Whether you want to repair your leather couch or car seats or create your own leather wallets, belts, or clothing, leather tape could be just what you need to help you to get the job done.
Single sided leather tape can be used to repair most any kind of leather, from couches to auto upholstery to leather clothing and accessories. It comes in a variety of colors and widths to match the color of your leather that needs repair and the size of the area that needs fixing.
There are various DIY ways to repair leather. You can sew it together or sew on a patch, but leather is difficult to sew; you can buy a leather repair kit, which is more time-consuming and may involve smelly glues—or you can use leather tape, which is specially made to repair leather or faux leather.
What is Leather Tape?
There are a couple of different kinds of leather tape. For repairing damaged leather, you can buy tape that is actually leather on the top with a strong adhesive on the back to bind it to the leather underneath. If you are creating your own leather craft, two-sided leather tape is made to temporarily hold the pieces of leather together until you sew them together permanently It can also be used for finishing seams.
Black Leather Tape
Leather Tape Uses
Furniture or Auto Upholstery Repair
Furniture
Do you have a rip in your leather couch or did your cat claw up the arm of your leather recliner? If you want to repair your leather furniture yourself, leather tape is an inexpensive and easy way to go. This tape comes in a variety of widths and colors, so you should be able to find one to match the color of your item and the size of the damage, as well. You can even buy adhesive leather patches—kind of like permanent band-aids for your furniture.
Make sure that you clean the surface and allow it to dry before applying your tape.
This repair tape is made from either real leather or faux leather. Neither is that expensive, plus you don’t need a lot. So I’d recommend getting real leather tape for a real leather item and faux leather tape if your furniture is faux.
This leather tape comes in a wide variety of colors, so try to find the one that matches your damaged item most closely. ONine brand offers 45 different colors of tape! If you’re shopping online, it can be tricky to get a good color match. But if your leather is brown, black, or beige, you shouldn’t have too much trouble.
Auto upholstery
The same kind of leather tapes and patches that you use to repair furniture can also be used to repair rips in you leather car upholstery. I haven’t had to repair my car upholstery (yet), but people report that leather tape holds up well on auto upholstery even if their interior is baked by the hot sun and/or sits out in freezing weather.
Clothing, purses, and leather accessories
Single-sided tape for repairs
You can also use leather tape to repair rips in leather jackets or other leather clothing. As with furniture or car upholstery, always clean the surface first. If possible, apply the leather tape to the wrong side of the fabric. It will show up less that way. Of course, if it has a sewn in lining or a crack rather than a tear that goes all the way through, apply the tape to the right side of the fabric.
If you have a purse or other leather accessory to repair, it works the same way. If you are putting the patch on the outside, you can try to match the color—or if you’re feeling sassy, you can add a whole new color.
Double-sided tape for DIY projects
For making your own leather clothing or accessories, many professionals use double-sided leather tape. In the past, they used glue to hold pieces together in preparation for sewing or to finish seams after they were sewn. But leather glue can be smelly and messy. I’d say it’s worth a try if you are a leather DIYer.
If you’re using thicker leather—for a wallet or belt, perhaps, you probably won’t need to finish seams. But just like you might pin fabric together before you sew it so that it doesn’t move around, you can make sure that your leather pieces stay exactly where you want while you sew them, giving you a better finished product without using messy, smelly glue.
Here is an informative video on how to use Double Sides Leather Tape
Types of Leather Tape
All of these tapes, unless otherwise noted, can be used to repair any type of leather or faux leather
Single-sided tape for repairs:
Real Leather Tape
MastaPlasta sells both rolls of real leather tape and leather patches in a variety of natural colors. They also offer decorative patches, including a red heart and a leather band-aid
ONine As mentioned above, this brand comes in 45 different colors, including bright colors and neutrals
Bonaier leather tape comes in several different brown colors, as well as black and white, and can be used on other upholstery fabrics, as well as real and faux leather
Azobur comes in 14 colors, including black, white, and browns.
Numola Leather Repair Patch Kit comes in black, white, and several neutral colors. It is thicker than other patches and especially good for repairing leather in your car.
Faux Leather tape:
Match ‘N Patch Leather Tape
Match ‘N Patch is a faux-leather tape that can be used to repair real or faux leather. The manufacturer recommends it for areas that “aren’t major interaction points” It comes in black and white tape, as well as several shades of brown. They also sell patches.
Pelle Patch sells 25 different colors of synthetic leather patches that can be cut to size
Duck Brand Duct Tape is not technically a leather tape, but it can be used on leather—but it won’t hold on places that get a lot of use—like seats of sofas or chairs. It won’t look like leather, but it will hold and you can use it to create some funky designs, too. Not recommended for use in cars, as it won’t hold up well in extreme conditions.
Here is a review of Ted’s Leather Tape and how you can use it.
White Leather Tape
White leather tape can be useful especially for upholstery that needs repair. This can include couches, sofas, dining chairs, stools, and any upholstery that will see sizeable traffic and need a durable method to fix it.
Black Leather Tape for Sofa
Black leather tape is very helpful for use on black leather sofas. These can be either natural leather or faux leather, where the tape can help provide a sturdy and durable surface while holding together smaller rips and tears in the material.
Brown Leather Tape for Sofa
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Brown leather sofas, and related shades of tan, can benefit from specically brown leather tape and dark brown leather tape. This will help the tape blend in to the color of the sofa, making it less noticeable, while also providing a string and durable surface that can hold up to the sitting traffic the sofa might see.
Leather Tape for Car Seats
Car seats can see many conditions on a day-to-day basis, including hot, cold, abrasions, spills, and wear from frequent getting in and out from the vehicle. Leather tape for car seats can help pull rips and tears together, protecting the cushioning underneath it, while also blending into the seats so it’s not very noticeable.
Key here would be to find a leather tape that if a close match to the color tone, and surface finish of the existing car seats. When chosen wisely and applied well, this can be an easy and effecitve fix for ripped or torn car seats.
Gray Leather Tape
When working with items beyond upholstery (which gray leather tape can work well for), such as jackets, gray leather tape can be a temporary or sometimes great permanent fix. Sewing is usually an option, though for small tears or a quick repair, tape can be perfect. It can also be cut down into smaller pieced depending on how or where it will be used.
Beige Leather Repair Tape
Beigh leather repair tape can be useful across upholstery, seating, luggage, clothing, and small accessories. As long as the color match is relatively close, this is a great way to apply a quick fix to small rips and tears.
Self-Adhesive Leather Tape
Most leather tape is self adhesive, this allows it to bind to torn or ripped areas of leather surfaces, or other materials, and hold together those repaired areas from further damage. Since it is self-adhesive, it makes application very fast and easy to do.
Real Leather Tape
While some leather tapes are made from plastics of vinyl, others can have a real, genuine, leather surface above the adhesive. This make it effective at holding rips and tears in place, while also having a a natural leather surface that matches the item being repaired, blending in smoothly.
When possible, using a real leather tape is the best option, and it is closest in look and feel to the original leather item being repaired.
Black Leather Tape/Black Leather Repair Tape
Black leather repair tape is likely the most common color for leather repairs. A lot of auto upholstery uses darker colors, and many leather jackets and accessories are also colored in shades of black. If you have a specific project to fix, or looking to have some handy in the shop, black is susually a useful color to have nearby.
Faux Leather Tape
Some leather items are made of faux leather; this might be due to preference for lower cost (faux leather is generally made from vinyls or plastics), need for water resiatance, or certain finishing textures or properties that can be easily applied to the surface.
Faux leather tape that closely matches the material being repaired will usually be most effective in making a repair that performs closely to the original material, and also looks most similar, so that the fix is not very noticeable. Faux leather tape is available in a wide variety of colors, widths, and textures.
Double-sided tape for DIY projects:
Here is how you can use Tanners Leather Tape on Leather Clothing
Tanner’s Bond Adhesive Tape This tape from Tandy leather comes in 3 widths and can be repositioned, so doesn’t provide a permanent bond.
Ted’s Tape is a permanent adhesive that comes in 3 different widths.
SLC Super Strong Double Sided Basting Tape can be used to hold leather in place while sewing.
Where to Buy Leather Tape
Home Depot
Home depot carries a few tapes that are likely best used on faux leathers. Also, if needed, these faux leather tapes (vinyl/plastic) can usually be used as a temporary fix on natural and other leather items.
Walmart
Walmart carries a good variety of both single-sided leather repair tape and double sided leather tape. These can be used across upholstery, clothing, and other leather items and accessories. The tape can also be used for craft projects.
Amazon
Amazon carries a wide range of leather repair tapes and patches, as well as two-sided leather tape. The benefit of looking on Amazon is the wide variety of options, colors, and finishes available; you’ll likely find what you need, for projects or repairs, here.
Others
Many craft and fabric stores also carry leather tape. If you need something same day, or would like to look closely at the tape before purchasing it, brick and mortar store can be a great resource. The variety might not be huge, depending on the location and size of the store, but depending on your project or need they might have just what you’re looking for.
Best Leather Tape
When working on a project, choosing the right tape can make it easy and effective, providing strength and durability, along with a color match that is visually appealing.
Single-sided for repairs
Azobur makes a quality single-sided leather repair tape; it is available in wide widths, and many colors.
Match’N Patch
Match’N Patch makes one of the most popoular leather tapes. It is strong, durable, reasonably priced, and comes in a variety of colors and surface patterns.
MastaPlasta
MastaPlasta produces specialized upholstery repair tapes, intended for quick, easy fixes with a surface that matches real leather in appearance and feel. If you’re looking to repair a noticeable tear in a couch or leather chair, MastaPlasta is a nice option.
ONine
ONine makes a leather repair tape good for upholstery, handbags, jackets, and larger accessories. It comes in a long roll so it can be cut and applied as needed.
Numola (especially for leather car seats)
Numola makes a very wide (4 inch) leather repair tape. This is especially good for car seats where tears might be long, and require strong adhesion across the acreas to keep the rip stable. The surface colors allow for use across many common leather colors.
Double-sided for DIY
Double-sided tape can be great for leather projects and craft projects that use leather. Angel Crafts makes a quality, acic-free double-sided tape. It can be used on leather as well as other fabrics and materials.
Tanner’s Bond Adhesive
Tandy Leather makes a Tanner’s Bond leather tape that works well, holds strong, and is quite durable. It can be used for bonding leather to leather, or leather to other materisl when used as part of a craft project of other repair/design effort.
Helpful Insights
What is the best leather repair product?
The best leather repair product will depend mostly on the type of leather being repaired, and the size of the needed repair, though in general, MastaPlasta makes a quality tape. Also, Tandy’s Tanner’s Bond is strong and effective.
What tape will stick to leather?
Most tapes will stick to leather, though the key is to find one that will form a strong bond. For these, tapes that have strong adhesives will usually perform better (since they need to bond to the leather fibers). Specialised leather repair tapes account for these unique uses will generally perform best.
Is there such a thing as fabric tape?
Yes, there are tapes specifically made to be used on fabrics and thin materials. These might work well on some thinner leathers, though for thicker leathers and more permanent holds, a leather-specific repair tape will usually work best.
How do you stick leather to leather?
Leather can be stuck to leather with leather tape. Leather glue can certainly be an option, though in some cases, such as a rip, tear, or need for easy application, leather tape can work excellently. There are a variety of types, widths, colors, and strengths available, making it possible to find one that can likely be a great fit for your project.
How do you join two pieces of leather together?
Leather can be joined together using a few methods, including sewing, gluing, and taping. Taping is usually fastest, though, depending on the application, might require a more permanent fix such as gluing or sewing.
So now you know how to use leather tape—either for repairing leather or for your DIY projects. Leather tape is cheap, easy to use, holds up well, and doesn’t have smelly fumes like leather glue. If you have cracks, tears, or stains in your leather furniture, clothing, accessories, or car upholstery, and want to fix them yourself, give leather tape a try. To learn about another leather joining method, click here for my article on leather glue, or for repairs, here for my guide on leather filler.
Related Questions
Will 3m tape stick to leather?
3M makes a wide variety of tapes. The company recommends their adhesive transfer tape be used for bonding leather. This type of tape is generally used for manufacturing and not for household use. It is available, however, in smaller packages from office supply stores, art supply stores, and, of course, Amazon.
Does Gorilla Tape work on leather?
Gorilla Tape will stick to leather, but it may not be the best solution for repairing it. If the rip is out of sight and not in a place where it gets a lot of use or friction. It should work just fine. But on a sofa cushion or leather jacket, for example, it will probably wear loose over time and leave a sticky residue. Also, it will not look as nice as leather tape, because it will look like—well, it will look like a piece of gorilla tape…On the other hand, it may be less expensive than leather tape. So it might be worth trying on something that won’t get a lot of wear and tear and if it doesn’t have to be aesthetically pleasing.
What is leather tape for bike handles?
You can also buy leather tape to wrap around metal bike handles to make them more comfortable to grip. We didn’t discuss this today, but if your handlebars are metal, this tape could make holding the handlebars a little more comfy.
