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So before I purchased my stitching irons and hand stitching thread, I searched around for comparisons of the different threads and irons and how they looked side by side. I watched all the Armitage videos, but did not see all the different samples side by side to actually make a comparison. I have seen one or two comparisons of different brands of threads, but nothing that allowed apples to apples and apples to oranges looks. So, I made a card that compared 7 different stitching irons, all around 7 SPI, some 4MM, and using 3 different sizes of linen thread (Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread), and 1 Ritza Tiger thread 0.6mm for comparison. The 0.6mm Ritza and 7SPI seem to be a common combination, and linens are fairly common too, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If someone wants to see a particular combination, with a different type of thread or SPI, let me know and I'll see what I can do. It was interesting to me to see how different the marks were, yet how subtle the differences were in the actual pattern of the stitch. I am not a master stitcher yet, so some of the differences are no doubt due to my inconsistencies, but I think it is somewhat clear which irons do and don't work with which threads. The 132 thread is some pretty heavy stuff, but I enjoyed working with it and really liked how it came out on some of the rows. I still need some practice to get the back of my 532 stitching to be more even, but some of it is passable, I think. I hope this comparison is useful to someone out there. The various irons used on each row, top to bottom: Old Joseph Dixon 7SPI Abbey England EconoStitch 7SPI CS Osborne 609-7 7SPI European Style Stitching Iron from Ebay 4MM Kyoshin Elle 3.5MM Ebay stitching iron 3.85MM (about 7SPI) Ebay Stitching Punch 4MM Thread used from Left to right when viewed from the top of the stitch: Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread 532, beige Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread 332, beige Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread 132, beige Ritza Tiger 0.6MM braided polyester thread, Cream Front side and back side images before tapping down with a hammer, and after. Images of the marks made by the tools. Images of the tools. Gallery with higher resolution images here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2727 YinTx

I wanted to practice hand stitching with my new tools, so I made a guitar strap. It is lined and has about 11 feet of stitching, so plenty of practice! It is the first guitar strap I have made, so please let me know what you think. I still have to put the slots on each end... More photos here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2687 YinTx