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, 2024 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, 2024 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, 2024 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, 2024 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.