Welting Questions

[james m]

Hi there,

I'm planning on making a canvas and leather weekend bag. Now i've heard of welting but i'm not too sure what it is, what it does and how to do it. does anybody have any pointers?

Thanks

James

[Kevin]

Just use a piece of the leather you are already using, split it down nice and thin, fold it in half and add it in your seams. It is used to hide and protect the thread. I have seen it not folded in half, but I think it looks unfinished that way, so why even bother? That's just my opinion today though.

Kevin

[Leatherimages]

Another option is to cut a veg strip of about 6 oz. X 5/8" wide the length of your seam plus an inch. Sew it with long basteing stitches to the grain side of your first piece along one side, and join the body pieces grain sides together along the edges. Make register marks on the panels and gusetts to aid in alignment. Set your row of stitches about 3/16" to 1/4" from the edge, with stitches no longer than the thickness of your combined layers. After your preferred stitching method, trim to within 1/8" of your stitch, and turn right side out. Using a #2 Common Edger, trim the excess and burnish.

Or at least, thay's the way I do it for boot side seams.

[mlapaglia]

Hi there,

I'm planning on making a canvas and leather weekend bag. Now i've heard of welting but i'm not too sure what it is, what it does and how to do it. does anybody have any pointers?

Thanks

James

You can see some good pictures and instructions in Al Stohlman's book, "The art of hand sewing leather" Pages 45 and 46.

[Jimbob]

Or, you find some very flexible electric cord ( last time I used old vacum cleaner cord...) wrap it ( glue) with some 2-3 oz chrome or veg tan, leave about 1/2 inch seam on it.....glue it to your one side of your bag panel,inside out... then glue the other panel to the welting (cord) now let dry and then stitch it together.....welting will be very dominant and very protective....also can give your bag some sort of shape if desirred!

Some people use cotton ( upholstery store....) welting cord....but it is not very sturdy....I prefer my welting cord to be more stiff....you can use rope, plastif piping or tubing!!

Make sure you have a zipper foot so you can get as close as possible to the welt when sewing inside the bag...

Just the way I did my last backpack...

need pictures, give me a shout....

Aloha

james

[james m]

thanks for that, i'll give a go but i'll be hand sewing!

[Leatherimages]

The leather working handbook from,..

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her name escapes me, but I think it's English

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...anyway, she describes an intetesting method I've not used yet.

Instead of a piped welt as describe above, she cuts a narrow strip. I guess it would want to be at least 2 or 3 times the thickness of your seam.

But one edge of this strip is sewn first to one panel, right sides together, then the other edge to the other panel, also right sides together.

The second seam might be much harder by machine, than hand, because of the clearances needed for foot or roller.

But you end with the look of a softer welted seam. I'm intrigued by this technique, but haven't tried it yet.

A little test corner would reveal practicality.

Anybody ever used it?

Edited November 23, 2011 by Leatherimages

[ramrod]

i'm not too sure what it is, what it does and how to do it. does anybody have any pointers?

Thanks

James

what a welt does is to allow the leather to form corners without having to be split. if you've looked at a sewn pillow, it will usually have a welt going around the perimeter. if you can imagine that same pillow without a welt, you'll see how that pillow wouldn't look the same. the corners would be puckered without a welt.

you might want to look on youtube for an exaample of someone sewing a welt. it will give you a great visual on how and why it's incorporated into leatherworking. whether it's done by hand or on a macine, the purpose and execution are basically the same.