Bigfoote

Welcome Juddie! For a start you are doing great! Your tooling and designs look good. You asked for advise, and the only thing I would work on is your stitching, something that comes with practice. There are loads of videos out there showing how to improve your stitching, I would recommend Nigel Armitage, his are probably the easiest to watch. He gives good advise on tools as well. Your off to a great start and you will get better the more you do, you obviously have the talent for it! Be careful it's very addictive! Have fun, Garry.

Wow! That's just awesome!

Wow this looks great! Not sure I like the straps with the flesh side out, think it distracts from a beautiful bag.

Yup, location and price would be helpful.

You really have to make a video showing how you did this, very interesting and creative. Good job!

I'd say machine. Some machines make a stitch that looks just like a saddle stitch. If your rebuilding it it'll be easy to tell when you start pulling stitches out. Don't you just love what leather does when it's been in someone's pocket for a few years? Looks soft and comfortable!

Awesome, that geometric stamping is beautiful!

Canada!

I had the very same frustrating problem, could never get nice white thread to stay white. My solution, though not perfect, was to dye and finish with a coat of resolene before I punched or awl the holes. It helps a lot, but like I said after stitching a long row your leather still starts to stain a little. Then let it dry at least a couple days before a final coat of resolene or what ever you are finishing with.

I noticed some folks wanting samples of the different colors of Tiger thread. Cy at Leatherwurx has samples and will sell you small quantities for special projects where you don't want to buy a whole roll. He is real good to deal with as well. Garry. https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/218679671/samples-22-tiger-thread-samples-ritza-25?ref=hp_rv

If you broke those needles your holes are too small!

You won't get it out, do the whole piece with light coats until it matches. It will lighten up a lot, so go slow.

Thanks James, a lot has to do with practice, practice, practice. I sewed together tons of scraps, and took a long time to figure out how to get a nice corner, I still make mistakes but most can be fixed. I alternate between an awl and a stitching chisel. If I'm in a hurry I go to the chisel, if not I use the awl. Your bag looks pretty good, your stitching will get better, and right now looks a lot better than my first attempts. One thing I will repeat, John James needles will help a lot. They don't drag and I have never broke one yet! I'm not selling them, just like to tell folks when I find a great product. Tiger thread is my go to, but I also have a couple rolls of the cheap Chinese thread, it's about .7mm with a long delivery time.

I'm working with pretty much the same stuff except I'm using 1.0 Tiger thread. I haven't had a problem backstitching. I switched to John James harness needles size 1/0 because I was having to use pliers to pull almost every stitch with my Tandy needles. You really have to watch where you put the needle in on the backstitch so you lay that second stitch in the proper place, trying not to pierce the first layer of stitching. I use my scratch awl to direct the lay of the thread as I pull it tight. I can't tell by the picture. but maybe your awl is a little small for that size of thread? Hope this helps.

I have stitched a lot, like the rest who have given good advice here. At 6 SPI I would go with 1.0 mil thread but I would toss those Tandy needles and get some John James needles, in my mind no comparison. I use size 1/0 for .8 and 1.0 thread, hope that helps.

It kind of looks like the stuff Tandy calls "Kodiak" not sure though.

I've used both, the Chinese stuff works great but is more like .6 or .7, and the tiger thread is a little better but not by very much. You can't complain about the price but the Chinese thread took 10 weeks to arrive! Because of that I'm using tiger thread.

Nice Job, Haven't tried the tri weave yet, what's the secret to keeping it straight?

Wow great looking belt!

Great looking holsters! Nice lacing job as well, what kind of lace are you using?

Bikermutt, if you are still thinking of purchasing a set, I found they are a little smaller than the same number in the Tandy ones. They said they haven't had any complaints yet and they are replacing the ones I have had problems with. They do cut a beautiful edge when they work!

Read below Read below Just for your information, I received a reply from Nigel Armitage and he said his students have been using the edgers for a while now and haven't had any problems. He said he hasn't even had to strop his set yet. Obviously we received some defective ones. If you haven't contacted Mr Watt yet do so, I'm sure you will get help.

Unfortunately I have only purchased the Quick Change edger so I can't comment on anything else though I have been told by many his tools are very high quality. I think they are sending me some new blades, and so far my e-mail to Nigel Armitage has gone unanswered. I have been using 10 oz leather, edging it while dry, so I don't think the weight of leather is the issue. I think some of us received badly tempered blades.

Nice job, your stitching looks great, back stitching is always a problem, I can't get mine to look real good no matter how many videos I watch.

Nice job especially nice stitching. I'd stamp just the inside, but if I got a new stamp I would probably go a little crazy with it to.