My first carved holster.

[dikman]

It won't win any beauty prize, given the problems I had with it, but I learned a lot (like don't make the welt so bloody thick!!). I made it so the trigger guard would sit inside, resting on a "ledge" so there is zero resistance to pulling out the revolver, which made it 7/8" thick. This is the absolute max that my 4500 will sew, but I forgot that as the machine crawls up the thicker stuff the stitch length will shorten. It also went off-line  right at the top, as I turned the corner the bottom edge of the holster caught in the slot of the needle bar, which I didn't realise until it was too late. This was because it was such a tight fit under the feet. I also broke one #26 needle and bent another! 

The colour came out close to what I wanted, although a little more red would have been nice. I have one more (similar) holster to make and a matching belt. Rather than use the same carving pattern I'll make it slightly different, with less background space and bigger leaves.

 

[fredk]

That looks very most excellent   

If you have extra needle holes, mix some dye with some bees wax and press that into the hole

[toxo]

Looks good to me even though flowers don't do it for me. well done.

[PastorBob]

Very nice work!  Love the contrasting stitching.

[tsunkasapa]

Very nice job! Your carving looks good, and the color is great. Unlike Pastor Bob, I am not a fan of contrasting stitching. I find that it draws the eye there and not to the overall project. Just my opinion.

[chuck123wapati]

That looks great !!! I would be proud of that..

[Brokenolmarine]

Holster does look good, but on western holsters, I too prefer darker stitching.  But, the stitch lines look good. 

[JWheeler331]

I like it. Good job on your first carving. 

[dikman]

Thanks for the kind words. It was partly in way of an experiment as it doesn't matter how much practice I do I have to make the real thing to find out what I'm doing wrong (the pear shading, for instance, is a bit heavy in places). As for the contrast stitching, I've always used dark stitching on the other holsters I've made and I needed to try this. I'm not sure how much I like it and may revert to darker stitching on the belt at least. Thread in #277 isn't that common here in Oz and I only have black, slightly off-white and a medium-darkish brown. 

If it hadn't been such a bugger to  sew I'd be tempted to remove the stitching and sew it in brown, but that would be asking for trouble!!!!!!

[alpha2]

Sorry, but I'm a big fan of contrasting stitching. Western or otherwise. The exception being a black died edge on a lighter holster, but I've done them both ways and been totally satisfied with the results. There are some threads around here about a needle plate for the 4500 machines with a narrow slot. Solves the issue with the wider thicknesses angling a bit and losing the stitch line. 

The welt can almost disappear towards the barrel end with a proper pattern. Keeping in mind that the front sight needs to have a place to go if the welt isn't there when the gun is drawn. Personally, I don't thing you have too much background. It's a personal preference, that can and will change with different holsters. Some flower patterns get too busy.