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Trying out the narrow foot set from @Patrick1 at Hennigan Engineering and Precision using a Cobra Class 4. At just over 1/4" wide, the narrow foot set is about 1 mm (.05") wider than the in-line needle foot from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine. Here I am letting the toe of the rear foot ride on the raised element to bring the stitch line closer to the raised element. Compared to the in-line feet, narrow foot set provides more even coverage of the feed dog and the needle is fully visible when sewing. Also because the toes of the rear foot overlap the needle foot there is no problem making sharp turns. With the in-line feet it is necessary to back out of square corners to give the rear foot a place to land. Nonetheless, the in-line feet are another good choice for this particular application - sewing straight on a narrow margin. Here I am also using the ultra-narrow feed dog with flat throat plate from Hennigan Precision, which feeds nicely working close to an edge. #21 x 794S needle and 138 bonded nylon thread from Leather Machine Co. Why does narrow matter? When I add a raised element to the end of a 5 ft long rein, I am trimming the width after sewing and generating a lot of wasted bridle leather. Sewing a narrow margin means less waste. This 3/4" strap was split and a narrow leather filler strip was glued in place before sewing. The width will be trimmed to 5/8."

Taking a break from hand sewing to practice machine sewing raised leather straps (again). Think I'm making progress with inline presser feet from @CowboyBob on my 441 clone. I've been able to sew tight to the raised filler and maintain a 1/8" border. Took me a while to adjust the presser foot timing to my liking, but now it's a quick change over between the inline feet and the regular center/side feet. Very happy with these compact feet for sewing tight to an edge. Took a little practice to smoothly back out of the corners, so that the rear foot has a place to land. The raised pieces are made from 2 pieces of bridle leather, split to 3 oz for the cover and 7 oz for the back. I use a veg tan filler piece 1/4" or 3/8" wide on these straps, and figure about 1/4" (2 x 1/8") of additional width for the cover wrapping around the sides of the filler. I glue the cover and shape it with a glass slicker and bone folder then sew and trim the edges before finishing the edges. I will use raised leather for bridle nosebands/browbands, dog collars, and belts. I've been sewing these by hand, but getting closer to production by machine sewing.