Square Corners On A Case

[Wayward Shrimp]

Joining you all from Central Ohio, I've been lurking about for a while and have gathered a lot of little tricks and tips here, and finally decided to join.

I am working on a wine bottle case, essentially a cylinder with lid, and for the life of me I can't sew a square corner to attach the circular end to the tube sides.

I have the tubes sewn and the tops are nice and square, I grooved and punched holes. (I like to use the 4 prong chisel since i'm still not so good at evenly spacing with an awl.) I cut the top using the tube as the template, grooved and punched it as well. Both are beveled to get mitered type joint in the corner.

The problem is sewing starts out fine but getting a tight stitch seams to pinch the corner to a tight angle or something and by the time i get about halfway around, the circle is too small for the tube.

If I sew it completely it bunches and buckles and the tube looks 'gathered' and the circle looks bowed. This makes one side pinched and the other drawn. If they matched it would be more tolerable...

I have tried several things.

Let me preface these attempts with the statement that I tend to hack at things until they work. This is the second case I've made. I worked from the Stolman book on the first and still it had basically the same trouble but was less noticeable because it was an irregular shape. I'm sure my solutions might be 'unthinkable' or way against the proper method, but I am basically making things up as I go.

1.) 'basting' the circle every 90 degrees (four points)

2.) sewing from opposite sides simultaneously

3.) reducing the distance from the stitch groove to the edge on the tube (haven't tried the circle)

4.) sewing at 45degrees (punch with awl) and at right angles (punched holes) on different attempts.

What should I be doing?

I have the feeling that my bevel angle is off, my stitch to edge width is off or something like that. What measurements should I be using to set these dimensions? I don't want the grove too close to the edge for decorative purposes but the warping and buckling looks really bad.

Do I need some sort of form to keep the shape from distorting?

[Luke Hatley]

thicker leather will be much more easy to get the corners mitered and sewn

you did not say what thickness you are working with.

[mendedbowl]

Look at the spokes of a bicycle wheel and notice how they radiate outward. the thread spacing on your circle will be closer together than around your tube. Instead of punching all your holes, try only marking the spacing on your tube edge. You can groove your circle, but don't mark any stitch spaces. Miter the joint and glue it together before stitching. As you punch holes with your awl, (one on the tube edge and it's corresponding hole in the lid circle) imagine each set of holes as being points on a continuous line radiating from the center of your circle (like the spokes of a wheel). Aim for the stitching groove in the circle. With a little practice you'll be hitting that groove consistently.

hope this helps,

ken

[Wayward Shrimp]

thicker leather will be much more easy to get the corners mitered and sewn

you did not say what thickness you are working with.

It's thicker on top, but i'm not sure the weight, around 1/8-3/16 thick. And then double thickness on the sides of a slightly thinner leather.

I left out the thickness because i'm still way off at guessing the thicknesses in oz correctly.

[Wayward Shrimp]

Look at the spokes of a bicycle wheel and notice how they radiate outward. the thread spacing on your circle will be closer together than around your tube. Instead of punching all your holes, try only marking the spacing on your tube edge. You can groove your circle, but don't mark any stitch spaces. Miter the joint and glue it together before stitching. As you punch holes with your awl, (one on the tube edge and it's corresponding hole in the lid circle) imagine each set of holes as being points on a continuous line radiating from the center of your circle (like the spokes of a wheel). Aim for the stitching groove in the circle. With a little practice you'll be hitting that groove consistently.

hope this helps,

ken

I will give that a try, though I worry I will still have the problem. The other case i made with an awl exclusively and still had the trouble lining up, and pinching at the edges.

Thanks!

[Kevin]

When I make a cylinder, I don't mitre anything. Just put your disc inside the tube and sew. Well, it's not quite that easy, like they said, you need more holes on the disc than on the tube. If I wanted to do 8 stitches per inch on the tube, I would mark the disc for 9, it probably won't work out perfectly, just keep an eye on things and when the holes don't line up, go through a hole twice, just like lacing around a corner on a wallet, you make up space once in a while.

Have fun,

Kevin