Handstitched Small Dog Harness

[Mijo]

I took a sewing class at tandy last month and tried my hand at handstitching a small dog harness, this is my second attempt. It's made with 8-9 oz red latigo leather from the hide house and linen thread from tandy. I used a #6 overstitch wheel and the edges were not beveled but they are hand finished using hidepounder's pinned technique. I normally use a powerdrill with one of spinner's burnishers but i just wanted to try finishing by hand. My stitching is still pretty rough, you can see where I backed stitched.

the red latigo has this weird top layer on the hair side, it's almost feels like it's some sort of bonded synthetic material. when i sanded the edges it caused ripples on that top layer, slightly visible in the pictures. When i tried to bevel the sanded edge the top layer dragged the beveler and the edge looked ragged, but the layer beneath the top layer bevels just fine. That's why I didn't bevel the edges. i've seen this weird top layer on other latigo sides that are dyed "designer" colors (i.e. royal blue, green, etc.). Anyone else see this weird top layer before? If so, what is it?

I choose red b/c i was planning on making some harnesses in the local team colors (i.e. SF - 49rs, Oakland - A's & raiders). Let me know what you guys think, but more importantly what can i do to improve.

[Wishful]

I like it - did you create the pattern or ?

[Mijo]

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I like it - did you create the pattern or ?

No, it's a regular walking harness pattern just scaled down for my 9 lb dog. The pattern is widely used, and I think there's even a thread where someone posted their version of the pattern. Thanks for commenting.

[Mijo]

Just bumping this thread before it gets lost in this subforum. 80 views and only one person has commented thus far. Any critism is greatly appreciated, don't be afraid to hurt my feelings. My edge finishing looks a little rough, I should have spend more time on it since I was doing it by hand rather than with a powerdrill. I can also see that I didn't pull the thread tight enough when I was stitching the strap keeper just below one of the buckles.

[electrathon]

I am usually pretty hard on people about getting the quality up. From what I can see in your pictures, especially for just learning, you are doing well. Time and practice will clean it up more. The fact that you are critial of yourself tells me you will continue to improve. The people that post ugly stuff and say they think it looks good are the ones you have to wonder about. You are on your way to doing great.

Aaron

[WinterBear]

Nice. I like that you made all of the straps adjustable, it will make it a lot easier to customize the fit to the dog. The eyelets and the wide keepers are nice touches too (are they eyelets or mini-grommets? They look more finished than simple eyelets).

As for the latigo, I have noticed similar with some of the brighter latigo I've used as well. Maybe it's a layer of dye and dye sealer that makes a nice bright sort of second skin/synthetic layer? I'm not to crazy about the way it finishes either. The only way I've been able to get that stuff to "bevel" halfway decently is to take a flexible and newly stropped double sided "callus shaver" blade and cut the edge at a slight angle, flesh and grain side. It's hard to keep the cut even enough to make a nice edge though, so I'm torn between trying to make it look better and making a bad cut and ruining the whole project, or just keeping the ripples and the ragged bits.

[Mijo]

Aaron - thanks for the encouraging words. I started working on a set of handstitched collars and leads for my other two dogs, just to get some additional practice on my techniques.

winterbear - thanks for mentioning the issues you have had with brighter colored latigo, it's good to know that I'm not the only one whose experienced finishing problems (particularly with the beveling). I'm extremely disappointed that you have also seen this problem in the more unussual colors of latigo as I really wanted to use some different colors. I'm probably going to try and find some other type of unussually dyed sides (I.e. bridle, harness, etc) of leather to see if that same strange layer is present. I have some salmon / pink bridle that also has a similar layer but it's not nearly as thick and doesn't leave the edge rippled or ragged when finishing. Btw, I used plain eyelets and not grommets.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Mijo

[albert]

I took a sewing class at tandy last month and tried my hand at handstitching a small dog harness, this is my second attempt. It's made with 8-9 oz red latigo leather from the hide house and linen thread from tandy. I used a #6 overstitch wheel and the edges were not beveled but they are hand finished using hidepounder's pinned technique. I normally use a powerdrill with one of spinner's burnishers but i just wanted to try finishing by hand. My stitching is still pretty rough, you can see where I backed stitched.

the red latigo has this weird top layer on the hair side, it's almost feels like it's some sort of bonded synthetic material. when i sanded the edges it caused ripples on that top layer, slightly visible in the pictures. When i tried to bevel the sanded edge the top layer dragged the beveler and the edge looked ragged, but the layer beneath the top layer bevels just fine. That's why I didn't bevel the edges. i've seen this weird top layer on other latigo sides that are dyed "designer" colors (i.e. royal blue, green, etc.). Anyone else see this weird top layer before? If so, what is it?

I choose red b/c i was planning on making some harnesses in the local team colors (i.e. SF - 49rs, Oakland - A's & raiders). Let me know what you guys think, but more importantly what can i do to improve.

[mrdabeetle]

The stitching is the only thing that I see that is not perfect, but it is still very good. It is hard to tell if the leather itself is causing the stitching to not be uniform, but practice with stitching that particular material will definitely improve the quality of your work. I give it a 9.5 out of 10 for quality. I think it is a good quality item that I would get for my dog. With so little stitching in the overall piece, It doesn't look like an issue. The brass and bright red look amazing together.

A lot of what makes stitches look good is the way the holes are punched. Having a groove for stitches gives the thread a nice line to rest in. The groove doesn't have to be carved with a groover, it can be a simple impression in the leather from a stylus. Another part of good stitching is using uniform tension for each stitch. (A tough one for me) If you are physically strong, it can be difficult to keep from pulling too tight. The stitch needs to be firm but not so tight as to shrink the distance between the stitch holes. Someone speak up if I am giving bad advice. I'm just sharing what I have learned through trial and error. I'm still new to hand stitching as well.

[Mijo]

A lot of what makes stitches look good is the way the holes are punched. Having a groove for stitches gives the thread a nice line to rest in. The groove doesn't have to be carved with a groover, it can be a simple impression in the leather from a stylus. Another part of good stitching is using uniform tension for each stitch. (A tough one for me) If you are physically strong, it can be difficult to keep from pulling too tight. The stitch needs to be firm but not so tight as to shrink the distance between the stitch holes. Someone speak up if I am giving bad advice. I'm just sharing what I have learned through trial and error. I'm still new to hand stitching as well.

I'm using a #6 chisel to mark the holes, i punch the leather so that the tips of the chisel are just barely through the leather. I don't use an awl when stitching as the needles and a little bit of force are enough, I'm wondering if maybe I used an over stitch wheel and an awl in place of the chisel I would get better results. As far as the groove stitcher, i've been using the one that tandy sells with the guide. Maybe I should be making a deeper groove so that the stitches sit into the leather deeper. I think consistent tension is probably a big factor on why my stitches don't look uniform. I have a lacing pony (from tandy) but I didn't use it for the harness since the sections that are stitched are very short, less than 1.5 inches in most cases. That's just laziness on my part since it seems to take just as long to set up the lacing pony as it does to actually stitch each section.

Thanks for the input / comments, as it given me some new ideas on what I can try to improve my stitching.