AlZilla

The knob on the right, as mentioned, is a little pretension (which I suspected but kept quiet until it was confirmed). The bottom is to set your take up spring. That part I know because it looks a lot like a Singer 111 type of tension unit. The biggest difference I see is that pre-tension gizmo on the right - the Singer (and others) unit has a little flag with 3 holes to accomplish the same task. That take-up spring can cause you trouble if it's not just right, too. On any sewing machine. It's worth double checking. Have you tried it out on thicker leather? I thought Cobra had a pretty good reputation for sending their machines ready to sew.

Is Mom's pen and ink? Maybe on canvas? You should frame the 2 and hang them side by side. A hundred years from now the family might get a kick out of talking about great, great Uncle Stewart and great great Grandma's artwork.

Definitely like the dragonfly / lily pad one.

Post those pics here and the hive mind will tell you, and the rest of the world, exactly what you have. Right down to it's DNA sequence and a weather report for the day it was made.

I wouldn't abandon it. Hit it with the saddle tan and I bet you'll never see it. Try it on a piece of scrap.

I'm going to suggest you find some other leather that you don't care about to test on. To pile on Mulesaw's comment, I recently talked to a taxidermist friend about old hides. He says tanned hides can certainly dry out to where they're just not salvageable. I'll follow along to see how you make out.

Assuming that you started at the top in your picture and things deteriorated after you turned the corner, how did it look when you got back to 3 layers? Funny how it looks fine until you turn the corner headed down and then the tension looks unbalanced and gets progressively worse.

This question got me poking around the net (as you no doubt did) and I came across a page recommending "one of Aileen’s tacky craft glues" to reglue the leather down. No clue what it is, but it may bear investigation. Here's the page, in all it's splendor: https://throughavintagelens.com/2010/04/restoring-vintage-cameras-iii-techniques/ I was really expecting to find that recovering the cameras would be the preferred method, but apparently not. I can understand wanting originality as a collector but if a suitable leather could be found, I don't think replacing it would be too hard. EDIT: And here's a PDF from Kodak that says mild soap and then white glue to reattach the leather. restoration_inst.pdf

So, here's a thread that should get you on the right trail. There's even a link for a close-enough manual:

I've never bought sheepskin from these guys, but I've bought a bunch of other stuff and never been disappointed. https://www.glacierwear.com/buckskin-leather-hides-deer-buckskin/shearling-sheepskin-leather.html

Got it - rule steel. I'll read up on it and make it a winter project. I have a small hydraulic press. Thanks! EDIT: It looks like they're bending the stuff with nothing more than a push clamp. I can fabricate something that'll do simple curves and corners. Thanks for the push!

For me, a 441 clone set up with 277 and a 111W set up with 138 give me plenty of range. And a host of domestic machines. Just what works for me.

In my fledgling dyeing, I've found that wetting the leather down first really evens out the dye job. Dauber, dipping, whatever way I do it, it just works better wet. EDIT: Though I have to admit, I like the distressed look of those straps. Put some kind of a cowboy theme on them, slick the edges and give'em a shiny finish. They'll look like a million bucks.

Yes, early on some of the videos I saw featured a drum or belt sander and I grabbed right on to that idea. So, if the stitch line wanders from the edge a bit - move the edge!