Continue stitching after running out of thread

[dbusarow]

I just finished the sewing on a double layer belt. Just the stitching is done, I haven't touched the edges or applied any finish yet. But I wanted to get some input before throwing additional mistakes into the mix

Here's a picture.

On the left side roughly a 1/3 of the way toward the center there are three spots where I had to change thread. Just happened to get 3 together. I followed the instructions in Stohlman's Art of Hand Sewing to the best of my understanding but the "splices" stand out a lot more than I think they should.

So my question is, how do I do this better so these are not so ugly?

Thanks,

Dan

[Rawhide]

I just finished the sewing on a double layer belt. Just the stitching is done, I haven't touched the edges or applied any finish yet. But I wanted to get some input before throwing additional mistakes into the mix

Here's a picture.

On the left side roughly a 1/3 of the way toward the center there are three spots where I had to change thread. Just happened to get 3 together. I followed the instructions in Stohlman's Art of Hand Sewing to the best of my understanding but the "splices" stand out a lot more than I think they should.

So my question is, how do I do this better so these are not so ugly?

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan...What you can do is on the last stitch, pull a little tighter than you have been and tie the knot on the top as the Stohlman instructions show, this should make the cord lay a little flatter. then continue from one stitch back and continue stitching. Also, when your done, run your overstitch wheel back and forth with a little bit of pressure over the threads, this will even out small variations in the stitches.

[MADMAX22]

Hey Dan just wanna say that is some darn nice stitching. I think it looks outstanding but Im still a beginner so .....

[Bree]

Apart from making changes to the backstitch technique as others have suggested, you might have moved the top and bottom backstitches so they are uniform and directly atop or under the peaks of the interior pattern. That would be 3 and 4 stitches back respectively. Then you could have backstitched the interior 2 1/2 stitches back right at the intersection. Those changes might have made the backstitches less obvious due to optical "illusions".

Quite frankly I think you did real well at making the thread changes fairly well hidden. Good job!

[dbusarow]

Rawhide, I bet you're right. I tightened the existing ones up from the back side and it made them look a lot better on top. Now I need to clean up the excess on the back but at least it's no longer affecting the looks as much. I'm sure if I had just really tightened these up when first stitching like you suggest it would have done the trick. This customer ordered two so I get to find out soon enough Re. tying the loose ends up. I thought that was just to keep them out of the way, I'll make those knots really snug on the next one and see if that helps too.

MADMAX22 and Bree, thanks. This was my first two layer belt and I both dreaded it and looked forward to it. I spent a lot of time making sure every stitch was perfect and still had these guys show up.

This project has really helped my sewing though. I about doubled my per foot speed in the course of doing this belt. And that's even while double checking every stitch as I went along.

Nothing like practice to help you improve.

Thanks,

Dan

[Bree]

Rawhide, I bet you're right. I tightened the existing ones up from the back side and it made them look a lot better on top. Now I need to clean up the excess on the back but at least it's no longer affecting the looks as much. I'm sure if I had just really tightened these up when first stitching like you suggest it would have done the trick. This customer ordered two so I get to find out soon enough Re. tying the loose ends up. I thought that was just to keep them out of the way, I'll make those knots really snug on the next one and see if that helps too.

MADMAX22 and Bree, thanks. This was my first two layer belt and I both dreaded it and looked forward to it. I spent a lot of time making sure every stitch was perfect and still had these guys show up.

This project has really helped my sewing though. I about doubled my per foot speed in the course of doing this belt. And that's even while double checking every stitch as I went along.

Nothing like practice to help you improve.

Thanks,

Dan

How about a PIC of the whole belt now that you got us interested in it?

[dbusarow]

I'll post a pic to Critique as soon as it's done. Probably Monday.

Dan