If you’re of a certain age, when someone mentions “blue suede” you will mostly likely think of Blue Suede Shoes, the song made famous by Elvis Presley. Most of us would find the prospect of making shoes out of suede fabric daunting. But because of its pliant quality, this popular leather can be used for any number of sewing projects.
1) Suede Fabric Gloves
The term comes from the French “gants de Suède”, which means “gloves of Sweden.” If you’ve ever worn a pair of soft leather gloves made of suede fabric, you know how special they feel.
If you’d like to embrace a disappearing art form, why not try hand stitching gloves? Did you know that making gloves is considered a secret art and still protected in Europe by guilds. There’s an entire website devoted to making gloves, if you’re interested in their fascinating history.
2) Suede Leather Coat
Suede, with its napped finish, is a versatile fabric to create a fall weather jacket, a kicky patchwork bolero or a full length Matrix-like coat. For some reason people refer to either “suede” or “suede leather”, which is redundant. Suede is made from the under side of animal skin, so it’s leather but considered to be less durable than “full-grain” leather.
The reason we go on about it being leather is that, when sewing real suede, you want to be sure to use a leather needle. A leather needle has a triangular cutting point.
Artificial suede fabrics like Ultrasuede® and knit suedecloths can all be sewn on home sewing machines and take regular needles.
Mostly, working with suede is a matter of fabric handling and finding the right presser foot and presser. So, if you’ve sewn coats before, it may take a little experimentation to get the stitching right, but the luxurious feel of your new suede outerwear will be well worth the investment in time.
One super huge advantage to making outer wear from suede fabric rather than full-grain leather is that suede fabric is washable, so you do not have to worry about inclement weather ruining your look.
