Marfy 2286 lookin good!

Thanks to all the great advise from my sewing friends on facebook and PR, I could easily have a big heap of wasted money!

The quilting is fabulous, and the top stitching isn't bad.  My dear old elna doesn't have adjustable presser foot pressure or a walking foot so it often stretched the leather when it went through thick leather or around corners.  The walking foot handled the quilting with a few loose stitches, but it didn't pull or shift the leather.


For the quilting I decided on a nice 2 to 1 ratio that is lengthening instead of boxy.  I got my 2" and my 1" ruler and set the first piece of tape.  I used an old roll of masking tape being careful to not push it down too much.  It did stick in a couple of places and tear the facing off the skin, but not badly. I laid the tape edge to edge and held the layers (hair canvas from Pam Erny and natural batting from Hancock's) together with big Conair hair clips.  As I stitched I really didn't have any pulling.

The advise that I got on facebook was so spot on!
As for the Janome 6500 with the walking foot, it walked through like BUTTER!  It was easy to keep on course and handled all the layers beautifully.   BTW, Gutterman heavy duty worked well when the Coats and Clark HD stuff frayed and split just like Clothingengineer said.
I stitched the lines between the tape, then I pulled off the tape and tied off the ends of the thread.  Then I laid the cross tape strips and stitched again.  This process was tedious and seemed to take forever!  And for the record, between the quilting and the topstitching I used all but about 12" of one spool of thread!
The work was totally worth it.
As for pattern alterations, I love Marfy.  Where else can  you take a pattern out of the envelope, set it on a very expensive pile of skin (that 5 sheep gave their lives for) and cut.  Honestly, if I had cut a muslin I wouldn't be nearly this done.  I made some usual alterations, I made the shoulders 1/2" more square.  I added 1" to the side seams, but sewed it back out.  Its a size 48 and I just needed to add a little bit to the hips because I want it loose so I can wear anything I want to under it.  I'll add an inch to the sleeves when I get the last skin tomorrow.


I also have a fabulous lining picked out of course!
Got it at High's last Sunday, its perfect!

BTW, I have so much money in this, is there anyway to LoJack a garment?  I can just see me leaving this on the bus somewhere.

OK, I still need that last piece so that I can cut the sleeves and belt.  Roz should be picking it up for me today so I might have it bragging-worthy by Sunday for the Fashionista club.

Leather Quilting Score!

Score!
I so love PR friends!

Clothing engineer totally solved the stitching problem. I got Gutterman heavy duty thread and a topstitching needle and I can actually quilt the leather with the much prettier heavy duty thread.

If this turns out at all, I will owe fabulousness to her!

Now for the details:
Quilted with heavy duty Gutterman thread with a size 16 topstitching needle.  I layered one layer of natural batting between the leather and my under-layer which is hair canvas.  I spaced the seams with 1" masking tape which didn't mess up the finish of the leather.  I chose the hair canvas because of its crispness and its ability to hold shape.  I saw no reason to add the bulk of another layer of leather.

You can see on the backside that there are still some thread loops and knots, but I don't see that being a deal breaker.  FWIW, I think the trouble with the thread loops arose from where the top thread got caught on something in the bobbin case.  Just my thoughts.  I will handle this by putting some fray check where the thread comes through so it doesn't pull through to the right side.

For the record, the hardest part was getting a straight piece of masking tape off of the ancient roll that I found in a box in the garage.  It sticks and tears very easily, but it doesn't leave a residue on the leather.

Sorry, someone pointed out that I hadn't posted a pattern picture.  This can still be found on sewing patterns.com (I think).  Or you could just do what I do and send Marfy and email and ask them to send it to you.  They will kindly oblige and send you a paypal invoice.  As long as UPS doesn't lose it!
I am quilting the front and back yoke, omitting those front yoke tabs and using a Riri rainbow zipper instead of those buttons.