DavidL Report post Posted July 30, 2013 hi everyone, I have been having troubles keeping all my stitches completely the same one after another. Some problems I have been having is pulling the thread with the same tension and keeping the awl at a 45 degree angle and perpendicular. This is nearly impossible for me to do. Soon I will be recieving a pricking iron and hopefully that will help with the angle but my the back of the leather will not have a slant and the front of the leather will look good, any ideas would help! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted July 31, 2013 If you cast your stitches the back will have nearly the same appearance as the front. Best thing for consistency is practice -- so much you don't think about each stitch, just let it happen. If you're pulling your stitches too tight, try pinching the thread between your fingers rather than wrapping round your fingers then pulling. This gives an upper limit on how tight you can pull em... bit like the clutch on a battery drill... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndersenLeather Report post Posted July 31, 2013 If you cast your stitches the back will have nearly the same appearance as the front. Best thing for consistency is practice -- so much you don't think about each stitch, just let it happen. If you're pulling your stitches too tight, try pinching the thread between your fingers rather than wrapping round your fingers then pulling. This gives an upper limit on how tight you can pull em... bit like the clutch on a battery drill... The phrase "cast your stitches" is as usefull as " just do it correct. It only tells a fraction about how to do a complete stitch. You can achive the same result as when you "cast your stitches" in several other ways. The thing that has helped me the most getting the holes at 45 degress is very simple. On the awl I have made a little dot with a magic marker. If this dot points straigth up then the awl is at 45 degrees This pictures shows where I have put the dot. (not my awl) In regards to keeping the awl perpendicular I have had good luck using the a cork like the guy in this video (the way he stitches is not the way i do it. I think his stitches forms a knot inside. If i do like him my backside does not look good): I know some of you will argue that you should never prepunch holes and you should not put down the awl. I have tried both methods and I prefer mine If you say that it is "correct" way to do it say there is not "correct" way. If you say it is faster then please tell me in % how much. If it is in fact faster what does it matter if its only your hobby and you get a better result? The thing about having a good looking backstitch is a bit more complicated. I can not achive a good looking backstitch when I stitch leather with a total thickness of 8 oz or less (4 oz each). If I however stich 11-12 oz. the backside looks fine. I use 18/3 linen thread at 6,8 spi. I am sure you have already seen the videos from Nigel: http://www.youtube.c...icbadger/videos He mentions that the ugly backside can be fixed by making i knot inside the stitch and i show it in one of his videos (with big thread and big holes). I can not make this work so I am still looking for a solution. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
