Faux Leather

My wife has introduced me to sewing and I've found that I love to make purses and bags and such. 

I really would like to work with leather or faux leather.  What are your thoughts on the medium?  Tips and recommendations for using it?

Where can I find it for good deals? 

Any and all info and help would be great!

I recently started working with faux leather, real leather & vinyl after seeing all those gorgeous bags out there and wanting something that held up better than cotton.
All these materials are pretty easy to work with, but make sure you're using the proper needles and aren't using pins. I generally use larger needles (at least size 90) or try to use needles that is specially for leather.
I've even added real leather appliques onto vinyl using free-motion sewing and it worked fine. I also recommend straight lines. I tried to sew a purse with curved sides and I found that the seam keeps folding in on itself.  Here's the link to my purse: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7791990@N04/4867449949/

Have fun!

Thanks Irene. 

Where do you find it for a good price to work with?  Living in the middle of WV, the only option that we have afforded to us locally is JoAnn Fabrics and a couple of quilting shops.  Nothing that really has any kind of selection of decent leathers or faux leathers.

I buy all my materials from my local fabric store: Mill End. You could search online and see if you can find a good source. Although, I always make my purchases by the color and texture of the fabric. There might be a source around, but you may have to be creative in your search. I've found that alot of the vinyls I like are marine vinyl. You might find what you need at supply stores.
Good luck!

Irene, beautiful job on that bag. I've been wanting to try to make a leather bag since seeing this amazing one my first sewing teacher made.
Wkniceley, she got the leather by buying a used leather skirt on eBay, she said it was much much cheaper than buying the leather new and it was delicious and buttery soft. She also bought a strip of alligator (or snake?) skin and sewed that down the front of the bag. I couldn't beleive she made it the bag. It looked totally Italian designer. Good luck! Post pictures when you make it

hi wkniceley
I sew bags & purses in faux leather,leather,vinyl alongwith fabrics.I have a blog with Bag Making Basics Series with details on terminology,threads,needles,hardware etc etc alongwith bag making tutorial...........have a look,if you have any questions,you can always ask me:)
Here it is
http://armcandyforyou.blogspot.com/p/bag-making-basics-series.html