1st Holsters

[1Man]

I use 6/7 oz. or two layers of 3/4 oz. Hemann Oak on my IWB holsters, and 8 oz. Wickett and Craig on my belt holsters. I try to keep my stitch lines within 1/8th of an inch from where my boning lines will be. I attempt to find the happy medium between not having any extra room for the leather to bend [and weaken] and not stressing the stitches.

So, how do you go about finding where the stitch lines should go? For a new model that you are creating a design for do you trace the gun and then add half of the width of the gun to the outline? Or, has it just gone through trial and error like I'm going through until you get a good pocket template for each gun type?

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

By now I can typically eyeball a pattern and get pretty close freehand. There is still occasionally some trial and error involved, but for the most part I do pretty well.

When I want to make a pattern and I am unsure how the pistol's shape will affect the design, I mock one up first by wetting and pressing some belly leather around the dummy gun and boning the leather close to the mold, and then using a marker to draw out the shape of the holster how I want it to be and marking where I want the stitch lines. Then I flatten it back out and cut out the pieces so I can transfer the pattern to paper and make any adjustments that are needed. You will notice when you do this that the shape of the pistol dictates the distance of the stitches from it, and that a uniform distance from the stitching to the pistol might not be your best option.