WScott

Oh my god shoot me now, I finally finished this Christmas present. It is far from perfect, but a good learning experience so next one can be better. My wife has a HUGE PC laptop that does not fit any store bought computer bag. So stupidly I decided to make one. In late November I purchased a gorgeous oil tanned red/burgundy colored leather from a small local supplier...they laid some out and let me fondle through some hides before purchasing. It is lovely soft stuff, but you cannot burnish the edges and every mark shows up. Still I love it. I made a paper pattern and sized things up. The internal guts are a layer of foam tightly wrapped with fabric and then covered with pigskin. This was done to hold the laptop in tightly and cushion it. When the computer dies I will take out the rivets and remove the lining so it can be used as a normal bag. Would like to hear what you think and what you see; I have some things I will do differently next time. The only machine I used was a hand press for some rivets.

Both look beautiful, almost too good to use! Great work....slick and professional

WOW! You blow me away with your work!

Short version..... the leather closes over the holes use awl to regain the space for needle/thread

Gorgeous colors, construction and details

Hello and welcome This is not a silly question and there are so many opinions and methods out there. I have saddle stitched for only a couple years so this is only my short experience. I read the Al Stohlman stitching book and started his way. I started with making a groove with a groover, use a wheel to mark the hole locations for the entire length then use a round or diamond awl to get holes just ahead of where I am working so they don't close up too fast. Often I make holes seven or so stitches ahead of my needles so I can be faster. The wheel is hard to keep in the line and often drifts so stitching becomes not as straight as I would like. Ok, so then I bought set of diamond chisels from Japan goods and use them to punch holes in a grooved or scratched line. This punches out a small hunk of leather so the hole stays open...mostly. BUT on some leathers it closes up an I use the diamond awl to open them up as I go. I like the diamond punches as the holes are really easy to see and you can get some nice straight lines. Watching other videos by some pros, they use a pricking iron to mark their stitch locations and then the awl to get the holes. Pricking iron will be my next tool purchase. This method does not remove the leather like a punch would so the leather will close up around the thread. It looks really good. For my kid's work we actually punch out round holes with a small punch (Tandy has it and we use the same one in Dentistry for the beloved rubber dam). That allows my son (11 yrs old ) to saddle stitch easily and safely BUT the stitch hole will not close over around the thread. I do weird things like melt the end of my thread into a small mushroom to stop it from coming out of the eyelet of the needle rather than traditional method of threading the needle. Quicker for me and fewer dangling threads around. Sorry to ramble on, hope something helps I wrote Scott

Looks really cool to me, I like it a lot!