sewing leather and spandex

[Auryn]

I was hoping some of you folks with more costuming experience might have some pointers for me.
I have never sewn any kind of stretchy fabric.
Lots of leather, cotton, linens etc but no spandex.
I am about to undertake adding a 2inch wide leather trim to some spandex clothing.

Any suggestions or recommendations on what thread or stitch I should use?
Should I machine or hand sew it??

On the pants the band is going to actually be the waist band
and on the top it will be a lacing seam up the spine.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[DonaCatalina]

Do you have a machine that will sew leather?
Most sewing machines don't like to sew leather. But you can mitigate the spandex to leather issue by first sewing a strip of 2" cotton to the spandex first. Then you can manhandle the leather onto the cotton with fewer problems.
But if your machine doesn't like leather you'll be reduced to hand sewing.

[Auryn]

DonaCatalina
I have an old Singer 15 and also a current commercial consew that we use to sew vulcanized rubber 'fabric' that I am pretty sure can handle leather.

Should I put regular clothing weight cotton on the spandex or go for something sturdier like duck cloth?

[DonaCatalina]

I think regular weight cotton should be fine. You're just making a base for the leather to go onto.

[Auryn]

Got ya
when I am sewing the cotton to the spandex, is there a particular stitch I should be using?? My new sewing machine has a bunch of stitches I've never seen before and several labeled as being for stretchy materials.

[DonaCatalina]

I would recommend using a simple straight stitch because only the spandex is stretchy.
spandex to spandex is another matter...

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Consult your owner's manuals Auryn, for what stitch wuld be best.

There are needles as well that work best on spandex fabrics. Which reminds me, I need to get more Schmetz Universal 14/90 needles.