Maintenance How to Suede Joints

small question- has anyone ever suede'd with non suede fabric?

 

What do you mean by that? I've used moleskin (the kind you buy to put on your feet) but I haven't heard of anyone using a different kind of fabric. Maybe felt??

 

Like t-shirt material or any like woven fabric?

 

I haven't heard of anyone using that kind of fabric. I'm not sure how well it would hold up being rubbed in the joints or if it would have enough grip to really make a difference. That being said, there's no reason not to try!

 

honestly I might, I'm sure out there somewhere on the net someone's done an experiment to see what type of material works best-- however I haven't found anything yet..who knows

 

Thank you for the tutorial

 

Thanks for the tutorial! My girl is hot glued sueded but I'm still having some issues with her joints so I picked up some suede today from Joann (eyeing some microsuede from Michael's, not sure which is better). Your tutorial will definitely help.

 

Ohhh thank you for this!!!

 

Also as a tip for people who want to suede multiple dolls or have dols where different thickness of suede would work best for different joints you can look into buying whole goat skin splits. These are whole hide splits that vary in thickness because it is the whole hide. you can use the thinner hide around the edges for stuff like wrist joints and the thick hide around the neck for large dolls or dolls whose joints need extra stability. a single hide can suede many, many dolls. I bought a single goat split years back and am only now thinking i need to order another one.

 

Where would you buy a goat split? I live in Texas and I've never even heard of places where I can do that.

 

I'm in texas too! I got my original one off etsy but the shop i ordered form no longer carries them, they can be ordered straight from their site though! Thin and Extra-Thick Leather Suede (Split Suede) — Pergamena they have them listed as a thin and thick splits at $10 each. when i ordered mine they weren't making a distinction between the two and the whole split had very thin places and some very thick places. These splits are considered practice material for leatherworking so they may have holes\discolorations but for suedeing dolls your using such small pieces at a time such a thing doesnt really matter.

Edited to add: I've also ordered leather scraps from this company and been very pleased with the pieces for making doll purses with. all quality leather with no bad smells and all pieces big enough to use for tiny doll projects. Kind of off topic but i just though i'd throw that in there if anyone orders the a split and wants to tck something on to get closer to free shipping.

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll check them out.

My hopefully eventually-to-be-here doll is going to be based on a character from a video game and I've already got a leatherworking coworker who said she'd make her shoes, so I might look at getting some of their leather scraps to make those (and her belt) with!