Thanks for the feedback. There is a welt for the blade. third layer with blade cutout to protect the stitches. I debated for a long time on adding the retention strap, hard to see in these photos, but there is a notch cut where the finger guard is on the bottom and the knife drops into that when it is placed in the sheath. The person I made it for told me the retention is tight, and he fell asleep with it on and the knife never moved. The stitch being close to the belt loop was a miss calculation on my part and I agree that it should have been further from the blade. I appreciate the feedback, the only way to keep improving is through someone else eyes.