Hiding Stitches (Stitching Hidden Seams)

[LeatherNerd]

Hi All,

TL;DR: Is there a non-painful way to hand-stitch a hidden seam on an article you can't just stitch and then turn inside-out?

I'm musing about making a holster for my Browning Buck Mark .22 target pistol, and there's just something about WW2-style holsters that enchants me--the big foldover flap, integral mag pouch, etc.

Most holsters of this style follow this generic pattern:

Notably, the mag pouch is creased and then stitched quite closely to its edge, no doubt by machine.

Yesterday I came across this image for a Czech Army holster, and I notice that all of the seams are tucked under:

I have done a pocket or two using Ann Stohlman's trick of poking a tiny "gopher hole" in the outer layer every 10 stitches or so, so the needles can come up and through, but you keep the hole hidden by turning around and stitching right back down through it. As you get further from the gopher hole the awl and needle must pierce at ever increasing angles, so eventually you jump ahead another 10 stitches and make a new gopher hole.

Right now the only way I can think to hide all of the seams is to stitch one side open-faced, then fold it over, stitch the bottom through the open side, and then gopher-hole the last side.

Is there an easier way to do this?

Thanks!

Dave

[TinkerTailor]

Both look hand stitched. The top for sure, at least the ends of the stitching were done by hand, no way to do that wrap around the outside with a machine. With seams that short, it would take almost as long to add needles to the machine thread to finish them as it would take a pro to hand stitch it.

The second, Looks like it may be machine stitched, but the stitch length changes as the seam progresses yet the backtacks are perfect.

I cant see them stitching on the pocket on the inside all the way around, It seem too complex Why put all that effort into the hidden stitches and then rivet on the strap?I wonder if the holster pocket was riveted on as well. The strap is, why not rivet on the pocket? Or perhaps the mag pocket is a complete separate piece and only has a stitch at top and bottom to hold it on.

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

If I were hell bent on hiding the stitches, I would use the "hidden stitch" method that Al exhibits in his directions on how to do a hidden stitch on a cantle binding in book #2 of his encyclopedia of saddle making.

Bob

[TinkerTailor]

This is one situation (and only so far) where i think the speedy stitcher is the best, fastest and easiest way. With a long enough needle, it would be easy to get the backside(inside) thread through the loop. And who cares what the backside looks like.....its inside.

[LeatherNerd]

If I were hell bent on hiding the stitches, I would use the "hidden stitch" method that Al exhibits in his directions on how to do a hidden stitch on a cantle binding in book #2 of his encyclopedia of saddle making.

Bob

I don't have that book (yet). I have "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather". This is the method I termed the "gopher hole" method:

Did you mean that? Or perhaps the slitted-and-then-slicked-down method like this?

(Note: These images are Copyright © 1977-2013 Tandy Leather, used here under Fair Use Act; mods please advise if I'm out of line.)

This is one situation (and only so far) where i think the speedy stitcher is the best, fastest and easiest way. With a long enough needle, it would be easy to get the backside(inside) thread through the loop. And who cares what the backside looks like.....its inside.

What's a speedy stitcher, and how does one get a "long enough" needle? (I suspect my assumption that needles only ever come in "the one size they come in" is about to be dispelled?)

The strap is, why not rivet on the pocket? Or perhaps the mag pocket is a complete separate piece and only has a stitch at top and bottom to hold it on.

This... actually makes a lot of sense. So, stitch a box and invert it, then affix later? Actually a tube would work fine; cut one end into a flap, fold under and stitch it on first. That's the bottom of the pouch folded and affixed to the holster (but not to the pouch). Glue the tube up along the holster, and then sew the top edge of the tube where you can get at it and bam, long, hard-to-sew pouch assembled and affixed.

Given that these are military issue and thus need to be mass-produced, I would be completely unsurprised if there was an assembly line process with one person making pouch tubes all day, another affixing them to the holster, a third sewing the holster closed, and a fourth affixing the closure hardware. And that's not counting the people stamping/cutting out the patterns.

You know... the more I think about this the less "hell bent" I am on hiding the stitches...

Thanks!

Dave

Edited November 21, 2015 by LeatherNerd