tboyce

I put put the various thicknesses on a cad drawing, drew a polyline simulating the path of the thread through various stitch lengths for an inch, queried the length of the polyline and doubled it, (because its a saddle stitch) then rounded up to the nearest 16th of an inch. Then I just stretched the polyline to simulate the various leather thicknesses and reran the query....took about 15 minutes but I figured it would be a time saver

Good rule of thumb. I never was able to find one so the engineer in in me set out to figure it out and apparently overcomplicate it along the way

Didn't take the tread thickness into account. I just worked it out on the computer. I'm not sure how much of a factor thread thickness is but I just use this as a guide and round up a little. It never fails me The pi is tpi by the way

I forget sometimes that I work these things up for myself and they might not be easily understandable by others. The Stitched ounce column refers to the total thickness of leather stitched. For instance, 2 refers to (2) 1oz layers of leather. 12 is (2) 6 oz pieces or (3) 4oz pieces The numbers in the blue row refer to stitch lengths I have pricking irons for 1/8" 3/32" 7pi and 10pi The numbers in the white represent the corresponding length of thread required per stitched inch. For instance, if I were stitching a 36" belt and the total leather thickness is 12 oz. and I were using a 7p1 pricking iron to mark the holes, I would require 180 inches of thread per side of the belt.

I used to have a hard time trying to figure out how long of a piece of thread I needed for hand stitching so I worked up this handy spreadsheet to help me estimate. Thread Length.pdf

oops...forgot to add the file Drawstring Backpack.pdf

My wife asked me to make our daughter a drawstring backpack. She sketched up what she wanted and I put it on a pattern. It doesn't look like it will take very long at all to make. The plotted size is 42"x30"

Happy to help

I looked online and whipped up something. You may or may not like it. Plotted file is 36"x24" Fanny Pack.pdf

Hi all, I was making myself a pattern for Dee Shields and Buckle Billets based on Al Stohlman's book and got carried away. There are 2 files, 10 pages each, Each page has 4 patterns, (2) Dee Shields and (2) Buckle Billet Shields. The Shapes are: 1) Standard 2) Round 3) Square 4) Elliptical The sizes are: 1) 1" 2) 7/8" 3) 3/4" 4) 5/8" 5) 1/2" The files can be printed on a home printer 8-1/2"x11" Have fun guys! Tom Dee Shields and Buckle Billets_01.pdf Dee Shields and Buckle Billets_02.pdf

Not a problem. The program I use is at the office. I'll upload it Monday Morning

Thanks! This is gonna come in handy!

Great work, as always. Very innovative process on the lining as well.

Your work is beautiful as always. A combination of inspiration and intimidation for me.

Every time I call it my shop, my wife insists that it is a garage. I have to remind her that a garage is where you park a car and since she could easily be a finalist on 'Hoarders', we've never been able to put a car in any 'garage' we've owned. It is only through eternal vigilance that I am able to cordon off a space to ply my hobby. (Just put in a new 8 ft x 4' cutting table) Anyway, shop or garage, the damned thing is unheated and I have been looking at options to cheaply be able to work through the winter. I'm investigating infrared lamps. Has anyone tried these? Give me the wisdom of your experiences!

My guess is that the bottom is lined with leather because he didn't have a hinge handy

Here's a handy thread that will help you make a really serviceable stitching horse for about 30 dollars http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=57903

You're welcome. No need to return the favor to me, just help out someone else and Karma will get around to me when it needs to

I screwed up the short band on the 24mm strap made it 26mm...fixed it. watchband.pdf

What's the length of the 2nd piece? (the one that isn't 130 mm) also, what is the distance between holes?

Can you upload a sketch of what you're trying to achieve? I put it on a CAD drawing that is more precise if you'd like.

I use AutoCad...been using it for over 30 years so its actually faster than sketching for me

My daughter has asked me to make a Tauriel costume from Lord of the Rings for her to wear to Comi-Con. I'll see what I've sketched up so far and post it. The plans I made, however, were to her size and she's a tiny thing. If this is your first attempt, I would suggest you cut whatever patterns you do come up with out of this stuff and make sure it fits. before you invest in much more costly leather http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JPV85K/ref=s9_simh_se_p201_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=search-desktop-advertising-no-results-center-1&pf_rd_r=0VZ2GSMRP1V6XXTKR88K&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1912906122&pf_rd_i=4%20mmcraft%20foam%20sheet

Actually, I'm making one this weekend. I'll upload pics when I do. As an engineer, I just naturally have a bend towards seeing how things go together and putting together plans. So, when I see something that's interesting, my mind starts to tear it apart until I can figure out how it was built. Once that's done, it seems a waste to not put together plans and share them,

Okay so here's the scoop. About 15 years ago, I went from 70 mph to 0 too fast and ended up going into 18 hours of surgery with the likelihood of waking up without either of my hands or my right leg. Thanks to a marvelously skilled team of surgeons and a cadaver who donated his wrist bones, and two years under Helga the Bitch-Goddess who masqueraded as a physical therapist, I was able to take up leather working again. I am a saddle stitch snob and never thought I would ever think of using a sewing machine but, for the past two years, whenever I have to stitch more than an hour, my hands cramp up so badly that I cannot uncurl my fingers..it's like getting a Charley horse in all your fingers at once and I am faced with the realization that if I am to continue with this hobby I love, I am going to have to purchase a sewing machine. My budget is about 1500 and I want to buy the most versatile machine I can. I mostly work with under 3/8" of leather. Can the experts here help me out? I don't want to buy a machine and then think, "oh crap" Thanks in advance Tom