balsammountainleather

Thanks for all the tips on thread guys!! Y'all have been a big help. I've never considered thread choice before and how different thicknesses would change the appearance etc. I'll start experimenting and lose the crappy stuff I've been using Oh and the case isn't molded, (intentionally at least..) as I just stuffed the phone in there and left it overnight. It keeps that shape though, there is no phone in the case in that picture.

Oh, that picture was just to show how much of the wallet I assemble before punching the holes for stitching. There's a finished pic:

Thanks for the replies guys! northmount: I watched almost all of the Nigel Armitage videos since posting that link, thanks a ton! Really good stuff. electrathon: I should probably think about using thinner leather in the future, but I've got a beautiful hide of this stuff to use up so I'm gonna go for it! Thanks for the advice on waxing & polishing the punch, I just tried that out and it helps tremendously.

Looking through his photos.. it seems as though he uses a die for his most recent work. I remember seeing an older photo of his that still showed pre-punched holes like this though, which is why I still questioned my methods even though I knew he was using a die currently. And you're right, I suppose I technically should be using an awl and have thought about it. I guess I justified using the pricking iron after going on a youtube binge, watching videos of Japanese makers using them on high end work; and I also like the convenience of being able to do 4 holes at once. If it cleans up my work though, I'm definitely willing to just switch and learn to get good at using the awl. Thanks for the reply!

So I've been making these wallets for a little while now, and have a question about my process. I glue all the card slots onto the liner and assemble the entire thing before gluing it to the outer shell. This means that I end punching the stitching holes last ( I use Tandy's 4 prong Craftool punch). This seems to work fine, but occasionally, the force needed to punch through multiple layers of 3oz inner plus the 4/5 oz outer shell seems to be too much. I have to wiggle the punch out and sometimes the holes just seem to big after the stiching is done because I had to whack the punch so hard to get through the layers.. This picture shows what I'm talking about: So my question is: Should I be punching the holes for each piece individually, THEN gluing them together? This seems like it would result in cleaner stitching, the only problem being that the holes never seem to line up. I've tried it before where punch the holes for the outer shell, then punch the holes for the inner, and try to line them up when gluing together but I always end up having the needles going through at crazy angles and had a tough time with that. The attached picture shows what I'm talking about, (taken from Corter Leather) I just wonder how the heck all of the holes stay lined up, as cutting out pieces by hand always seems to ensure slight variances in dimensions. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely search for some thinner thread. I was having to use pliers to pull the thread through on my backstitches so you're probably right, this stuff is too thick! As for the edges, I definitely agree, I checked out the thread on edging and have since made a few more that look much more "finished" with glassy smooth edges. I appreciate your imput

Looks really clean! I dig that color too.

Thanks! I tried to make the card slots asymetrical like that for that reason Hmm, I've never considered that! I'm using the natural waxed thread from tandy, any other reccomendations for thread? Definitely helps though, thank you. Thanks! And for sure, I would have thought Asheville would have a lot of people into this craft but so far, I haven't seen too many. Thank you!

First post here, I figured I'd show y'all my progress since starting this craft a few months ago. The wallet with 4 pockets is my first of that design and I've been using it myself since making it (3 months or so ago). Since then I've learned quite a bit more about finishing the edges and have a much better idea of what I'm doing with that. Still working on getting my stitching to look clean though. I'm using one of the 4 prong punches from Tandy and can't seem to get really consistent results on the thicker projects (like wallets). Anyway, thanks for looking!