Emmabeth

There are some pretty wild differences between English and American traditions - I would tentatively say that the English style is very much more polished and 'finished', and possibly somewhat less 'robust and workman like' than the American style, but there again the American leather carving work is painstaking and incredible, and the English have really no history of that sort of work at all - if we get all crazy and decorative we might make a bridle noseband and browband with a raised, swelled effect, or a little pattern of decorative stitching, but no more (particularly for strictly riding horses - there is a tradition of decorating harness, even relatively work-a-day harness, but its mainly brass decorations rather than carving). There does, here certainly, seem to be a link between the 'class' if you will of the user/animal involved and the amount of decoration.. For example, you might see quite a lot of decoration on the harnesses of horses towing narrow boats, or a brewery dray.. but an upper class ladies hack would have very plain and strictly BROWN tack (black was for harness/work animals), though finely cut and stitched incredibly finely (the finest I work is 12 to the inch but apparently 16 to the inch was popular 100 years ago!). Anyway.. I digress, heres (if i can add a picture) an example of my sewing using the double handed techinque:

I just can't imagine using pliers for every stitch.. I already have my hands full with a needle in each and the awl in the right.. and dawdling along listening to the radio, I average at about 6 stitches per minute. I was taught by a master saddler, and he used to threaten violence if you put the awl down for anything (So i can pick up the pliers without putting down the awl, bu tto do that each stitch and swap it over for each needle would still take ages).. Old grump - I am in awe of the thickness on that holster - you used an awl to make the holes on that?? I can easily stick my 3/4 inch awl through my thumb if I'm distracted.. if you had an awl long enough for that I reckon I would do myself a severe mischeif with it!

I use plastazote (like neoprene but comes in a variety of thicknesses) foam for padding and often use pigskin suede (clothing weight) for the lining, as it comes in a variety of colours and you can use it shiny side out or suede side out.

Hi, I'm new here too! Are you using a single needle or double? I had a thread break on me the other day sewing up a dog collar and it was just fraying where it went through the eye, probably because I was sewing a triple layer with some webbing in the middle of the 'sandwhich' - if that is happening either your holes are too small and you are in fact pulling too hard (if you have to pull it through with pliers for each stitch thats no good, or your needle is slightly sharp on the inside of the eyelet so check your needles (I have had a couple in the last pack that were like that). If you are back stitching to finish a piece.. for a single needle technique then hold the loop on the back of the piece (stick your finger through it) rather than pull it tight whilst you make your back stitch, then you can check before you put the needle all the way through that you haven't caught the thread thats already in the hole. If you are double needle stitching you can do the same thing. When you finish up and trim off your threads, run some wax over the back of them and if appropriate (ie you won't hit any hardware or leave a mark) give it a tap or two with a hammer, alternatively run a bone folder over the back of the stitching hard to flatten them down. Doing this plus time and useage will mean the holes made for stitching will tighten up (remember they are not 'holes' as in some material has been removed, you have just parted the fibres of the leather and stretched them a little to pass the thread through. With pressure and tension they will close up (this is why if you sew the English saddlers double needle technique you only mark the holes in advance, you don't MAKE all the holes in advance as they will have closed up again by the time you get to them.)