A fetish leathercrafters journal: F-Suit Leg Pockets

Saturday, June 5, 2010

F-Suit Leg Pockets

OK, hopefully you all are ready to take on a new challenge. The foot pockets are a bit complicated by the inclusion of zippers. Typically I would place the zipper on the bottom of the foot pocket, but due to client request, the zippers for this f-suit have moved to the front seam of the foot pocket. Instead of being a straight seam, the zippers will now travel over the curve of the knee, which makes sewing and placement a little more challenging.

We begin with the same number of pieces as the arm pocket, a front and back shape along with a side panel.

The first thing I want to do is indicate on the pieces the location of the zipper.

I'll mark where the zipper will end...

And where it should begin...

Once that's done, we can get on to the first sewing operation. I'm going to attach the back panel to the side - that's the seam without the zipper. I'll clip and sew, as usual.

First one done...

Then the other...

OK, we're ready for the zipper now. I'll be using my #5 YKK zipper chain.

I cut the zippers to length, enough to extend beyond the openings on either end.

Now I want to fold back the leather along the seam edge between the two marks I made earlier.

I'll start out by applying the glue.

Then cut notches where we have an outside curve.

And slits where we have an inside curve.

Here we have the seam folded flat, after the glue has set up:

You can see the notches on the outside curve go away:

And the slits on the inside curve open up:

We're done with both sides, it's time to sew in the zippers.

I'll be using masking tape to hold the zipper in place for sewing.

I want that zipper nestled right up against the seam.

And here it is after run through the machine, top stitched in place.

At this point I want to put the pulls onto the zipper chain.

Because leather is flexible I am going to sneak up on the zipper placement, rather than trying to clip and sew the whole thing in one shot. I would be afraid of misalignment due to the stretching of the leather as it is sewn. To avoid this I'm going to sew the first seam right up until the zipper begins. I'll start with the clips, up to the beginning of the zipper.

Here I have sewn until the zipper starts.

Next, I'll glue and fold down the seam allowance in preparation for the topstitch, just like on the other side.

Here's the side folded down and ready for the zip.

I use masking tape and clips again to hold it in place.

Here we have the seam after sewing. I still need to finish sewing the seam all the way to the toe, but will save that for later. For now it helps to be able to open the zipper and have access to the inside, because I still need to sew in the tongue.

At this point I glue down and flatten the seam allowances inside.

Here is the pocket with the seams glued and pounded flat:

Now we are ready to sew in the tongue that runs inside the zipper and keeps it from pinching or being pressed against the flesh. We start with 2-inch wide strips about 28 inches long:

I'll use tape to hold 'em in position while sewing.

Here's an inside view:

The tongue is top-stiched in place using the previous row of stitches as a guide. The outside after tongues looks like this: (see the double-row of stitches?)

Now we can finish up that foot pocket...

I use the clips from the inside, and sew right to the edge of the zipper.

Here's the view from the outside, after stitching and flattening:

At this stage I run some stitches at the ends of the zippers to keep the pulls in place. This completes the zipper sewing. Only one part left for the foot pockets...