Best Sewing Machine for Leather

Best Sewing Machine for Leather Leather is thick and resistant and it’s difficult to stick a needle into it. However, this material is one of the most fashionable and inspiring to create one-of-a-kind masterpieces. Some hobbyists sew leather by hand or using a regular home sewing machine with a special needle and foot. But if you want to create custom leather products like a pro, it would be wiser to use a sewing machine made with leather in mind.

Although there are special-purpose industrial sewing machines for leather that perform better—and cost more, if you are an occasional sewer, you might not need one, as some non-industrial heavy-duty machines can get the work done as well.

There is a difference between industrial and domestic sewing machines and covers many other features that you should consider before buying, such as general sewing machine performance on leather, availability of special-purpose feet and needles, etc.

Based on hundreds of customer reviews, tens of product features, and our own judgment, we picked eight models that have a good price-quality ratio and a high performance.

Types of Sewing Machines for Leather

1. Janome HD3000BE

The Janome HD3000BE is an affordable sewing machine with an industrial-grade aluminum body and metal construction for superior durability. This machine can handle heavy fabrics with ease, it comes with 18 built-in stitches, a one-step buttonhole, and 9 snap-on presser feet, including hemmer, zigzag, satin stitch, blind hem, button sewing, buttonhole, overedge zipper, and transparent buttonhole.Best Sewing Machine for Leather.


Features

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• Speed: 860 SPM
• Stitches: 18
• Dimensions: 16 x 7.2 x 11.3 in
• Weight: 23.7 lbs.
• Warranty: up to 25-year limited

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2. Brother ST371HD

The Brother ST371HD is mentioned in many reviews as a low-budget but good enough sewing machine for leather and other thick materials. The machine is durable and portable; it includes a built-in handle that allows you to transport it whenever you want. After all, the ST371HD is backed by a 25-year limited warranty and a free hotline for technical support. And the Brother Company is well-known for its top-notch customer service.


Features

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• Speed: 860 SPM
• Stitches: 37
• Dimensions: 1 x 12.2 x 7.9 in
• Weight: 4 lbs.
• Warranty: 25-year limited
• Affordable price
• Easy needle threader
• Automatic bobbin winding system
• 37 built-in stitches
• 25-year limited warranty
• Free technical phone support for the life of the product

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Cons

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• Occasional mediocre sewing

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3. SINGER Heavy Duty 4423

The Singer 4423 Heavy Duty has literally everything that is required for sewing leather and other thick fabrics like canvas or denim. The machine offers 23 built-in stitches including stretch, decorative, basic, and buttonhole stitches. The automatic needle threader helps you to effortlessly thread the eye of the needle. The machine comes with a lot of sewing accessories.


Features

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• Speed: 1100 SPM
• Stitches: 23
• Dimensions: 5 x 6.25 x 12 in
• Weight: 5 lbs.
• Warranty: 25-year limited
• Smart design
• Walking foot

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Cons

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• Features may be intimidating for leather sewers

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4. JUKI DU-1181N

The JUKI DU-1181N is an industrial sewing machine made for professional sewing of light- to medium-thick leather items. The model is feature-rich; it provides a motor with speed control. The machine is durable, fast, quiet, and can sew up to 3/8″-thick leather. The motor has automatic needle positioning that lifts the needle right at the end of a seam and puts it in the bottom position. This feature will make your sewing faster and more comfortable.


Features

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• Speed: 2000 SPM
• Stitches: 37
• Dimensions: 48 x 20 x 48 in
• Weight: 250 lbs.
• Warranty: limited lifetime

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Pros

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• Top and bottom feed
• Table, stand, motor included
• Limited lifetime warranty
• Free technical support for the life of the product

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Cons

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• Not portable
• On a pricey side

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5. Reliable Barracuda 200ZW

2ooZW is also one of the most famous machines for sewing leather. And people share their positive experiences in creating leather items with this model. The machine is designed for sewing heavy materials like upholstery fabric, canvas, vinyl, leather, denim, and even sailcloth. It is tried and true in up to 10 layers of canvas and up to 8 layers of Sunbrella-Plus which proves high-quality stitching.


Features

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• Speed: 800 SPM
• Stitches: adjustable width and length
• Dimensions: 16 x 11.5 x 7 in
• Weight: 145 lbs.
• Warranty: 3-year limited
• Affordable price
• Great customer support

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Cons

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• Not for regular tables

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6. Heureux Z6

The Heureux Z6 has excellent quality stitching and can sew through heavy materials like denim, leather, or canvas. The device is tried and true in up to 9 layers of soft denim and 12 layers of hard denim. It has a whopping 200 built-in stitches, including stretch stitches, blind hem stitches, overlock, and decorative and applique stitches. The machine features an automatic needle threader that saves your time and makes needle threading that much easier.


Features

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• Speed: 700 RPM
• Stitches: 200
• Dimensions: 15.7 x 6.9 x 12.2 in
• Weight: 11.7 lbs.
• Warranty: up to 5-year limited
• Affordable price
• Great customer support
• Great piercing power
• Feature-rich
• 200 built-in stitches
• Automatic needle threader
• Lots of accessories

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Cons

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• Scarce reviews
• On a pricey sid

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7. Juki TL-2010Q

The JUKI TL-2010Q offers awesome straight stitching quality. Although there’s no zigzag stitching option, which limits the variety of your projects, the model has a long list of advantages. Beginners appreciate that it is easy to set up and operate. The Presser Foot Pressure Adjustment sets the amount of pressure that the presser foot exerts on the material. The weight of this model is 25.4 lbs, which some of the users feel is hefty. The machine remains steady even when you move the fabric.


Features

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• Speed: 1500 SPM
• Dimensions: 75 x 9 x 8.5 in
• Weight: 4 lbs.
• Warranty: 20-year limited
• Designed for quilting and leather sewing

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Cons

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• Only straight stitching
• Heavyweight
• 5-year limited warranty

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Needle Of Needle For Sewing Leather

When it comes to sewing leather, as well as a sewing machine that can handle leather, you’ll also want the right kind of needle. A universal needle is not the right needle for sewing leather – you need a leather needle that is created differently and allows the needle to ‘cut’ through the leather. You’ll also want to use a suitable thread when sewing leather and I find that glue suitable for leather or leather cement is helpful too as well as a roller for rolling sewn seams flat.

Needle Size For Sewing Leather

The needle size you need for sewing leather will depend on your sewing machine and the thickness of the leather you will be sewing. Leather needles range in size from 70/10 to 110/18. You can try to sew leather on a regular sewing machine, but you may find that the leather sticks, that the feed dog marks the leather, or that the needle breaks. This is often down to a regular sewing machine not having enough power to feed the needle and thread through the leather.

Parts of the Bernina Sewing machine

The machine Bernina 1008, is a mechanical type of sewing machine, which has various functions .for stitching different kinds of leather

• Power Knob

The power knob (or button on some machines!) is used to turn the sewing machine on and off. Bernina has a dial on the right-hand side, below the hand wheel, and above where the power cable is inserted. I have the option to have power with or without the light. Other machines have a simple switch to turn the power on and off.

• Bobbin Stopper

The spool holder is where you place your spool of thread; from here you begin threading your sewing machine.

The spool holder works to keep the thread in position. Some spool holders are upright while others are horizontal.

• Thread Tension Discs

Sewing machine tension is really important, and tension can be increased or decreased via the dial visible in the photos below, but also within the bobbin casing. If the stitches you are sewing with your sewing machine are too loose or too tight, your tension can be faulty. The dial with numbers is to help you increase or decrease the tension of your thread. Red is ‘normal’ but this can change depending on the type of fabric you are sewing with.

• Bobbin Winder

In order to sew on a machine, you need to have a spool of thread and a bobbin filled with thread. This is because stitches on a sewing machine are created by interlocking two threads: one from underneath (the bobbin) and one from above (from the spool). When you need to load your bobbin with thread, you place the bobbin on the bobbin winder and click it into position. Often you’ll need to adjust the hand wheel too so that it ‘deactivates’ the needle.

• Bobbin Stopper

The bobbin stopper works by ‘stopping’ the bobbin once it is full. It will prevent the bobbin from spinning and loading more thread.

Conclusion

There is a wide variety of sewing machines for leather as discussed above. Some sewing machines can handle leather beautifully while others will drag and mark the leather in such a way that it is no longer usable – the machines recommended here are the best leather sewing machines. Leather sewing machines are specialized industrial machines that are used for stitching together either leather, canvas, denim, or other very thick materials.