Stitching Layers of Leather

[Gosut]

Two and three layers of 9 oz veg tan. I never did get around to making that knife sheath that brought me to leather working, but it looks like I’ll have no choice but to make a holster for a revolver with a six inch barrel. I suspect I’ve got burned ordering one and the only way to get one similar to it is to make it. It’s simple and will require only a line 24 snap, a spacer, and a Chicago screw. No tooling. What I’m wondering about is making the stitching holes.

The last time I worked with a couple of 4 oz. layers, I marked one side with a pricking iron, used that to mark the second layer, punched both with chisels, then aligned when I glued, cleaning out the dried glue with a round awl before stitching. Noticed then that slightly dampening the leather made using the chisels easier.

This is what I’m considering:

1. Use the same method, first marking the top piece, using that to mark the second, then using the top piece to mark the bottom where the second piece is the welt. Use some extra needles as pins to align all three layers while gluing, then clean out dried glue from the holes before stitching.

2. Glue up the holster first, mark the holes, then use a round awl to make the holes.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[chuck123wapati]

 I use chisels for the outside piece, glue it up, then use a stitching awl, diamond, not round, to push through the other layers, then sew it up.

[Gosut]

Thanks.

After drawing up the initial patterns (will be transferring them to poster board), was thinking about construction steps, and ordered a diamond awl with the supplies. Intend on checking the sharpness and possibly sharpening before use.

BTW, turns out a welt isn't needed for this design, so it's "just" two pieces of 9 oz leather.

[Dwight]

I never was good at holding the chisels or even the awl upright . . . so what I do if I absolutely HAVE TO hand sew something . . . I run it thru my Cowboy first . . . with no thread.

That punches the holes straight thru like they should be.

An alternative is to go to my little drill press . . . unplug the thing . . . put a sewing needle in it . . . use my marking wheel to tell me where the stitches go . . . glue the whole thing together . . . take it to the drill press . . . makes absolutely perfectly spaced and straight holes every time.  

That is also useful for the "every now and then" when the welt on a holster makes the whole thing too thick for my Cowboy (not very often) . . . and then I can saddle stitch the whole thing . . . and it really looks good.

And I don't think hardly anyone could do those holes any faster than the drill press . . . if they didn't have a sewing machine.

One little add on . . . occasionally take a piece of beeswax and rub both sides of the needle . . . slicks it right up quickly.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited July 2 by Dwight

[DocReaper]

Use a 1/64th drill bit, drill holes on the first layer, glue (permanently) the 2nd layer and drill holes, once done you do the next layer - drill each hole one layer at a time. It's time consuming but in the end it's worth it. The 1/64th drill bit is good for heavy waxed thread. If you can find a smaller drill bit more power to ya! 

[DoogMeister]

For something more than 2 layers of 5-6 oz (for which I use forks), I mark with a stitching wheel and use a drill press with a #53 needle.  Doesn't care how many layers of 8-9 oz, and drills straight holes every time.  Still stitching by hand.

[Thadrick]

On 6/24/2026 at 11:41 AM, Gosut said:

Two and three layers of 9 oz veg tan. I never did get around to making that knife sheath that brought me to leather working, but it looks like I’ll have no choice but to make a holster for a revolver with a six inch barrel. I suspect I’ve got burned ordering one and the only way to get one similar to it is to make it. It’s simple and will require only a line 24 snap, a spacer, and a Chicago screw. No tooling. What I’m wondering about is making the stitching holes.

The last time I worked with a couple of 4 oz. layers, I marked one side with a pricking iron, used that to mark the second layer, punched both with chisels, then aligned when I glued, cleaning out the dried glue with a round awl before stitching. Noticed then that slightly dampening the leather made using the chisels easier.

This is what I’m considering:

1. Use the same method, first marking the top piece, using that to mark the second, then using the top piece to mark the bottom where the second piece is the welt. Use some extra needles as pins to align all three layers while gluing, then clean out dried glue from the holes before stitching.

2. Glue up the holster first, mark the holes, then use a round awl to make the holes.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Your on the right track, that's how I do it. My holsters are usually made with around 12oz of veg tan. Then the welt is slightly less than thickness of the pistol frame using layered saddle skirting . Sometimes I'm more than 40oz of leather in the welt area. Every layer is pre- punched before assembly and glued together while using small glasses screwdrivers that I picked up at home depot and sharpened up as an awl. They seem to be about the perfect thickness to slide all the way through the leather holes and aren't tapered like an awl.

In the welt area with many ounces of leather I use very thick thread, (more than 1mm) and use the round hole pricking irons. I also use larger round punches on the inner layers of the welt that helps get things lined up easier.

I tried the drill press method and never could get the holes strait because the holster doesn't lay flat enough.  

[Thadrick]

Oh, us the pistol as the mold, just put the pistol in a couple zip loc bags first,

[Gosut]

Thanks, all. Trying to work both methods by ordering a diamond awl, then scanning in the paper pattern into a vector art app and tracing it. That way I can be sure the stitching on both pieces will be in the same place on both patterns. Then it’s just a matter of putting one pattern on top of the other and marking holes. Had tried carbon paper, but wasn’t pleased with the results.

Something “fun” pattern-wise is that both pieces are larger than standard pages, so had to make overlap marks to be sure each section matched the other on assembly.

Something that helped on my last project was to use the ruler on the back of my EDC multitool as a side-to-side guide and the multitool itself as a front-to-back guide. It also made it easier removing the chisel. That was the first time my stitching was straight.