Contour Stitch Line

[cstephens]

I am a novice and i have read post about laying out the pattern and can do a decent job at that, however i have made several mistakes at guessing the stitch line for the contour of the pistol and my stitching has come out too tight and the pistol dosen't fit. I have never made one that is too loose, but obviously want to avoid that. I just want to know if anyone possibly some type of "formula" that can prevent me from eyeballing it and coming out wrong due to the difference in the thickness and size of guns. Thanks for anyone's help

[NoahL]

I am a novice and i have read post about laying out the pattern and can do a decent job at that, however i have made several mistakes at guessing the stitch line for the contour of the pistol and my stitching has come out too tight and the pistol dosen't fit. I have never made one that is too loose, but obviously want to avoid that. I just want to know if anyone possibly some type of "formula" that can prevent me from eyeballing it and coming out wrong due to the difference in the thickness and size of guns. Thanks for anyone's help

I haven't found a formula, but what I've found comes pretty close for me (assuming I haven't already made a holster for that particular gun, in which case I can make a template) is folding a piece of paper and laying the gun/blocker (with dowel taped on for sight channel) centered on the fold, then very carefully rolling it over to lay on its side on the paper. I then trace the gun, and then take however much space there is from the fold to the outline and add that same amount of space on the other side of the outline. That essentially is giving you about half the thickness of the gun along the top and half the thickness of the gun along the bottom, and that will be replicated by the fact that you will have a second piece of leather (or a folded single piece) that will have the same amount of space around the gun. That gives you two halves for the top of the gun and two halves for the bottom of the gun. Again, this is a generalization and will not always work, but it's a good starting point, if it makes any sense to you? If not I might be able to draw up a pattern just so you see how I do it.

[cstephens]

Thanks for the reply. Lately I've been making avenger style holsters and I think I understand your method. A visual aid would be great help as I am a visual learner. Thanks for your help!

[NoahL]

Ask and you shall receive, even if it's crappy pictures taken in crappy light with a crappy camera.

Visual Aid:

If you click on each picture you will also see a short description of each step.

[JeffGC]

Almost all of my holsters are made of two pieces of leather (front and back). I lay the weapon on the paper and then carefully trace it with a pen. So I can get as close as possible to the gun, I use a ball point pen filler; i.e., without the pen casing. I measure the width of the gun with a dial caliper and then mark the stitch line with a pencil compass, adjusted to exactly 1/2 of the measured thickness. I adjust the width depending on the design of the gun. For example, I just made a pattern for a Glock 22. The straight stitch line along the top of the slide is .500". Below the rail, it's a bit less. Around the trigger guard it's .300". Keep in mind that my tracing is slightly oversize due to the thickness of the pen filler.

I hope this helps a bit.

Jeff

[anubismp]

Since the above guys seem to do two piece holsters I thought I'd throw in my two cents on one pieces. I usually figure out a rough shape by bending the leather over the gun then cut out the piece I want to work with. I then wet the leather and do a light wet mould, just the basic outlines I'm not trying to bone it. Once it is close to dry I use an overstitcher to plot out my lines then proceed. Its been working well for me but I'm new to all of this so your mileage may vary.

[NoahL]

Since the above guys seem to do two piece holsters I thought I'd throw in my two cents on one pieces. I usually figure out a rough shape by bending the leather over the gun then cut out the piece I want to work with. I then wet the leather and do a light wet mould, just the basic outlines I'm not trying to bone it. Once it is close to dry I use an overstitcher to plot out my lines then proceed. Its been working well for me but I'm new to all of this so your mileage may vary.

I actually do fold-over style holsters with just one exception so far--my steps are for making a pattern for that and I simply included the one extra step you would need for doing pancake style holsters.

[BigRiverLeather]

I don't have the capabilities to make this visual at this time, but I have rolls of plastic sheeting (about the thickness of file folder paper) that I cut all of my patterns from. This is great because it is see through.

I also draw an outline for each model gun mold I have. Then, similar to JeffGC I meauser the thickness of the gun and go a little OVER half the thickness way from the gun. for glocks I go 14 mm on each side, 1911s 12 mm on each side and the others somewhere inbetween depending on their thickness. I draw another outline around the gun with these measurements and cut it out there. Then I can just lay it out on my holster pattern and trace my stitch lines.

When suing the pattern for an avenger holster, I fold the leather over and line up the topside of the gun on my outline then trace the trigger guard side of the pattern for my stitch line.

I hope that makes sense.

[JeffGC]

Almost all of my holsters are made of two pieces of leather (front and back). I lay the weapon on the paper and then carefully trace it with a pen. So I can get as close as possible to the gun, I use a ball point pen filler; i.e., without the pen casing. I measure the width of the gun with a dial caliper and then mark the stitch line with a pencil compass, adjusted to exactly 1/2 of the measured thickness. I adjust the width depending on the design of the gun. For example, I just made a pattern for a Glock 22. The straight stitch line along the top of the slide is .500". Below the rail, it's a bit less. Around the trigger guard it's .300". Keep in mind that my tracing is slightly oversize due to the thickness of the pen filler.

I hope this helps a bit.

Jeff

Unfortunately, I'm commenting on my own post (above). In the past, I positioned the stitch line at 1/2 the gun width. In my previous post, I mentioned positioning the stitch line closer around the trigger guard. I should have tested this brilliant idea before suggesting it to others. Way too tight. In fact, I could not get the pistol completely into the holster. It was close to impossible to remove!

Sorry for the bad advice.

Jeff

[Dwight]

I am a novice and i have read post about laying out the pattern and can do a decent job at that, however i have made several mistakes at guessing the stitch line for the contour of the pistol and my stitching has come out too tight and the pistol dosen't fit. I have never made one that is too loose, but obviously want to avoid that. I just want to know if anyone possibly some type of "formula" that can prevent me from eyeballing it and coming out wrong due to the difference in the thickness and size of guns. Thanks for anyone's help

I was plagued early on making holsters with the same problem, . . . and still have it when I have a really unfamiliar handgun.

My answer was to do the holster making a bit differently.

First: I do the front stitch line, the one that will come down the barrel

Second: I wet the holster, . . . and insert the hand gun, . . . and mold the leather with my thumbs and fingers (never use a press in this type) to the point that I am sure I have a good "shape" going.

Third: remove the handgun, . . . close the holster up as close as possible to how it is supposed to work, . . . set it in the sun to dry.

Once it dries, . . . open it up just enough to cement the edges, . . . glue it down, . . . mark it, . . . sew it, . . . finish it.

THEN: MAKE A TEMPLATE FOR THAT STYLE HANDGUN SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIIN AND LABEL & FILE THE THING.

It has never failed me when I do it this way.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Reaper]

Same here as Dwight pretty much. I use a Groove Stylus if I feel like it, though I tend to leave the stitch grove on the whole of the pocket seam around the gun. I fear that with the twisting and shoving of un-re-holstering the thread could pull through over time. Oh, and I either Punch, Poke or Drill all of my stitch lines on one half and then place the two together using the the one with the holes as a template, tack stitching at a few points so they do not move.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Reaper