Longhill Report post Posted September 28, 2011 Hi All I have recently joined up and am enjoying the wealth of information available on the forum. I have onlty recently started leather work and have made 2 handbags and am busy with a kudu skin satchel at the moment. Unfortunately not all is going well and I am having problems getting the gussets sewn on correctly - I can't get them to line up - I sew the front on and then when I sew the back on it ends up too short or too long even though they are identical. Well looking forward to interacting here. Kind regards Brian South Africa Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted September 28, 2011 Welcome to the forum Brian and greetings from Central Texas, USA! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyBates Report post Posted September 28, 2011 Hi All I have recently joined up and am enjoying the wealth of information available on the forum. I have onlty recently started leather work and have made 2 handbags and am busy with a kudu skin satchel at the moment. Unfortunately not all is going well and I am having problems getting the gussets sewn on correctly - I can't get them to line up - I sew the front on and then when I sew the back on it ends up too short or too long even though they are identical. Well looking forward to interacting here. Kind regards Brian South Africa Hi and welcome from the UK. Can I make a suggestion re the gussets, based on the experience of making similar mistakes? Mark where your gusset wants to start and finish on the back piece (clearly, equal distances from the bottom). Cut the gusset slightly too long and glue it to the back piece between the two marks. Cut off any excess at the second mark (this technique gives you a margin for error). Then stitch between the two marks. Then attach the front piece as follows; glue one side only in place, starting at one top corner, then stitch this side. Then glue the other side in place, again starting at the top corner, and stitch this side also. If you've got rounded corners, do these without gluing them in place as this makes positioning easier. This should leave you with both sides and bottom corners of the front piece stitched to the gusset. You can then apply glue to the bottom of the gusset and the front piece and pull and press them together such that they meet evenly with no rucks in the leather. Then stitch this last part of the seam. This technique ensures that the gusset is in exact alignment with both front and back pieces and that the leather of the gusset is distributed evenly on both sides and along the bottom. Happy stitching! Andy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aurelie Report post Posted September 29, 2011 Nice trick Andy and welcome in there Brian! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Longhill Report post Posted September 29, 2011 Hi Andy Thanks for the great reply - I can't tell you how frustrating it has been. However it is all in the learning process and it is a great journey. I'm off to see if I can finish my bag now. Kind Regards Brian Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Leerwerker Report post Posted September 30, 2011 Hallo Daar Brian! (Uit 'n vinnig kouer wordende Minnesota in die VSA!) Andy's idea sounds like a plan. I always start my gussets center front in the bottom and sew first up one side and then start at the same point and sew up the other side. Goed gaan! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
