Sewing Leather With A Drill Press

[Dwight]

We've kicked around the idea of using a drill press to make holes in leather for stitching.

How about using it for the stitcher? I got the idea from my Tippmann Boss machine.

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If you want to have some fun, . . . learn a new trick, . . . yeah, use the drill press.

First, though, find a nice, clean, flat board, . . . drill a 1/4" or so hole in it, . . . before you drill it, . . . anchor it to your drill table.

Cover the board with a small towel or some other clean, dry, cloth that you don't need any more.

Use the stitch groover, . . . and groove your item. Use the little stitching spacer wheel to mark where you want the stitches in the project.

Get a large, regular sewing needle, with a hole big enough for your thread.

Get a regular, flat ended, leather needle used on machines like the Tippmann Boss.

Chuck the leather needle into your drill press just like it was a drill bit, . . . UNPLUG YOUR DRILL PRESS.

Thread the needle in the drill press and pull the thread through until it is at the half way point.

Put your leather project on the drill press table, on top of the cloth that covers the board that has the hole drilled in it.

Force the needle down through the leather with the drill press DO NOT PLUG THE DRILL PRESS IN, . . . DO NOT TURN IT ON !!

Lift up the project and slowly pull the needle up through the leather until you have a loop big enough to grab on one side of the leather needle.

Grab that loop and pull it through the hole. Now pull the needle up and out of your project.

You should now have a project with one hole punched through it, . . . and a string through that hole, . . . half the string above the hole and half below the hole, . . . the top half also still threaded through the needle in the drill press.

Thread the regular needle with the bottom half of the thread.

Move your project to the next hole, . . . punch it with the drill press, . . . pull it back up just a little, . . . thread the bottom needle through the loop of thread, . . . pull the needle up out of the leather with the drill press, . . . pull the two pieces of thread until you have pulled the place they join up half way into your leather project.

You have completed your first stitch. Move the project to the next hole, . . . punch down, . . . pull up making a small loop, . . . thread the sewing needle through that loop again, . . . you finished the second loop.

REMEMBER WHICH SIDE OF THE DRILL PRESS NEEDLE HAS THE THREAD THAT GOES BACK TO THE PREVIOUS HOLE, . . . THAT IS THE LOOP YOU WANT TO ALWAYS USE.

Just repeat the process until you are done down at the end, . . . then turn your project around, . . . and do 4 or 5 stitches a second time (so you have double thread in those 4 or 5 stitches).

Pull your project off the drill press, . . . cut the thread very close to your project with a sharp razor.

You just used a cheap and effective stitcher that is a lot slower than a machine, . . . but is so much better for the fingers.

May God bless,

Dwight

[steppenwolf]

Thank U so much 4 d idea.

I don`t have money 2 buy a sewing machine, but I DO HAVE a drill press, that`s being siting in my garage doing nothing!

[Dwight]

I don't remember who it was that asked for pictures, . . . here they are:

It may sound problematic, . . . and may look hokey, . . . but my fingers and wrists are beyond hand stitching. I had to figure out another way, . . . and it makes a stitch that is equal to my Tippmann, . . . and of course, . . . if I want to, . . . I can do designs on the face of the leather, . . . sorta like embroidering.

Anyway, . . . just another tool for those who need it.

May God bless,

Dwight