labels. Her pieces are stunning!

Another talented tailor in Nashville is my friend Lynn Lesher. She is more of a behind the scenes sort of tailor. And, I mean literally! Recently, she had to sew Maren Morris into her dress before she went on stage at the CMAs.

I often think that Lynn deserves the “CYA” award. She represents the industrious class of people in this town that make sure people’s derrieres are covered and the show will go on!

Lynn has lots of experience working with leather. She was the head seamstress for Dolly Parton for many years. To say she knows a thing or two about fit is an understatement. She also made many western-style leather shirts for Blake Shelton when he was a young up and coming musician. I used to follow Lynn around on some of her engagements, and it always amazed me that no job or task intimidated her. It was an adventure watching her work her magic on some priceless pieces, such as a vintage leather shirt that Bob Dylan gave Sheryl Crow, and a beautiful antique Native American suede vest that needed repairing.

In fact, my desire to learn more about sewing leather began when Lynn gave me some lambskins that were supposed to be a shirt for Sheryl Crow. However, Ms. Crow found one on Ebay she liked. Ha, my luck!

I decided it was time for me to take a stab at the leather craft. I had the leather, the inspiration, and one of the best tailors in Nashville willing to guide me. One thing I’ve learned from all these talented ladies, is not that their sewing acumen and dexterity are far superior (well maybe), it is that they possess the can-do, hard-working attitude of Nashville, or as we say around here, “Ain’t scared!”

I recently met with Lynn and some other interested leather sewers at Textile Fabrics, Nashville’s premier fabric store. Lynn went into great detail about sewing with leather, but I am just going to share what I learned on a higher level and how it relates to couture sewing.

If you want more technical information about sewing with leather, Lynn is planning another class in January 2019. Also, you can check out Kenneth King’s “Leather 101” class on PatternReview.com. He details some of the important basics about sewing with leather such as types of leather, supplies, stitch length (long), needle types, pressing, etc. It’s very useful. I also learned a few things from “Making Leather Bags” with Don Morrin on Craftsy.

 My biggest take-away from my time with Lynn is that sewing a leather jacket is like sewing any other couture garment. The main difference being that seam finishes are managed either by glue, tape, or topstitching, since hand-sewing is difficult with leather. 

You can and should underline a leather jacket. Lynn suggests starting with silk organza, but just as in couture sewing, it is best to make samples and “test, test, test.” You treat the underlining and leather as one piece, and trim away the underlining in the seam allowances before gluing or taping seams down. The underlining also allows you to attach your lining to it instead of the leather. 

Leather stretches. It is important to control the stretch with cold tape within the seam lines, and to slow down your sewing. Although you might not use fusible interfacings in a couture garment, low heat (no steam) fusibles are acceptable for stabilizing/supporting certain areas in a leather garment. I have a leather skirt that is entirely interlined with a fusible. I assume this is so it won’t stretch and bag in the seat over time.  

For a leather jacket, it is not necessary to do bespoke tailoring with pad stitched interlining in the chest area as you might for a tailored jacket in another fabric. This is because you would be taking away what makes leather so special – it’s relaxed, soft feel that molds to your body over time. Watch this video of Ms. Yarborough making a leather jacket – she will convince you!

 https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-made-atelier-savas-leather-jackets/

Most home sewing machines can handle the soft supple suedes and leathers like lamb, goat, calf, deer and pig skins. An industrial machine is not necessary for sewing these. Lynn suggests that skins weighing 2 oz per square foot or less should work fine with a home machine.

As with couture sewing, you always want to make a muslin first and be very happy with the fit and details of the garment. Make sure your pattern pieces are full whole pieces, left side, right side, etc. You will need all pieces when laying it out on the leather for cutting. Before coming to Lynn’s class, I made a toile out of cotton canvas, which is what Atelier Savas uses for their mock-ups. It is definitely more substantial than cotton muslin and gives you a better visual of how the jacket will hang.

It is important to consider darts in a pattern. Wide darts don’t work well in leather. Instead, either use smaller multiple darts or alter your pattern to include yokes or style lines to ease fullness. In fact, I had made my toile with front and back darts. After consulting with Lynn, we decided it would look much cleaner to connect the darts and make a princess style seam instead.

 Finally, sleeves can be tricky. In a couture jacket, sleeves are usually set-in. With leather, it is best to sew them like you would a man’s shirt i.e. length of sleeve and side seam are sewn as one seam. Most sewing patterns have too much ease in the sleeve cap, which is impossible to ease in leather. She suggests about an an inch ease in the sleeve cap compared to the armhole, and maybe even do a dropped shoulder with a shallow cap.

After measuring my muslin, my sleeve cap has more than 1 ½ inches in ease. Therefore, I will definitely be making some changes here before proceeding. I will also insert all zippers/hardware, pockets, collar, sleeves and any other detail finishes in my muslin. I want my muslin to be perfect before proceeding to the cutting table. I will probably even end up making a second muslin.

I will post my progress and more specific sewing details on my custom leather jacket soon. I know it is not silk, but hey, wouldn’t a leather jacket look great with a charmeuse slip dress?! I am thankful for all the talented people in Nashville who have shared their time and skill with me. Stay-tuned as I attempt a semblance of what they do.