Tugadude

Very, very nice. This is a good reference for when someone talks about developing your own style or a "signature" look. Your use of color turns wallets into fun, conversation starters. Imagine the questions when you pull out the spotted one. Probably will generate orders. Contrasting stitching sometimes misses the mark but I love the yellow and the way it ties in with the rest of the wallet. You pulled it off quite well. thanks for sharing! Forgot to compliment the edges! Oh, and the double crease on the bifold!

Looks like a split to me. Appears to have a suede-like texture to it.

One thing left out of the discussion is tension. Good stitching requires consistent tension on the thread. I've seen otherwise decent stitching ruined because some stitches were overly tight, some too loose. On firm leather you can really snug the thread up tight without issue. On softer, more pliable leather, you have to be careful not to overdo it. BTW, many don't pull up and down on their thread yet still get a great result. Not saying either way is correct. If it helps your stitching, carry on!

Not trying to be disagreeable, but on many items front and back are somewhat nebulous terms. On a wallet, for example, is the outside the front? Shouldn't inside and outside look as similar as possible? Using the logic that the back is the back means one or the other is going to suffer. So if you are wanting a slant, you should really try to make both front and back resemble a zig-zag. One exception might be a belt because when worn you never see the inside. So unless you are holding it, you'll never know. If one wants to get better at anything, it helps to be honest, reflect on the process both good and bad and continue to make adjustments that improve the results. Sometimes you just have to accept "good enough", but that should only happen after effort is made to improve. There is a law of diminishing returns. You have to determine if it is worth the effort. It is personal. There are many who find the obsession over wavy stitching silly. That is their right. For some of us here it is a quest, a journey fraught with disappointment and blisters. Lots of ways to bind leather together. But when you see really good hand stitching you go "wow". Wow is worth striving for.

Good luck with your venture! Very attractive layout. Hope it exceeds your expectations.

I think it is always worthwhile to grab a piece of scrap and practice different techniques. There is a recipe that works for most folks most of the time, but there are combinations that require experimentation. Combinations of leather type and thickness, thread, irons, all have an effect on the outcome.

Not necessarily going to work because now the holes are oriented the wrong way. If they were sloping towards you, switching sides makes them slope away from you. Bolt brought up a good point regarding a groover. Too deep of a hole will force the stitch to flatten out while on the opposite side, the stitch is free to do what it wants. The dynamics of the angled stitch are pretty simple. The thread needs to be forced to the top of the hole and run downwards to the bottom of the next hole. Tricky part is getting the thread to cooperate and do it consistently!

Sorry, missed the New in New England. In that case Weaver and The Buckle Guy have Tiger thread. yes, I would consider that chunky. It also is very straight. You don't seem to be getting the angle that makes saddle stitching so attractive. Your rows look like a long run of thread instead of distinct stitches. Grooves tend to make the thread lay straight, fighting against the angle. Here is a watch band I made with 1mm thread and the Craftool chisel, similar to the one you used. I wanted the thread to be prominent, or chunky. I thought it suited the roughness of the repurposed baseball glove. Notice that though chunky, they have a bit of an angle and are more distinct.

From the OP... 3, European vs American. I often hear folks referring to American style as being bulky. From what I gather they mean that useing a stitching iron results in a bigger hole than a pricking iron and awl? My take is that this is a misnomer. The main thing American style is known for is the use of a stitching groover to create a deep recess for stitching. That is seldom if ever done in Europe and considered quite unnecessary. The argument made by its proponents is that a recessed row of stitching holds up better to wear and tear. Makes sense, but then vintage English saddles are presented that have no recess and the thread looks great. So IMHO, if you like grooves, go for it. If you don't, your work will not suffer as a result. Different strokes, right! Bigger holes come from bigger awls or bigger irons. They also can come from pushing a tapered awl too deeply, widening the hole too much. Far as I know there is no such thing as an American awl.

Yep, we're all learning here. I make plenty of mistakes to be sure.

Mike, I reviewed the video from Nigel and he used the KS Blades Punch exactly as I described. He punched all the way through 3 mil leather. He then stitched two pieces of 3 mil together but notice he used .5mm thread. The holes could take a bigger thread IMHO. Stick with those irons, maybe it will take time to get things sorted out. I suggest you try 0.6mm Tiger thread. It is readily available in your country. Good luck!

FWIW, here is an angled lacing chisel.

Rockoboy, the Craftool chisel on top has diamond-shaped tines and is for stitching. Lacing chisels are flat, blade shapes. They can be angled or straight, inline configuration but they cut slits, not diamond-shaped holes. In fact, the black one on top is one I use regularly and get great results. I don't consider it good for extremely fine work. For that I use the Tandy Craftool Pro. Nowadays some pricking irons are designed to punch all the way through the leather. At least up to a certain thickness. Traditional pricking irons by Osborne and Blanchard make way to big of a hole if punching through most thicknesses of leather. They can be used on 1 mil leather with little problem. The KS Blades tines are quite small and don't taper excessively, so they can go through a decent thickness. Nigel publishes written reviews of both stitching and pricking irons on his website. I suggest you look it over. He actually used all of the irons reviewed and he suggests appropriate thread sizes. The OP says he typically uses 1mm thread. That is going to look chunky with many chisels and irons. Suggest you go down to no more than .8mm next project.

Love the color, design, everything.

They've got a really big shop!

You can get these for less than $3.00 if you work at it. Notice it also has spacer holes and level lines on it too.

Same as above regarding grid on mat. However, something I use a lot is a centering ruler. It has a zero in the center and both metric and Imperial measurements going away from zero. Quite handy for quickly fiding the center of most anything.

As opposed to sleeping below ground?

Here is a pic of the inside ..... we can get too caught up with the lining and waterproof and spills. At the end of the day, it’s “patina”...... and the “spill” or small stain, may have a memory involved.... just my $.02 agreed. Mine is made exact same way and no issues after regular travel over two years. Here's a crappy pic that also shows my manicure case and my travel razor. Been wet shaving for a few years and absolutely love the Maggard's travel handle.

I would never rely on glue alone for the pocket dividers. Unless I missed it, it looks like there is no stitching. Make sure to do some.

Probably not possible. Checked their website and they say thread used is nylon, plus it probably is waxed. It could certainly be restitched with brown thread. Website also says thread is recessed, in other words sitting down in a groove, so hard to access. sorry!

Cool stuff! I love your reference to "the first cut". Can't tell you how many times I've hesitated and double-checked before putting knife to leather. Keep up the good work.

Nice job. I always have found textured leather to be a pain to keep the stitching straight and even. Never thought of using fish leather. Funny thing is once they make it into leather it probably isn't waterproof anymore!

Did you try offering feedback to VB? Tell them of your displeasure?

The beauty of this design is the fact that the pony swivels and turns to accomodate the work. With a typical horse or pony, you have to sometimes do gymnastics with the project in order to get a good angle to stitch. Not so with this design. If you have not, click on the link and look carefully at the photos.