I walked away frustrated.

[Denise]

I've heard of a saddle maker who did a similar patch fix when he messed up the customer's brand on a custom saddle. Biggest problem was the saddle was for his father-in -law...

[Ian]

also learned a long time ago that when I am tired, I need to quit for the night. I used to have a bad habit of thinking "just a little more work and I will be done".... right up to the point that I make a wrong cut, dripped dye in the wrong place, punched belt holes off center.... you name it. So now I intentionally leave the final details for another day.

Isn't that the truth. The smallest, simplest finishing details like snaps and belt holes will get you every time and can ruin days of work in one foul swoop. I wish I could develop the discipline to do them the next day, but I'm always too anxious to see the finished product, and ....POW, I've done it again

[TomSwede]

How about making a stitching groove all the way down a belt blank BEFORE you punch out the tongue end!!!! Also measuring a belt out and forgetting to add enough length for the buckle end. It never ceases to amaze me how STUPID I can be at times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a version of what you describe only I did cut the tongue end but managed to go too far with the grover, lol. Fortune worked for me on this one 'cuz the end result came out quite neat I think...but it's not very often you get away from that Murphy's law.

Robert and Ian! I used to do the same thing but recently I've been turning to the 'puter and LW when it's times up and a monitor can sure put tired to your eyes fast. I'm some 6-9 hours before the US population so this is usually when the forum is most active so it can get very late but, keeps me from going back to the leathers when I shouldn't.

Tom

[Shorts]

Yeah I'm walking away frustrated now. The IWB I was so excited about came out not quite there and still has more work to do... and quality wise, it came out top notch. Now I got a pieceo f top notch junk. I've been trying several IWBs and I'm about fed up with it I've decided to finish sewing an OWB I've had sitting on my table for several days now and I absolutely cannot find my sewing glove!

I'll just go make a steak for dinner and forget about leather before I cry.

^^ heh, how about that, "forget about leather" but I'm going to grill up a steak. Yeah, that's irony for you.

Edited June 8, 2008 by Shorts

[PeterD]

One of the things I tell people when teaching leatherworking is to always right left and right or up/down on a pattern. Even then I have been known to make two right sides. The other thing I tell students is that there is an art and a craft to leatherworking. The craft is the techniques to make stuff. The art is fixing your mistakes.