Windrider30

Umm we are suppose to wear masks when using glues and dyes and now dust?! Did I miss a memo?? Oh well use to work in a plastic blowmolde factory, helped dad in his cabinet making, help rebuild half a boat, and worked in a chicken processing plant...pretty sure I am going to die of something..so what the hell why bother?!

Ok huge thanks to everyone for your help, so far this is what I have found, When braiding garment leather, you CAN go either 1/4 inch or and 1/8 of an inch from the edge and you can still see the pattern, how ever that being said the 1/8 inch from the edge looks better so that is what I am going to do. Now I am still working on if I want to use round hole or slit I am leaning towards the slit as it seems to hold a little better and I do not have to worry to much about the spacing that I would with a round punch. Doing a little more experimenting and then hopefully by this Friday I will have my lace (just placed the order woo hoo) and will give you all some pics of the progress!

That is really cool looking!!

I think I am actually going to go with a round punch instead of the thonging chisle as I like the look of the round hole a little better than the thonging chisle as this is garment leather and it does pull easily so I think the hole will give me a little more freedom but yeah will have to do a practice run to see which will be better

Ok one more question, this time about the distance between holes. Now the lace that I am going to use is 1/8th inch so will be doing an 8th inch hole as the garment leather will stretch a little to allow for two or more passes, but what is a good distance between holes to really show off the braid work? Or is it more of an eye ball kind of thing? I am going to go 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around instead of my usual of an 1/8th of an inch from the edge as I think the 1/4 will help protect the edges and bottom a bit more.

Ah ok that is how i do my splicing anyways did not know there was a term for it!! Still hate doing it with a passion but will bite the bullet on this on and work with smaller amounts of lacing.

That is cute looking!

wet splicing what is this? first time I have heard of this term.

Thanks and gawd how I hate splicing!!!! I tend to work with a LOT of lace in one go to avoid splicing!!

I can say I am proud of myself today, I have my waistcoat/vest fully stitched together today, it actually fits and looks like it should lol, still only half way though still have to add the buttons (going to use concho buttons found the perfect ones from tandy) just have to figure out how to make the cuts for the actually button holes, and need to do a CRAP load of lacing but that happens later in the week once I get my supply of lace (100 foot worth hope that will be enough lol)

ooh videos where? always enjoy watching videos and actualy have decided to go with a round holes punch as the 1/8 lace I am using will slide better though this garment leather then it does though a slit especialy as you end up going though the same hole a few times!

The lacing style that I am using feels ok so far (mind you I have not worn it yet lol) but it is not bulking up actually which I am pleasantly surprised with it, and thanks for the measuring part I honeslty think I will end up with between 50 to 100 yards worth of lace once its all done! Just added more pics got the front and back connected both sides now! It is going to be a waiting game though as I am out of lace and have to wait for a week or so before I have the money to get more shipped to me..ah joys lol

Thanks all for the great replys the main point of my question at the time was simply what is the reasoning behind it, I do not think I will own a head knife any time soon damn thing scares me to be perfectly honest as my hand has this nasty habit of simply letting go of what ever I am holding with no warning, with the excto knife that I use it has WAY smaller blade so that way I do not end up cutting myself as much as I think I would with a head knife!!

forgot to mention that the pockets have actual tooling on them a compass rose simple but I reall like the way it turned out so have to stitch those one then more lacing and more stitching

Thanks impulse but every thing I do is by hand, my company's motto or the business I am SLOWLY starting, even the hand stitching, every thing I have made is old school no machines touch the leather once it arrives to me. Thank the powers that be there are no sleeves...that would be a nightmare for me to figure out lol. As for lacing, will be lacing the whole bottom edge, the side seams (side seams will be the same pattern as the back) all the way up to the front edges, the front edges and bottom will be done in a Mexican round braid but that will have to wait for a week or two due to not having enough lace, as I think I am going to need a LOT of lace, planning on buying around 100 yards and hope that is enough lol I honestly thing I will end up in the 50+ yard range in lace when I am done with the bottom and sides. All lace will be black suede the waistcoat/vest will not be lined as I really love the feeling of the back side of this garment leather its very soft to the touch.

I like that design

FINALLY the back is fully laced up...I can not feel my shoulders or fingers right now lol just click on the link http://imgur.com/a/MoIWL and look down at the bottom added photos!

Thanks all and this Mexican basket weave round bread what ever you want to call it lol is going on the front edges and along the bottom. Think the slit might be the best way to go but as someone suggested I will do a test run one some scrap that I have left over from cutting the leather!!

which is better to use when doing a Mexican round braid a brading pricking iron or punching an 1/8 inch hole (using 1/8 lace for my waistcoat/vest)

Not sure if it is guts or insanity will let you know lol, this will either be a "proper" waistcoat with buttons or it might just become a "vest" depends on if I can close it over my fat gut...if it wont close then ummm the excuse for no buttons is I do not like tight htings around my chest (grins) Thanks I am updating the album as I go

Love the santa skull one!

Ok as the title says this is a work in progress just started last night, this will be ALL hand sewn *my fingers are already crying lol* and lace work is going to be invovled http://imgur.com/a/MoIWL will keep adding photos as I progress, though I know the lace work wont happen for another week or so due to not having enough lace but basically what I am planning on doing is using a gaucho style lace on ALL seams (to hide the seams not that my stitching sucks or anything just think it will add a nice touch) edges (bottom and front sides of vest) will do a Mexican round braid (ugg still struggle with that some times but think it will look SOO much better then a simple double loop) the two pockets will be tooled from 4 to 5 oz leather with a compass rose and thinking of dying it black or a dark brown not sure as the leather is grey garment leather. And sorry for some of the crappy shots taken with the phone

for a men's bracelet I tend to use 8 to 9 oz leather ladies 4 to 5 width tends to be smaller for the ladies then the guys as well. For men's width wise I tend to use any where between 1.5 to 2 inch width length normaly speaking I just use my own wrist size which is about 20 cms so a 10 inch bracelet (end to end) is my standarded

I have sold more then a few bracelets ranging from 30 to 90 dollars, really depends on the details and yeah you might end up holding on to it for a little bit, but even figuring in "storage" you would still make more then enough money off the bracelet even if it is at 75 to 90, its about marketing and knowing who you are selling to, their disposable income and all that good jazz.

Looks nice personally though i would not have added the coin pouch, but as I live in Australia we have a crap load of coins and it would be really easy to over load that pouch in a hurry!!