naughahyde

[Joni Lowe]

anyone have any suggestions and/or tips for sewing with naughahyde? I am making a tote bag to lug library books back and forth. I have the embroidery done on the pockets of the bag, and the straps made, but it would appear that trying to stitch through all four layers to attach the straps might be too thick for my machine. Any ideas? TIA, Joni

[MartySews2]

Hi Joni, you might want to use a size 18 needle, binder clips instead of pins, and use a glue stick to help hold things together while you stitch. Naugahyde is much like sewing with leather. Also, use a teflon foot to help it slide thru easily. Most machines should be able to handle this.
Marty

[DorothyL]

And you can't rip out stitches so don't make any mistakes!!!


When I was a theater critic -- YEAH ME -- my co-worker and I saw a play about Billie Holiday and we had to use the word Naugahyde to describe the set. We just had to! We were up half the night searching dictionaries just to spell it -- this was before the day of the Internet where you can just Google.
We finally found it and won an award for the review.
I just remembered that when I read your post.
Dorothy

[Upholsteress]

Use some practice scraps until you perfect your technique... or you could just take the handles to a local upholstery shop and ask them to stitch it up for you. I can't imagine my home machine sewing through 4 layers of REAL Naugahyde... its pretty thick. Naugahyde is a brand name. Not all vinyl is Naugahyde. You can tell it is the real deal if the "Nauga" guy is stamped all over the back...

[Joni Lowe]

Thanks Marty, I have ordered a teflon foot for my machine, it should be here is a couple of days. Dorothy, after reading with enthusiasum your many posts, I can imagine that you were one h^#$ of a theatre critic!!!. Cheryl, I think that my machine will be able to handle the load with the proper foot in place. I have been able to get it to make the stitches IF I get a grip on the end of the fabric and PULL it through the feed dogs. But it does cause a horrible bird's nest on the backside. I have been able to hide these mistakes Dorothy because I am hiding the raw edges with extra wide double fold bias tape. I don't believe that this fabric is REAL naugahyde(sp) because there is nothing printed on the backside. Just some stuff I bought years ago for another "alledged" project. . .Wish I could figure out how to post pix, then your input would be really helpful.

Thanks again ladies, as always you are THE BEST!!! Joni Lowe. . .(the original and antique version of J LO)

[Joni Lowe]

BTW, those two little guys in my avatar are my beautiful grandsons, Aidan (blond) and Drayton (brunette). They are now 6 and 4. . . J LO

[bridesmom]

Joni, please explain what your signature means ' the antique and original version of J Lo - I'm guessing it's a reference to the 'other' one that is the actress? songstress? clothes designer/ perfume designer, etc etc etc?

[Joni Lowe]

yes Laura, that is exactly what it refers to. My license plate on my car says "J LOWE" and I often get comments on that, so in jest, I refer to myself as the original and antique version of JLO aka Jennifer Lopez. Since there is NO WAY I could be compared to her, it gets a lot of chuckles. . .

[SheliaHC]

Joni, I think that since you are part of this group of wonderful people here that she can't compare to you.

Shelia

[Joni Lowe]

aw shucks, Shiela . . .Joni