Can this be done?

[whinewine]

I was asked to make a drumstick case for a 20 year old professional drummer, based upon his deceased father's stick case. The case will be 17-1/2" long (not counting the flap) and only 5" wide. It will NOT be a hard case- it'll be soft- 3-4 oz veg tan and he wants it to have a very simple tooled design with his initials carved into the front.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM:

He wants it sewn, (not laced) with the sewing on the INSIDE (so it doesn't show at all)...

I thought first:

tool/carve,

put the grain sides together,

sew,

wet,

turn inside out so the carving is now outside...

But the more I think about it, with the width being ONLY 5", I may not have enough room to do this.

And even IF this this can be done, I'm thinking that the leather will now be either stretched out of shape, or have significant wrinkles, so much so that it will take away from the tooled design. The tooled design will consist of very stark, parallel carved lines outlining the perimeter of the case with two simple initials- so ANY wrinkles will show- it's not as though I can hide any wrinkles with floral or sheridan designs...

And even IF I would sew first, then do tooling after, I'm afraid the wrinkles would still be there.

Any suggestions to a stupid old man?

[rdb]

You are right. I think it would take Merlin's magic to pull that off. The customer is almost never right from my perspective...lol. I've gotten myself into trouble plenty in the past trying to do things people have asked me to do. Rarely do I make it work when the physics just aren't there.

You could use soft leather, and sew a heavier piece on with the tooling.

Using a somewhat heavier leather, you could do a hidden stitch (see Stohlman's Sewing book). But this takes a lot of practice to make the cut right. Break out the scrap box first if you want to try that.

[MADMAX22]

Maybe just a thought but make a form for the inside of it. Stitch it, Then really case it like you would a holster or something. Flip it back out so the stitching is hidden, now insert your form and mold it to the shape you want. Not as it drys when it gets to the proper point with the form inside do your carving and such. Kind of like al stohlman did his rifle case's.

I dont know if this would work but its worth a try if you have enough scrap to make one out of first hand.