Sewing holster to belt

[DCKNIVES]

Ok, I need some suggestions on technique.Not long ago I posted a gunrig in which the customer had requested that I sew the holster directly to the belt.On that rig I basically had to build the holster right on the belt, sewing it on,folding it over ,glueing the edge,punching my holes.At this point is where the difficulty starts.Finishing the edge of the holster while it is partially attached to a very large belt was a pain,and took a great deal of time and care.I did get it done and it turned out well.

Enough background , I just recieved another order for a rig that will feature two holsters facing each other at the center of the back and yes he wants them sewn on.the holsters will be touching as seen below.

Again the problem is edge finishing with the holsters touching, rolling forward to give me clearance to work will be tough.Any ideas that will allow me to finish the holsters seperate then sew to the belt would be great appreciated.Thanks .Dave

[rdb]

A quick possibility:

Would be to assemble with rubber cement, or even small clamps, burnish, then carefully peel apart for the stitching and the final welt edge. Maybe when you peel it apart,or repositioned, you'll have roughened the edge a bit, but it would be easier to reslick with the majority already burnished?

[DCKNIVES]

That does sound like a possibility, but I sure would like to have it totally done before attaching.Thanks.Dave

[katsass]

Hi Dave, It's been a long time since I sewed a holster in place on a belt but, the way I handled it was to utilize the back side of my holster as a 'plate'. I drew my pattern with the front side normal and with the back side (where I would usually form the belt loop) opened into a flat 'T" shape (the same width as the belt) and sewed that to the belt. It created the correct amount of drop for the SAA "Show Rig" and, with a little decorative stitching, it added some interest. I (as you) usually use two layers of leather so it showed smooth leather all the way. Final wet forming created no problems and I did the edge finishing just as I would on a separate holster. Wish I had taken a pic of the thing, but back then I never thought of those sort of details. Mike

Edited September 12, 2009 by katsass

[DCKNIVES]

Thanks Mike, unfortunately the holsters are already cutout and carved so that method as written won't work for this one.It looks like a good method and I may try that on the next one.Thanks for your help brother.Dave

[thecapgunkid]

The only way I have ever been able to do this was by using my patcher sewing machine. The patcher doesn't have a table between the needle and bobbin, because it is basically designed for shoes, which can have a lot of flaky stitching areas.

Here's what I did. When I glued the liner to the holster, I penciled on the liner the where the stitch line was going to go. Then I positioned the holster on the belt, punching holes through all three layers along the stitch line. Then I grooved the inside of that line on the liner so the stitches would not tough the gun, enabling them to lay in the groove.

Then I assembled and finished the holster and belt. Methinks the guy wanted a natural oil finish, so I didn't dye anything.

When I contact cemented the holster to the belt before sititching, I ran a bunch of harness needles through all six of the holes along the path of the arc of the stitch line. That enabled me to line up the stitchline on the belt with that of the holster.

Now I'm getting real impatient and making a lot of victim statements on how I should have charged more or convinced this guy to use rivets, so I took a break and watched John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan clean out the bad guys in Rio Whatever.

On my Singer, as with all patchers, the bobbin rests in an arm that sticks out of the machine where the table would be. I shoved the holster over the arm so that the stitching was done through the back of the belt, back of the holster, and onto the liner groove that you can't see when you work like this. Thank you harness needle aligning.

When finished, I ran my finger on the inside of the holster to make sure that the stitches were all nestled in the groove and not exposed to the surface of the gun.

Then I went and watched John Wayne, Rickey Nelson....

Hope this helps, and,

Don't shoot yore eye out, kid

The Capgun Kid

[DCKNIVES]

LOL, that would be Rio Bravo. The method you used sounds good too, but alas I handsew everything.Thanks.Dave