proper way to cut thin leather?
I got a sheet of thin black leather I picked up from Joanne Fabrics and I need to cut it into a particular shape. I am not experienced in crafts and such working with cutting and sewing materials. The leather is about 2-3mm think and has a felt backside. What tools would I need? Would just scissors do the job? And how can I make sure to cut the shape I need without it looking off or bad?
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use a razor, try to be sure it is pretty new and very sharp. an Xacto knife will work very well for this.
if you have a template you can use that would be great, cut it out in cardboard first and then trace it with the knife on the leather. if you are confident that you can do it free hand then i applaud you
be sure to have the leather side facing up so that you are puncturing it with the knife, if the leather side were down there is more chance of it possibly tearing or flaring a bit.
An Exacto knife will give a clean cut edge. You can buy these at Walmart, JoAnn Fabric & Crafts or a hobby store.
How to use – http://www.ehow.com/how_5154382_use-exacto-knife.html
Use a cutting board or cutting mat under the leather to protect the surface of the table/counter.
use a low-tack spray adhesive to hold it to your cutting matt.
figure out if you should pre-stretch it, or if a little baggy is ok.
Sounds like you actually got vinyl (“pleather”) instead of leather. If it’s rectangular, it’s pleather. If it’s very irregular in shape, like a skinned animal, it’s leather.
Vinyl can be cut with an exacto knife or similar, or with shears. Kitchen shears (like you’d use for cutting up chicken) often do a good job on vinyl. You probably don’t want to use good sewing shears on vinyl, but I’d use something like Fiskars on it.
Leather or pleather, either one will cut very well with a small roller (rotary) cutter. Most of the “craft leather” sold by fabric stores is a light weight pigskin and a X-acto type knife will cut it but you risk getting an uneven cut because of the leather stretching. Roller cutters push down into the leather rather than pull along the surface so they don’t cause stretching. My shop has rotary cutters on every workbench.