[SwordMage]

The jute pattern recipes are to make finished cloth armor for spell casters (sorcerers, druids, psionicists, and necromancers). The lining is made with your outfitting skill, not leatherworking, and if you are going the tailor route, you really don't need to level it at all (I just set the minus on the leatherworking skill control and ignore it).

As far as is it worth the cost of the jute and the dusts, it depends on the market on your server. Take a look on the broker and see what things are going for, ask around. If this game is like most I have played, the serious armor market doesn't set in until tier 2 since people go through tier 1 so fast.

I might also suggest learning to harvest jute. There are usually safe areas for jute near the starting towns; it is only with the higher tiers that harvesting gets dangerous for the pure crafter.