Not every item that you choose to sew will be made of fabric. On the more advanced machines you can even sew thin metals. Leather is one of the more difficult materials to work with. It is not because of it's thickness or type of grain but because if you make a mistake sewing it, it can be harder to hide it. Sewing leather leaves holes in the leather. If the holes (stitches) are too close together then the leather will rip. Sewing leather with a home sewing machine is only recommended for the lighter ounce weights of leather. Note: leather types are divided into how many ounces they weigh. The smaller the ounce weight the thinner the leather. 8 ounces would be a good weight for motorcycle saddlebags and 9 to 10 ounces would be more like a western horse saddle type of leather.
The weights you would be dealing with for home sewing would be more along the lines of 4 ounce leathers and suede's. If the leather is light weight then you don't have to use a "leather needle" for the work. In fact a "leather needle" is made for the thicker types of leather and would leave too large of a hole for the lighter weigh leathers.
Make a trial run with a small section of the leather before you start to sew the main article. That way you can adjust the length of the stitches and the tension.
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