Simple, inexpensive stitch holders

[SUP]

For a quite a few months now, I have been seeing a type of item to hold leathers in place, stitch holders if you will, for sewing leather by hand. I tried them and I do not like them for several reasons:

- They are very sharp and can easily scratch the leather as we slip them into the punched holes and draw blood as well.

- The not-so-small backs can mark the leather on the other side as well if plugged in too tight.

- There is a pulling mechanism to insert it as well as to unplug it, a bit fiddly to use, in my opinion.

- My thread always gets caught on the rather large parts of it. 

- They are rather expensive at, right now, about $1.5 a piece. 

Now I have been using old earrings for this and they work so well, without any of the problems described above that I thought I should mention that here. 

Firstly, earrings have blunt ends, so will not scratch the leather - rather like using blunt needles.

The earring backs can be replaced with silicone ones or plastic ones or the metal ones can be used gently, so no markings on the reverse side of the leather.

We can get flat and tiny earrings which will not come in the way of the thread while stitching.

Thy are very inexpensive indeed - especially if one buys earring making kits. You can get so many for a pittance on Amazon or even cheaper on Temu. I say Temu because I have found the same things on Etsy and Amazon that have been available on Temu for a while - sold on Amazon or Etsy or eBay with a significant mark-up.

I am currently using plastic earring stud bases and backs but they bend after 3-4 uses, so have ordered metal ones as well. 

If anyone wants to know what and where, let me know. I will put up that information here.

 

 

Edited February 17 by SUP

[DieselTech]

Yeah I bought them things too. Lol I cant think of the name of them. 

I thought i would use the heck out of them, ha! Used them once. I dont think they are that handy. 

I could see them maybe good for bag making when gluing up a bag or something. 

[SUP]

@DieselTech Yes. My idea of using old earrings really works well. No idea why I bought these when I had something working well.  

[fredk]

I bought a load of dem tings. Not used them yet. I may go back to using map pins and small blocks of cork

[SUP]

@fredk I tried map pins but they are sharp as well. The cork is a good idea. Might work better than earring backs. I think I will try those when I receive my metal earring bases.

[dikman]

SUP, can you post a couple of photos of exactly what you're using? Sounds like a better idea than using stitching needles at intervals!

[SUP]

@dikman  Here they are.

These are earring bases and different types of backs. You can always get ready paired tiny earrings from Temu for a song. Will put that up in the next post. I am using these all the time.

Photographs in my next post.

Edited February 23 by SUP

[SUP]

These are some earrings I was considering on Temu - less than $1.50 for 20 pairs,  small, convenient and brightly colored, so easily visible. I prefer choosing my own earring backs though because some of them are tinier than others. A search for earring backs on Temu gives a good range as well. 

Okay my earlier photographs disappeared, so posting them again.

These are the earring bases:

Metal earring backs:

Earring base in use:

Earring back in use:

Edited February 23 by SUP

[SUP]

These are the plastic earring base and backs, again, different types of backs. The larger ones work best, the smaller ones are too tiny but might work well for smaller items like watch straps.

Edited February 23 by SUP

[dikman]

Thanks SUP, not being a wearer of earrings I wasn't sure exactly what you were referring to. Might be worth me getting a few, I think.

[SUP]

@dikman I could not presume that,  not these days where even Amazon has earrings for men. LOL Joking aside, it really helps and I showed the photographs in detail here, for precisely that reason. Get the colorful ones from Temu and the variety of earring-backs as well so you can decide which work best for you.

[NatesLeatherGds]

Bulldog clips ? What am I doing wrong ? 

[SUP]

@NatesLeatherGds with bulldog clips you cannot  have the stitching holes exactly  coinciding as well as with something like pins. Also they can make marks on the leather.

But if they work for you, that's great.

[dikman]

1 hour ago, NatesLeatherGds said:

Bulldog clips ? What am I doing wrong ? 

Nothing wrong, mate, I use them myself, but as SUP said you sometimes need something that will align stitching holes in two (or more) pieces of leather. I've used spare stitching needles but they tend to be clumsy and because they're long they snag things!

[bruce johnson]

58 minutes ago, NatesLeatherGds said:

Bulldog clips ? What am I doing wrong ? 

Nate, It took me a while to figure out what this was all about too. I had a few people ask me if had stitching pins at the Prescott show. After I showed the second person the awl blades they explained to me what they were looking for. They are for prepunched or lasered holes on pattern cut pieces.        You and I are likely old school -  wheel the marks and diamond awl holes or a machine. Glue, bulldogs, and get to stitching - drop the bulldogs in the bucket as you come to them. 

General question for the people using these. Are you gluing your pieces too? Clamping them in some version of a stitching horse or stitching pony to hold them for sewing? 

[Chipster99]

I believe something like this is what you may be looking for?

https://www.amazon.com/Lyshujli-Leather-Positioning-Leathercraft-Stitching/dp/B0CMLB5BKD/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=7S5OUKTJYUXH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xNIrOvFdcVC20Sd9KFwbDfy96tWDv--a0p8ol5cv78yulwKwPChir46qZQNSxnorzLvTGAGrI8T0sRAT8KV_6hMpdpyshiVk_FS9x2coRM_9FPb3eIBPFHz72WQ8TA_qygjmuz8Bxf53hTW3FSw3xblDCbYD9GBa2Kz6gdBdwNc3wZDu9hWbAwdcOVTbRvhn72kStFUNiUi0UnY7vTGs2g.wxaBNhTX8MnsoCxtm-0yhPGs38CxYRCR7zJk3z0nduQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=stitching+alignment+pins+for+leather&qid=1709378243&sprefix=stitching+alignment+oins+for+leather%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-3

 

 

[Chipster99]

[SUP]

@Chipster99, I have those and do not like them. That is precisely why I started this thread. They are too sharp and can scratch the leather. The backs are heavy and large and the thread gets caught in them. That is why I prefer the earrings. They are blunt and the backs can be of different sizes, all much smaller. These might work for heavy, larger pieces where the leather is too heavy to be weighed down by them. Earrings will fall off in those. 

@NatesLeatherGds , @bruce johnson I also use earrings when I punch the holes in something that I make, not just for ready bought patterns. These work for anywhere where I need the leather to stay together and has stitching holes. Of course, they cannot be used when using pricking irons. There, glue and/or bulldog clips are needed. How do you prevent the clips from leaving marks though? Line the clips with leather? I sometimes keep the leather flat, weighed down with  weights to prevent marks.

@bruce johnson I usually don't glue the leathers together if I am using these. I don't need to. I do use the stitching pony or horse though, depending on the size of the piece, of course. If I glue the pieces of leather together, I punch the holes after gluing. With the leather already held in place with glue, no need for anything else while stitching.

These really work well for me when I have to stitch along curves or long straight stretches. Holding the pieces together makes things so much easier. I don't like to glue edges because if the glue leaks out even slightly on the edges, edge finishing is a pain. 

Edited March 2 by SUP

[Northmount]

Some years ago when assembling a few portfolios with precut, prepunched stitching holes I cut a number of paperclips into short lengths and bent them around to hold all the holes in alignment.  It also helped me be able to find centers and make sure the parts all lined up correctly.  I glued the parts together as I removed the wire for a little added security.  So that took a bit of time for the glue to grip.  But I'm slow anyhow!  So that didn't really matter.  I was watching TV at the same time, so could pay a little more attention to the screen waiting for the glue to tack up well.

I have also used staples when the stitch line wasn't all that visible, especially on a sewing machine.  The staple holes are small and tend to be covered by the thread.

 

[SUP]

@Northmount staplers and paper clips. I love those ideas!

[Northmount]

On 3/3/2024 at 6:31 AM, SUP said:

@Northmount staplers and paper clips. I love those ideas!

Here is a quick example using cut up paper clips.  My description above may not be very clear, but this photo gives a better idea of what I used.

[SUP]

@Northmount Thank you.  That is so easy to make and use. They are blunt and strong, just what leatherworkers need.

[Northmount]

5 minutes ago, SUP said:

@Northmount Thank you.  That is so easy to make and use. They are blunt and strong, just what leatherworkers need.

Depending on what you are working with, you might want to run the ends over a file or stone to get rid of sharp edges left from cutting them.

[SUP]

1 hour ago, Northmount said:

Depending on what you are working with, you might want to run the ends over a file or stone to get rid of sharp edges left from cutting them.

Oh, I will. I'm always getting cuts during stitching, and those are deep, so I'm very careful. That is why I started this thread as well - to pass on info I have about non-sharp stitch holders. In the process I got more ideas, which is nice.

[NatesLeatherGds]

4 hours ago, Northmount said:

Here is a quick example using cut up paper clips

cool!