Tunnel Stitching

[Daggrim]

I make a modernized version of medieval shoes, but I'd like to get into more authenticity. There is a stitch called a tunnel stitch, where the thread goes thru a hole in the flesh side of the sole, then exits thru the edge of the leather. Not thru the other side, but out the edge, where the leather's been cut. I've tried a few times, but it seems very hard to do. My first question is, how thick is the leather which is used for the sole?

Is such a stitch ised in any other modern application, such as saddles, or tack, or clothing, or bags?

Dag

[TwinOaks]

There's a youtube video of a guy making shoes floating around here somewhere that shows what I think you're talking about.

He uses a curved awl and needles to do it. It also shows him cutting into the sole at an angle for the stitching. When it's all stitched up, the cut is glued and smoothed over, leaving a barely visible seam that hides the stitches.

I've seen pics of that done on a saddle, and on a sheath, to very nice effect.

Here's the link to the video:

The part I think you're interested in starts about 4:35 minutes in. Edited July 27, 2009 by TwinOaks

[celticleather]

The guy in the video is sewing a sole to the welt of a shoe. This is just a conventional saddle-stitch, with a closed channel on the bottom of the shoe to hide and protect the stitches.

The true tunnel-stitch is usually employed where two pieces of leather are to be joined edge-to-edge. It is virtually impossible to achieve without the use of a curved awl and curved needles.

I've used this method a few times in the course of repair-work, where stitches need to be concealed, but it does need a good deal of practise! The lightest leather I've ever used with this style of stitching is 3mm . . . it's pretty difficult to hit the centre of the leather thickness on anything lighter.

The picture below shows the method, with all stitching carried out on the flesh side of the leather.

[Daggrim]

Ah, a curved awl and needle. So, how many holes can you make with the awl before you start stitching? I tried an awl once, but by the time I got stitching, I couldn't see my awl holes anymore.

dag

[UKRay]

Hi Dagrim,

I use a curved awl and a straight needle in exactly the same way Terry describes to butt stitch sword scabbards. I crease a stitch line and then run over it with an appropriate sized stitch marker and then use an awl to punch along both sides of the entire job before saddle stitching. I do it this way because to make a nice job you need to get into a rhythm with the hole making. They all need to be exactly the same angle and go through the centre of the leather in exactly the same way.

After a fair bit of practice I can now butt stitch 2mm thick leather reasonably easily and quickly using this method. I make replacement scabbards for period weapons so the technique has to be right.

Pictures attached may help to confuse you further but they show an original 17th century sword scabbard that has crumbled away and below it my new leather before dyeing and boning to conceal the stitch line.

The next image is an extreme close up of the butt joint and the stitching from the other picture. As you can see from the compression the work is stitched very tightly but the thread doesn't cut the leather.

I have gone a bit wider on the stitch depth than the original but when the job is properly boned flat it doesn't show. The critical issue is how tight you pull the thread and this is only learned through trial and error. Give it a go, it isn't difficult to make a good job - now a great job is something else, I'm still working on that one!

Ray

Ah, a curved awl and needle. So, how many holes can you make with the awl before you start stitching? I tried an awl once, but by the time I got stitching, I couldn't see my awl holes anymore.

dag

[Schno]

Only a very little off topic (please forgive me!)...

Ray, can you post a shot of the pointy end of that scabbard? I've been trying to figure out how to manage the tip on my first sheath attempt. I'm working on a blade not much wider than a stiletto, so I don't have a whole lot of room to work with.

Thanks!

[celticleather]

Nice job, Ray!

I think the only difference in our technique is that I prefer to punch the holes as I go along . . . no particular reason, I've just always done it that way! I use curved needles, since I find that they more easily follow the path of the awl through the leather. To each his own!

Terry

[Daggrim]

Thanks Ray and Terry,

Y'know, I've read about tunnel stitching and butt stitching numerous times, but with unanswered questions, I could only get so much of it. So, if you will bear with me one more time, tell me a little about the awls and needles you use. I'm a real beginner to this, as I opted to machine stitch my shoe soles to my uppers. I know there are discussions about using awls, but if you could give me a few basics, I'd appreciate it. I just ordered a book from the London Museum all about medieval shoes..."Shoes and Pattens". I borrowed a friends copy, and I'm hooked. So, maybe over the winter, I can get back to making shoes. (why do I do this to myself???)

Doug

[PaganBear]

also only mildly off topic, but I remember a very nice explanation of this type of stitch (was it called a tunnel stitch) in one of the bags & cases books from Tandy. In the book it shows the stitching on the grain side (looking like Ray's pics) rather than flesh side like Celt's pic

**runs to shop**

Stohlman books: The Art of Making Leather Cases Vol 1 with a much better description of the process in The Art of Hand Sewing Leather pg 30

[celticleather]

There's clearly a place for using tunnel stitching on the grain side of the leather, particularly in Ray's application, where it would be impossible to work from both sides of the piece.

I've attached a picture of one of my curved awls, and a curved needle. Whenever I accidentally bend a needle (I hate bent needles!), I put it aside to make it into a curved needle. I make the curve of the needle to match the curve of the awl, so that it more easily follows the hole punched by the awl.

[Daggrim]

Oh, so your awl is round in section. I thought awls mostly were triangular in section, with 2 sharp edges. Not necessarily so, it seems. I only have a couple of round awls, which I haven't used for any stitching, yet.

Doug

[celticleather]

Doug

I think my picture may have given a false impression! The awl blade is definitely not round . . . if anything, I'd call it elliptical, but with very sharp edges - almost diamond-shaped.

Hopefully these pics (slightly out of focus!) will give a better idea of the shape. Taken from the side, from above, and obliquely.

Terry

Edited July 29, 2009 by celticleather

[Daggrim]

Okay, I see. Thanks Terry, for taking the time to explain.

Doug

[UKRay]

Doug, my awl starts out at the handle end as a piece of round section steel but as it approaches the bend (it looks a lot like the one Terry uses) the shape flattens out as if the circle has been thumped with a hammer (which is probably how it was made!) and although the extreme blade end is very sharp and almost pointed it swiftly becomes a very flattened out circle section. This means the hole it makes is wide and flat rather than small and three cornered. Hope this makes sense. The width of the flattened bit of the awl blade is no more than 3/32".

Ray

[RkyMtnMan]

Is such a stitch used in any other modern application, such as saddles, or tack, or clothing, or bags?

40+ years ago I had a transistor radio in a fitted leather case; the corners were sewn in a similar manner.

The front overlapped the edge of the side piece. The thread passed through the side piece as you describe: piercing the grain (exterior) side and exiting the edge. It then pierced the front piece in a more conventional way -- pulling the front down tight onto the edge of the side piece.

I know this because the stitching wore out and I re-sewed it using the existing holes.

[celticleather]

I think Ray's word-picture may have been better focused than my photos!

Here's another pic that demonstrates the various cross-sections that are available in curved awls. The ones we are referring to are the 'sewing' and 'closing' types.

All this talk of awls takes me back to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 1

'Truly, Sir, all that I live by is with the awl; I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl.'

That's awl for now, folks!

[Daggrim]

Wow...fabulous you guys. Now I feel like I know enough to buy a couple of awls and get to work practicing. Reading the museum book I bought about medieval shoes is like eating ice cream. Ummm. I can see where the shoemakers of the time didn't seem to mind a bit if they had to sew a shoe upper by combining four or five smaller pieces. So, it must've become quite easy to sew leather. I've been kinda hanging back, expecting it to be a difficult and painful chore. I suppose my trifocals might have something to do with that.

Doug

[UKRay]

Yup, those old Varifocal lenses certainly make some chores harder. Just try screwing something to the underside of a bench!

Stitching is simply another skill that can be learned and, providing you practice it, will improve with time.

One of the things I would add to Terry's words of wisdom is that you shouldn't necessarily expect an awl to work straight out of the box. Be prepared to polish the cutting edge and keep it sharp. Be prepared to add a little to the bend if it makes the job work better for you. Too many people think tool designers have all the answers but they don't!

I have arthritis and some days I can't move my hands properly but I simply alter my tools to make it easier for me to do whatever task I need to achieve. I have even been known to put a little leather thumb strap on an awl handle so when I drop it the wretched thing doesn't fall far... hardly rocket science but it makes my job easier.

Have fun, Doug - and anyone else who is trying this. It isn't as hard as it might look to do a really nice job.

Ray

[celticleather]

you shouldn't necessarily expect an awl to work straight out of the box. Be prepared to polish the cutting edge and keep it sharp. Be prepared to add a little to the bend if it makes the job work better for you.

Oh dear . . . I've trodden this road before in another thread (http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...mp;#entry116136), where I learned that some folk are happy to pay top dollar (relatively speaking) for awls that are already sharpened and polished.

I won't add much more to that topic, except to say (in a whisper) that we don't seem to have that availability in the UK, so most of us are used to sharpening and polishing our awls. It would seem to me like buying a ready-meal, which takes away the satisfaction of preparing the ingredients and adding individual flavours and preferences. Perhaps if pre-polished awls were available over here, some people would pay the extra money, rather than spend the extra time, and I have no problem with that.

It's reassuring to hear that Ray is a fellow-member of the 'old school' . . . quite prepared to sharpen an awl to his own specification.

'Nuff said.

[UKRay]

Ready sharpened? Ready polished? Nah, Terry... that is one of those old 'American Dream' stories! <grin!>

Anyway, how can anyone know precisely what you want from a tool? Right, they can't. Equally they can't possibly make an awl that will suit everyone. Sure it will do some things but... okay. I'll stop.

I have a couple of files, some emery paper and a small hand vice in my toolbox that are specifically for making awls work properly. Oops - did I start up again? Sorry!

Ray

[Daggrim]

Ah, much more good info from you Brits. Yup, I'm prepared to rework a tool. Many of the things I own have been "improved".

What makes me crazy is finding poor ergonomic features on a piece of equipment. Y'think after a (insert any number) years of making something, all the errors would be worked out...forever. But I swear I've bought things (car,stereo,phone,drill,printer) that nobody ever really sat down with and tried it out before it was manufactured.

Doug

[Daggrim]

Yup, those old Varifocal lenses certainly make some chores harder. Just try screwing something to the underside of a bench!

Stitching is simply another skill that can be learned and, providing you practice it, will improve with time.

One of the things I would add to Terry's words of wisdom is that you shouldn't necessarily expect an awl to work straight out of the box. Be prepared to polish the cutting edge and keep it sharp. Be prepared to add a little to the bend if it makes the job work better for you. Too many people think tool designers have all the answers but they don't!

I have arthritis and some days I can't move my hands properly but I simply alter my tools to make it easier for me to do whatever task I need to achieve. I have even been known to put a little leather thumb strap on an awl handle so when I drop it the wretched thing doesn't fall far... hardly rocket science but it makes my job easier.

Have fun, Doug - and anyone else who is trying this. It isn't as hard as it might look to do a really nice job.

Ray

Ray,

Well I just finished making my 1st attempt at tunnel stitches. I just used a couple of 1" strips of leather to simulate a cross section of a turnshoe, and put 2 stitches in each side. Four stitches took me a half hour, and some genuine sweat, but I got 'em.

Trouble was, I had to use a pliers to pull the needle and thread thru the holes. I didn't have a real awl, so I used a big S-shaped needle with a triangular section to punch the holes. Will a proper awl fix that problem?

I used some artificial waxed sinew for thread. What kind of thread would work best?

Thanks again for your help.

Dag

[celticleather]

Doug

I don't want to steal Ray's thunder, but I'll offer a couple of thoughts, to which he'll no doubt make eloquent additions.

Most craftworking tools - whether it be awls, needles, knives, hammers, chisels, even screwdrivers - are the products of evolution. People will have tried out different shapes, sizes, materials etc, sometimes over the course of hundreds of years, and almost invariably, the tool that emerges from this process is the one that works best. Sometimes another tool may serve the purpose . . . you could turn a woodscrew with a blunt knife . . . but a screwdriver works better!

It may be that your 'S'-shaped needle is too curved, or not curved enough, and I think the triangular cross-section is more suited to glovers' or sailmakers' needles - which is probably what it was designed for! In my opinion, a proper curved sewing awl gives the best amount of 'push' and leverage to achieve a good stitch, together with the right shape of hole to give a neat result.

What I'm getting at, is that you really need the right tool for the job! A stitching rate of one stitch per 7½ minutes would be enough to put me off tunnel stitching forever! I'm sure that if you can find the right awls and needles, you'd soon be up and away!

As to the thread - you really need a thread thickness (and flexibility) that suits the size of hole that your awl makes. If the thread is too thick or inflexible, it will probably distort the leather when it's pulled up, and if it's too thin it will leave a gaping hole either side of the finished stitch.

I found another pic which may give you a better insight into the technique, particularly the angle of the awl, which has to change as it travels through the leather.

That's my lot for now . . . over to Ray!

Terry

[Leerwerker]

There is another element which might be part of a tunnel stitch.

Someone once brought old tools for me to identify and two or three of them I had never seen before. These turned out to be channel tools - used to cut the grooves in soles so that the leather would close over the sewing.

I found descriptions in The Dictionary of Leather-working Tools by RA Salaman.

[UKRay]

As usual, Terry has hit the nail on the head. Unless you have the right tools you really can't hope to get up to speed with this task. IMHO, the triangular section hole could actually inhibit speed because the sides of the hole will close up when the needle is withdrawn.

Personally I'd shell out the not-very-many $s for a nicely finished curved awl, Doug - lets face it, unless you really get into this type of work it will probably be the only one you buy! Okay, I'll admit to having three - each a different size, but I'm a sad man who should try to get out more...

I meant to throw in a few words about stitch marking wheels. I like to use the 'pricker wheels' that were popular in the 1920s/30s. They can be purchased quite cheaply on eBay and IMHO are a much nicer thing to use than the standard TLF offering. The little spikes make less mess than the big chunky markers and the neat little holes are easier to see.

Regarding thread, I'm in complete agreement with Terry (again). Get thread that suits the awl and the job you are doing with it. I use linen thread for most of my historic work because it is what would have been used at the time. IMHO it also seems less likely to cut the leather than synthetic - particularly important for shoes which are sometimes wet - wet leather is often soft leather. Linen seems to have more 'give' and 'tolerance' to use.

Now I have a question : how do you guys finish the soles of your shoes? I ask because single thickness sole turnshoes are notorious for soaking up moisture (okay, I know they should really be worn with patterns). I saw a pair a week or so ago that had a 'riveted on' sole that seemed to work quite well but I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

From a historical perspective, is there anything to suggest that they may have had extra soles added?

Ray