uberyk

Recently picked up some deerskin in 3/4oz weight. Going to be using it to make a purse/bag as a gift for my wife. I had initially planned on making a no frills, unlined bag but after handling the hide in person, it's much too spongy and flimsy to hold its own shape unless I made a floppy, hobo style bag. So I picked up some interfacing and some light weight canvas to use as a liner. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best way to finish the edges as I think it's much too soft for typical burnishing. Here's what I have in mind so far, please feel free to comment/correct/add/etc. 1. Seams out construction 2. Interfacing layer on front and back panels to give structure. 3. Canvas lining on all panels 4. Going to ATTEMPT to skive and roll all the edges, including those that will be stitched as a seam. What I can't quite decide on, is what should end up being the final visible layer? Should I have the lining under the skived leather edge or should I have a rolled lining edge that sits on top of the leather? Depending on how thick the leather edge ends up, I'm afraid this would end up making the edge too lumpy. Ideally I think a double rolled/finished leather edge as the final layer with the lining flat underneath would be the nicest looking but I'm afraid I'll make an awful mess of things trying to skive the edge thin enough to do so. Obviously need to spend some time playing around with a scrap piece to see how it reacts to various things.

I am far from an expert as I've only been doing this as a hobby for a few months now. But I like to start from the center and work my way out in both directions with the chisel/pricking iron. This way if you have a length that doesn't evenly match the chisel spacing, you can have the same amount of "unevenness" on each side. That's what I'd do for more forward facing, centered parts. But as tuga said, if you have a length of stitch where one side will be less visible or covered by something, I would just start evenly from the more prominent end.

Awesome awesome work. Really like the red edging, nice little pop. How long did it take you to finish? I'm gearing up to make a purse for my wife.

It's definitely being nit picky on my part. At a glance you really wouldn't be able to tell but when you look really close, I'd say the untwisted stitch that lays perfectly flat looks ever slightly more polished than one with a twist. I was just curious to see if there was a technique that prevented this. Thank you for all the responses.

I stick to leather that's 6oz or less so I usually don't need a groove. I just make a light line with a compass and then go around with the chisel. Just to be clear, I'm not having any issues with the stitch looking crooked and not aligned but having the thread itself be twisted on a stitch. Couldn't really find a picture to show so here goes: Imagine a thread that's blue on one side and red on the other. I start my stitch so the visible side is blue. Every stitch should then show the alternate color but one single stitch should never show a twisted blue and red if that makes any sense.

When I first started saddle stitching, I used to completely run each needle one at a time to make sure the thread lay flat without getting twisted. Good results but I'm sure not the most efficient. I've tried pulling both sides through at the same time and while the results aren't too bad, it just doesn't seem to lay as neatly as the one side at time method and of course I notice more instances where the thread has twisted and isn't laying completely flat in the stitch. Is there some technique I'm missing here?

I go with the 4mm diamond chisel and .6mm thread for wallets and watch straps. Those two seem to match up well size wise as the thread ends up taking up about half of the hole.

Made this over the weekend as a gift for my father in law. Wife reminded me that he not so secretly loves flashy and quirky stuff hence the "unique" color/finish combinations. Starting off with some Horween in Parisian Blue with green stitching, nothing too crazy: But open it up and bam: The crooked white stitching on the left pocket was my attempt at freehanding with the pricking iron. Obviously not quite there with that. Crazy color combos do make a pretty cool looking edge (hopefully it lasts and doesn't get all messy with usage): Now I just need to hit it with some cleaner/conditioner and it should be good to go. Next I'm going to try measuring out the pricking lines/hole locations on each layer independently to see if that gives me a cleaner stitch line on both sides.

Fantastic stitchwork. Looks very nice.

Sweet... Natural is one of my favorite CXLs. Did you burnish or treat the edges at all?

I guess this forum doesn't have a like or thumbs up button. Well, Like and Thumbs Up!

thank you for the kind words folks. re: the controversial corners, I was sitting there, taking measurements and figuring out which radius I wanted to go with for a rounded cut. Looked over at my japanese skiving knife, which has become one of my favorite tools, and decide to make straight cuts at angles. Figured it would give a different, somewhat edgier vibe to the thing. I am curious to see how the angled edges wear over time. On the topic of burnishing, I'm realizing firsthand what people have said on this forum, Horween is awesome stuff for feel and aging, burnishing not so much. The horsefront I've gotten decently glossy but the chromepack, forget about it.

BeUnico, thank you. That's what I suspected. I'll have to see if there are any old billfolds laying around the house to take apart for research purposes. I think I've got a way to avoid the puckering issue altogether, nothing groundbreaking I'm sure. Will post when I have a finished product. Sorry for the threadjack lilwaysleather!