Gunslinger / fishtail pattern belt

[Mulesaw]

I can't remember the last time I made a belt for myself to use. My best guess is that it was in 1994, and I haven't used that belt since probably 1997. So this time I decided to make a belt out here on the ship, mainly to use as a everyday work belt (to keep my work pants up), and secondly to have a cozy small project to do.

The fishtail pattern was made using a cardboard plate, all stitching is done by hand, and a diamond awl was used to make the holes in the leather. The belt is 1.5" wide and I used Serabraid 1 mm thread for the stitches. I haven't got a stitching clamp or a stitching pony out here, so sewing takes a bit more time since one hand needs to hold the leather, but all in all I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. (My photo skills suck, and natural light isn't in abundance in the engine control room) 

[FrankHester]

It looks great. Nice work!

[rleather]

Excellent stitching! A very fine belt indeed.

[Mulesaw]

@FrankHester Thanks :-)

@rleather Thanks :-), as a Scandinavian something with this amount of ornamentation is almost unheard of, but I decided to take a chance 

[dikman]

Excellent job. I particularly like the way you ended the pattern by extending it to the end of the belt, most just stop it at one of the "crosspoints".

Edited Wednesday at 10:48 PM by dikman

[Chux]

I made a belt with that stitching a while back myself...I know how much goes onto the stitching by hand lol nice work!!

[BigBore]

Very nice and clean work!

[Gezzer]

Looks GREAT !!!!! 

Lot of work in that .

[bsshog40]

Very nice! That's a lot of stitching. That's the only thing that keeps me from wanting to make a belt. I figure I would have to have at least 20' or more of thread to keep from tangling up while hand stitching. 

[Mulesaw]

5 hours ago, dikman said:

Excellent job. I particularly like the way you ended the pattern by extending it to the end of the belt, most just stop it at one of the "crosspoints".

Thanks, I saw a belt (on this forum off course ) where someone had made the ending like this. I never thought about doing it like that before, but I thought that it looked cool and like an elegant way to do it.

Brgds Jonas

5 hours ago, Chux said:

I made a belt with that stitching a while back myself...I know how much goes onto the stitching by hand lol nice work!!

The good thing is that it gives me something to do out here :-) And it is at least a manageable project to hold while sewing 

Brgds Jonas 

[Mulesaw]

4 hours ago, BigBore said:

Very nice and clean work!

Thank you 

Brgds Jonas

1 hour ago, Gezzer said:

Looks GREAT !!!!! 

Lot of work in that .

Thanks, It did keep me occupied for some hours for sure 

Brgds Jonas

[Mulesaw]

56 minutes ago, bsshog40 said:

Very nice! That's a lot of stitching. That's the only thing that keeps me from wanting to make a belt. I figure I would have to have at least 20' or more of thread to keep from tangling up while hand stitching. 

Thanks, I suppose that one could skip the outer stitching, but I had seen a belt in here with the same design, and I wanted to challenge myself a bit :-)

I decided from the start that it would probably go wrong if I tried to sew it all in one go. So I just did like Stohlman suggests, with a couple of yards of thread each time, and when you run out of thread - you just start 3 stitches back and that locks it. 
Maybe if I had made bigger holes, it might have been possible to do it all in one go, but there's going to be a lot of abrasion on the ends of the thread if it is going to be pulled through the leather that many times I think.
If you look closely you can see where I have stopped and started again. On the lower picture: The fishtail in the middle on the back of the belt, that one I ended up having both the outer edge and the fishtail being started and stopped the same place. I tried to avoid that for the rest of the belt, since I was afraid that it would look clumsy. But when the two start/stop points are a bit away from each other it blends in better.
And I think that if anybody look that close to my belt while I am wearing it - they probably know what to look for anyway, and they would know why I did it 

Brgds Jonas

[AlZilla]

Is that a very long strap, doubled over around the buckle to give you 2 layers?

Very tedious work. The overlapped stitching isn't noticeable until you look for it. Very fine work!

[chuck123wapati]

wow that is nice!! Great looking stitching job imo. 

[PastorBob]

Wow!  that is super impressive!  All stitched by hand too!  I feel my fingers cramping as we speak.

[bsshog40]

8 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

Thanks, I suppose that one could skip the outer stitching, but I had seen a belt in here with the same design, and I wanted to challenge myself a bit 🙂

I decided from the start that it would probably go wrong if I tried to sew it all in one go. So I just did like Stohlman suggests, with a couple of yards of thread each time, and when you run out of thread - you just start 3 stitches back and that locks it. 
Maybe if I had made bigger holes, it might have been possible to do it all in one go, but there's going to be a lot of abrasion on the ends of the thread if it is going to be pulled through the leather that many times I think.
If you look closely you can see where I have stopped and started again. On the lower picture: The fishtail in the middle on the back of the belt, that one I ended up having both the outer edge and the fishtail being started and stopped the same place. I tried to avoid that for the rest of the belt, since I was afraid that it would look clumsy. But when the two start/stop points are a bit away from each other it blends in better.
And I think that if anybody look that close to my belt while I am wearing it - they probably know what to look for anyway, and they would know why I did it 

Brgds Jonas

👍

[Mulesaw]

@AlZilla Thanks for the nice comment,

it is just a regular length strap, I mean it is only doubled for the 2.5" around the buckle. So the sewing is purely decorative for the rest of the belt, but I read somewhere, that stitching can help make a belt a bit less flexible to prevent it from sagging. (I don't know if that is true though, so I guess I'll just have to wear it for a couple of years and see) :-)

Brgds Jonas

@chuck123wapati Thanks Chuck, it is without a doubt the flashiest work belt on board 

Brgds Jonas

[Mulesaw]

@PastorBob Thanks, I did manage to get a small crack in the little finger from tightening the thread. I did the sewing over a couple of days to keep it enjoyable. 

Brgds Jonas

[JDFred]

That sir, is a fine piece of work, good job.

[TonyV]

Very nicely done.  That is a lot of excellent hand stitching, especially without a clam or pony.  Wear it with pride.

[Leather Repair Center]

Looks great! I always wanted to make my leather belt. Thank you for the inspiration!

[Mulesaw]

@JDFred Thanks for the nice comment :-)

Brgds Jonas

[Mulesaw]

@TonyV Thanks, I really missed my stitching horse, so I had to go about it by stabbing all the holes first, which is also doable, but I prefer to do it the other way :-)
I have started wearing it, and so far I have avoided it getting too dirty 

Brgds Jonas

[Mulesaw]

7 minutes ago, Leather Repair Center said:

Looks great! I always wanted to make my leather belt. Thank you for the inspiration!

Thanks for the nice comment.

Glad to be able to inspire a bit. The only thing I would like to have done a bit differently is that I would have liked the leather to be a bit thinner. It really is a hefty belt. But it was the thickness of leather that I just had brought with me, so I guess I'll just have to wear it till it softens. 
Brgds Jonas

[jcuk]

Nice work on the stitching without a clam, I love hand stitching things no matter how tedious it can seem to be at times once I get into it, music playing in the back round or listening to the TMS ( Test Match Special ) its Cricket commentary. What is the spi you have used. 

Regards 

JCUK