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welcome Ingrid from the UK. Lots to learn here.

Update! Everything done except the drop down guide which is a nightmare. loadsa strange looking bits and no structions. Not for the main build either. Had to match up all the screw holes. Had a little sew, was good off the bat. Oh and still have the needle positioner to do as well. More later.

You could cut oversize, then glue and turn the long edges. That would add substance, slightly reduce stretch and look better.

It's here. Putting it together as we speak. Haven't found any damage so far. Can't wait to sew something.

JL341L-2 WALKING FOOT SEWING MACHINE. #sewing #handmade #leather #diy #sewingtutorial #embroidery (youtube.com)

Got a phone call today tom say I've got a pallet coming tomorrow. "What's on it?" Says I. "Don't know" says she, "we're just the courier". Dare I hope it's my sewing machine, come to visit me from China? Thing is, I was told the ship wouldn't be docking until March 30th and then I didn't know how long to my door. If it is the captain has done well to avoid all those missiles so well done. I'm beginning to get excited.

Not the same but I'm having a similar problem with the foiler ie lining things up. The letters/stamps point downward and then you have the foil between the stamps and the leather so you have to ensure everything is lined up before you pull that lever. 400mm sounds enormous. My diddy Laser does nothing like that.

Even a Brit can see that is a thing of beauty. Well done sir.

No need ! Just get in a position where you tap the chisel and immediately put the hammer/mallet on the leather. It's enough to pull the chisel out and much quicker than those plate things. Mauls are not so good in this respect, they don't get as close as a mallet.

Firstly you need to sharpen and polish your chisels just like any other cutting implement. Then run some wax along the stitch line. Then every now and then stab some wax with your chisel, even a bar of soap will do the job. You won't have any more trouble getting it out.

If using a dauber, don't put it in the undiluted bottle. It will colour very easily. Try putting some 50/50 in a different bottle as a stock solution and don't put the dauber in there either. Pour a little in a cupcake size container and dilute that if necessary.

Don't over think it. A pricking iron or a pricking wheel will mark for penetration later. A stitching chisel will mark and penetrate at the same time. Just scribe your stitching line, then with your multi pronged chisel you hang the first prong over the edge which ensures everything will marry up and start to drive the chisel through the leather along the scribed line. Start sewing.

There are many variations of hand stitching. A punch will make a hole whereas a chisel will make a slit. It takes a certain amount of skill to use an awl and look good when finished. If using a pattern the holes will often be marked. This is where confusion comes in. You may buy a set of punches/chisels for one project only to find the distance between stitches on the next project has a different distance. A single punch will do for all until you know what you're doing, a good set of punches/chisels are not cheap. If wanting a sloping stitch you can use a pricking wheel which has spikes and will mark all the places to make your hole for stitching, or use a pricking iron which is designed for just marking the leather. The trick is to go through both pieces together or if doing each piece separately, make sure you start at the same place else they won't match up.

I had exactly the same problem a while back. I had some nice faux croc that I wanted to make a gym bag out of but it wouldn't stand up. I ended up lining the whole inside with veg tan and it ended up more like a stylish suitcase. I sold it.

Firstly there's no mystery to leather work. Most of it is common sense. If you want to do two needles, use a bigger hole or smaller needles. Nothing wrong with one at a time. The learning curve comes when you want it to look good. You don't want to see half a hole next to the thread. I would advise you get a single hole punch with changeable heads. Will also do for rivets and belt holes.

I've done this on both of my machines. A Durkopp 239 which is almost the same as a Singer 111 but with reverse, and an Adler 69. A very cheap way to slow down. Bear in mind this is on a servo motor. You'll find me on here somewhere with more details. You want to look for a "Taperlock Pulley" You choose the size of the pulley you want (270mm for me) and the center boss you get to fit the back of your machine. IIRC the whole thing inc small pulley and belt cost around £40. I can do a stitch at a time.

What I meant was they're OK for now, whilst sewing. For keeping things together for later not so good.

I always used half a cocktail stick and a clip. Not for anything fancy mind.

If you want to be sure of a dead straight line that's longer than your straight edge, try a piece of string with some chalk rubbed on it. Here's a more sophisticated version.

Ya see, this is why I can't do cryptic. My brain is linear. I can join the dots but if you mix em up I'm knackered. I guess I didn't get past "I decided to give it a shot ".

First of all, welcome to the forum. You won't find a better place to widen your knowledge. Re; the bag, I'm a bit confused. Is this a bag you made or want to make? If you made it I don't understand the post. It's a wonderful bag and I can't fault it except for maybe some reinforcing stitches on the shoulder straps. Those single rivets might need a bit of help.

As you know Folker, I still have the Durkopp 239 flatbed and the Adler 69 Cylinder. I think the 69 has to go. It has the binder feed dog which I didn't realise when I bought it and the cost of accessories still smarts since I bought the binding kit for it. The new machine uses the 111 feet which I have lots of for the 239. On the other side, it's coming with a decent flatbed attachment so the 239 could go and I still have all the feet etc. Decisions, decisions.

The longest part for me is finding the ends and tying them together. Pulling it through takes a second, literally except for threading the needle. Re the work area, there's another sewing machine, a bell skiver, another work bench, rivet setter, hot foil machine, clicker press, two arbor presses, bench drill, two wheel polisher and a laser engraver. Now that I have the two machines working well I'm gonna have to make a tough decision about which one has to go to make room for the new one coming next month.

Another excellent job Uwe. I always wondered what that part did. Thank you.

Ya see! I knew I was behind the post on this one. Good stuff everybody. @MtlBiker This is still mostly a hobby for me and I don't have room for the cones that I have. Of course I pre-wind one or two if I know they might be needed and if truth be told it's no big deal to cut/tie together and drag through when I do get caught out but it will be nice to have some smaller cones for when I do.