Butt Joint, Cut At A Bevel Or 90-Deg

[jdb92126]

When joining the two ends of a single piece of leather wrapped around a circular form, should the ends be cut at 90-deg or should they be beveled a bit?

I'm making a simple leather cup (Stohlman's "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather" pg. 30). Cup dimensions are 5" height, 3 1/4" diameter. I cut a piece of 3/16" latigo leather to 5" x 10 3/4" and am trimming it down to fit the form--a piece of PVC pipe. I'm using Barge contact cement then stitching. On previous attempt the edges did not quite fit together perfectly. There was a bit of a gap. I had cut the pattern out with a circular cutter, straight down. But now I'm thinking the end cuts need to be at a slight bevel. Has anyone had this experience when joining leather on a circular form?

[Northmount]

Cut the leather long, wrap around the pipe, hold tight, cut both layers together in place. The edges' angles should fit correctly.

Tom

[TinkerTailor]

I do them at perfect 90 from a flat pattern, not on a form. If i cut these the way northmount says, those 8 darts around the bottom would not turn out even.The trick is getting the stitch tension just right to pull it tight, but not pucker it. They come out almost seamless on the sleeves i make for mason jars. If you cut straight and stitch tight it should turn out.

Edited December 14, 2015 by TinkerTailor

[TinkerTailor]

Couple more shots:

[alexitbe]

As everyone above said... Cut the end at 90 degrees and adjust thread tension until they butt-up well....

Why 90 degrees? Well, both ends of the piece have an angle of 180 degrees at where they join to form a cylinder... ie think of tangent of a circle at this point. To fit perfectly they simply need to be cut at 90 degrees to each other....

Alex

Edited December 14, 2015 by alexitbe

[Northmount]

A lot depends on the thickness of the leather, whether wet or dry, what allowance you wish to make for pulling the stitches up tight as to whether you leave a gap because it is too short, or a less than tight fit if its too long. Thin leather, I would not bother trying to cut angled. Experiment and find what works the best for you, then stick with it.

Tom

[jdb92126]

Couple more shots:

MasonSleeve020.jpg

MasonSleeve015.jpg

MasonSleeve018.jpg

Those mason jar sleeves are outstanding; really nice job. I'm grateful you shared because I was stumped making sleeves for mason jars I have because they are not perfectly round. Your design very neatly accommodates their shape.