Dan had given me a bunch of the samples to hold until the move was completes. Just before we closed I drop off 6-8 boxes of the leather samples for Cosplay SIG and Leather SIG. SO there should be plenty available when we reopen. Get with the SIG leaders.
i kept asking people about those crates of leather back then. and i always get met with either “i dont know” or “those are for classes” can someone give me a usable answer? even if it’s a rough broad dollar rate It’s fine i just need guidelines 
The was was an 8.5" x 11" sign on it - don;t know what happened to it. Unless you asked the SIG leaders other individuals may not have known. They were waiting to get cabinets, etc. But it isn’t “Free Stock” unless the SIG leaders decide to give it away. The goal was to use in classes and sell cheaply to raise money for the SIGs. So talk to them when it opens. It wasn’t there very long a week or so before we closed.
In my opinion, those smaller leather samples would be great for teaching and for practice on the THOR and other leather sewing machines.
FWIW, I have some more samples from the leather batch which I am holding back for the SIG’s use, as well as some machine thread. These are not part of the sale, as I thought the SIG could benefit from them directly.
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There are 2 boxes in the leather working cabinet that are “free” to use for whatever; the ones sitting on top are marked for class-use only. As far as the most recent boxes, since everything has been shut down no one has been able to do anything with them.
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In the Warehouse there is a pallet of leather pieces, about 6 to 8 boxes full. Who does this material belong to? Just trying to clean out the Warehouse as part of the Expansion Effort.
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When we open I would love to see a project based class using leather and the sewing machines. I took the intro to leather working tools class, but I never saw any kind of leather classes so I could really learn to use the tools
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I’m not exactly sure what’s there; if I remember correctly @Photomancer dropped them right before DMS shut down (apologies David, if it wasn’t you). I wasn’t made aware of them until after the closing, and it’s my understanding that they’re supposed to be divided up between leatherwork, cosplay, and sewing(?).
LW doesn’t have much room for… well, anything. We’ll do our best to do what we can when everything reopens - but we weren’t expecting the donation, so we’re not prepared for the donation.
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I’m sorry there hasn’t been more LW classes. Right at the beginning of the year I had 4 teachers leave DMS/get burned out/get busy and the classes dropped as a result. I’ve talked to a few new people about possibly teaching when we get restarted, but volunteer does as volunteer does.
As for sewing specifically - most of the teachers taught hand sewing. You can do thin garment leather on the regular sewing machines, but for the Thor - that is completely under the control of the sewing SIG.
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I’m mildly planning to get together with @HankCowdog to practice with the Thor so that I can teach it.
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you mean like this? That class was fun but sooooo long. good use of the leather samples though.
@jnorine is right though, leather is popular and the constant demand can and will burn teachers out if they don’t pace themselves. Perhaps the SIG needs a train the trainer for a few intermediate leatherworkers? that could help get some teachers back in the mix.
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Do you still have some hide you’re willing to part with? I can make a trade in maker items, time, baked goods, classroom visits, cash, or otherwise!
I’m interested in buying hides for an aviation leather seat reupholster project. Are you willing to entertain a private showing? or schedule another sale?
The trick is – these were hides that were donated to us by a upholstery firm. Extras of things they didn’t need and didn’t want to trash.
@coloneldan has been facilitating these donations. I’m not sure if we had any left. I think it all found takers at the time.
The whole hides are all gone. I doubt we’ll have a similar opportunity for some time, since this was the result of a major warehouse clearing by the gulf stream connection.
That said, if you could be appeased with sample size squares/patches (I’d guess in the 8” x 8” range) we do have a LOT of those, and are planning to divest ourselves of a significant amount of that to a storable quantity.
FYI- the Tandy leather flagship store on I-20 in south Fort Worth has been restocked compared to how it looked in December/January. If in need of a whole hide, you might find something you like at a (relatively) reasonable price.
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Unfortunately, this was a one-time deal. All of the hides were either sold or donated. The leather was all from Gulfstream Air and they were used to upholster their aircraft.
They were having to move their warehouse and therefore dispose of the excess leather they had on hand so they donated it to DMS. Mike Churchill and I facilitated a sale and donated the proceeds to
the Leatherworking Sig. The leather went pretty fast all things considered and we raised over $2000.
I’m sorry but unless someone who bought the hides wants to sell them to you there are no more for sale. I don’t know if there will be any large hides like these in the future either.
Historically, I just get samples.
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Thank you so much everyone for the amazing fast responses. I’ve got another lead on hides. This group was recommended to me by a friend. I have not joined yet. I have no prior sewing experience but I’m willing to learn because I’ve got a project I’d like to do. I have plenty of prior craft experience with carpentry and welding. How do I find out where the classes are to learn how to do custom upholstry? Is that even possible?
Custom upholstery is pretty specialized, can’t say I recall classes on that here. All of the classes we have currently available can be seen at calendar.dallasmakerspace.org.
That is indeed a good question. I’m working on being ready to teach the Thor, which is our industrial leather machine. I’m a good seamstress, but I haven’t done upholstery. Could be a little special.
@Lordrook has some leather sewing experience – he did an apron class.
We might just have an “event” where the interested parties brain-storm the problem. It’d probably be in October…
thanks for the shout out. and yes once you get signed off on our sewing machines you can sew very light (no heavier than upholstery leather) on the machines provided you bring your own “leather” needles.