Firefighter Shield Key Fob

[Bobby hdflame]

I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of a Christmas present I'm working on for the guys at my fire station. This is one of my first leather working projects, so any critiques are welcome. Also any suggestions as to what kind of dyes or paints you're using would be helpful too.

I'm not finished with them all, but here's a picture of one that's part way done and one that I finished for me, just practicing techniques! Let me know what you think. BTW, these are in the shape of a leather front shield for a FF helmet...just in miniature.

This is a pic of a couple that I did just practicing different techniques to see how I would make them.

My recent pictures were too big to attach directly, so I'll link them with Photobucket.

This one is partially finished. I glued it together and am waiting for the dye to dry before sewing.

Different stages of practice pieces, along with the first finished one I did for myself.

First finished one for me! I would have liked to made the bottom panels where the name and SFD are at in white with the black letters, but I couldn't get the white Fiebings die dark enough to suit me...any suggestions? I would have also liked to have outlined the red numbers with a fine white line, but wasn't sure how to do it without messing them up! Since I have to finish this before Christmas, I'll have to practice on some more later. I think when the guys see these, I'll get some orders.

I hope they'll like their Christmas present.

Thanks for looking,

Bobby

[Merlin2]

WOW ! - Fantastic work, especially for your first project, I am very impressed. You are on the right track though with trying many different techniques. Don't be afraid of wasting leather, thats how you learn. Don't forget to keep all your "not so great successes", they will be fun and educational to look back on in the future. You have clean work and nice contrast with your colors. Is your hand sewing just for decoration, or do you have a backing piece on it. Key fobs take a lot of abuse and a backing piece of leather glued and sewn will help keep their shape and last a lot longer.

Keep up the great work and your fellow firefighters will certainly love these Christmas presents.

[Bobby hdflame]

WOW ! - Fantastic work, especially for your first project, I am very impressed. You are on the right track though with trying many different techniques. Don't be afraid of wasting leather, thats how you learn. Don't forget to keep all your "not so great successes", they will be fun and educational to look back on in the future. You have clean work and nice contrast with your colors. Is your hand sewing just for decoration, or do you have a backing piece on it. Key fobs take a lot of abuse and a backing piece of leather glued and sewn will help keep their shape and last a lot longer.

Keep up the great work and your fellow firefighters will certainly love these Christmas presents.

Thanks for the comments. You're exactly right about learning from mistakes. I've also been teaching myself upholstery work over the last year and it's amazing how far I've come and how much more confident my sewing has become.

The stitching was done with my walking foot upholstery machine and there is two layers. I used some weldwood contact cement to glue them together before I stitched them so the stitching is visible from the back.

I think next time I will do the stitching for looks and then glue the back on. I will just have to make sure that the two are glued really good on the edges.

Thanks again,

Bobby

[indypbear]

Bobby, Good job smoke eater. Your Buds will love them! A few suggestions: 1) make a stitch line and follow it slowly stopping at the points and lifing the foot, turn and proceed to the next point. sometimes you just have to hand turn the drive wheel OR hand stitch them using a stitch spacing wheel. 2) try using an acrylic white for the background at the bottom and around the red numbers. It is forgiving and can be colored over if there's a booboo. dab out a lot of the extra runnyness on a paper towel then proceed. 3) good idea regarding the stitching then glue. use a good contact cement and fasten small binder clips to hold the edge until the glue sets-it's a short wait. approximate the edges then sand them even before slicking. I hope any of this helps! MERRY CHRISTMAS

John aka indypbear

Thanks for the comments. You're exactly right about learning from mistakes. I've also been teaching myself upholstery work over the last year and it's amazing how far I've come and how much more confident my sewing has become.

The stitching was done with my walking foot upholstery machine and there is two layers. I used some weldwood contact cement to glue them together before I stitched them so the stitching is visible from the back.

I think next time I will do the stitching for looks and then glue the back on. I will just have to make sure that the two are glued really good on the edges.

Thanks again,

Bobby

Edited December 23, 2010 by indypbear

[Bobby hdflame]

Bobby, Good job smoke eater. Your Buds will love them! A few suggestions: 1) make a stitch line and follow it slowly stopping at the points and lifing the foot, turn and proceed to the next point. sometimes you just have to hand turn the drive wheel OR hand stitch them using a stitch spacing wheel. 2) try using an acrylic white for the background at the bottom and around the red numbers. It is forgiving and can be colored over if there's a booboo. dab out a lot of the extra runnyness on a paper towel then proceed. 3) good idea regarding the stitching then glue. use a good contact cement and fasten small binder clips to hold the edge until the glue sets-it's a short wait. approximate the edges then sand them even before slicking. I hope any of this helps! MERRY CHRISTMAS

John aka indypbear

John,

Thanks for the suggestions and comments.

Actually, I sewed it exactly like you said. I used my compass to scribe a line around the edges, then used a stitch wheel because I wasn't sure if I would actually stitch it or not. I've seen them done by painting the stitches from the stitch wheel. Then I set my stitch length on the machine to match the wheel marks. I also hand turned the wheel stitch by stitch, each time lifting the foot to line up the needle to go into the same hole.

I think the reason the stitches aren't perfectly straight looking may have to do with the needle and thread. I used a #22 leather needle with #138 poly thread. I have a feeling that the needle was punching a hole just a little too big for the thread. I'm going to switch to maybe a #18 needle next time. The #22 was the only size leather needle I had. I may also try going to a bigger thread, but then #138 is the biggest thread I have!

I was looking at my presser foot and I'm thinking about using my Dremel to cut off part of the foot so I can see better without having to lift the foot each time. I think by cutting back the center foot, it will still sew OK, but I want to order an extra foot to have on hand before cutting the one I have, course I do have a zipper foot and cording foot I could use if I had to.

Thanks again for the suggestions,

Bobby