Greek Key Stitching Pattern

[DocHoliday1882]

A friend of mine asked me to replicate this Greek key pattern on his belt for a new hat band. I've been working with the pattern for a while now with little success. Problems are: 1) replicating stitch width to create pattern (left to right distance when looking at the photo) - all of the patterns I've tried are way too wide so it looks like random stitching versus a pattern, and 2) leather tearing out between stitching - when I do get the holes close enough to resemble the pattern then it tears out as one piece. Anyone done something like this? Any tips are greatly appreciated.

[charon]

Tool it - don‘t stitch it, since the stitching here is purely decorative. Stitching something like this takes ages...

You can color the tooling in the desired color if you want...

[Wuppie]

What about making horizontal cuts and wrap the thread tightly against each other. Maybe you can use a second piece of leather as a backing to stiffen the belt a bit. 

Edited April 19, 2018 by Wuppie

[AlexFJ]

[jimi]

I agree with alexfj, the waviness on the top and bottom edge indicates cuts.

[chrisash]

A hat band will be to light leather to be able to cut, as it would just distort

Maybe a clever use of stamps would work as they only need the design pattern and not a copy of how it was done previously, I would suggest a stamp made by 3D printing to the size you require, I did see something on YouTube about someone doing this, and although the plastic stamps don't last as long as metal ones, they should last long enough to complete this product and a few more and be minimal cost if you know someone with a 3D printer

[DocHoliday1882]

Thanks @charon @Wuppie @AlexFJ @jimi @chrisash for ya'lls replies. I like the idea of the cuts - I'll try it with some thicker leather. Even with a pricking iron the leather was distorting. Sounds like tooling or 3D printing a stamp may be the way to go. I'll try it out and post results if they're worth a darn. Thanks again!

[charon]

Post them even if they‘re not, no one‘s gonna single you because it‘s not like it‘s made by machine. We all learn from each other and I appreciate the critique as much as the kind words here

[chrisash]

Full details of the 3D printing of the stamp and usage would probably be of great interest to many

Good luck and maybe do a new belt to match

[bullmoosepaddles]

On something as small as a hat band. How about  using a course hair blade to make the texture and then paint or die  for the proper color?  

[DocHoliday1882]

Follow up with final product...

 

After several failures with thread, I switched over to a stamp. I designed a small stamp with MeshMixer (free) and printed it on a Formslab desktop SLA printer (not free). The first attempt I stamped it then added a white wash with some leather paint - I didn't like the results on this one because 1) the leather was too thin so the impression wasn't deep enough, 2) too much smudging and white ended up in the deeper stamped portions. The second attempt I used a thicker piece of leather (3/4 oz) and left it natural. My friend (customer) preferred this look after seeing both. Here is the final product on the cowboy hat. Not perfect but all things considered I'm happy with the result. I priced out a custom stamp from a handful of companies for $85-105. I spent a total time of 2 hours (designing, printing, washing, and curing) and less than $1 on the printed stamp, superglue, and a scrap piece of wood from my shop. If I print another I'll do a set of 3 or 5 for longer sections and less chances of seeing each individual stamp lines. Let me know what ya'll think.

[JD62]

Looks nice  I've gotta hand it to you folks who can do these kind of stamps. I get lost tryin to draw them in a program let alone how to print them them!

[immiketoo]

Good solution.  FYI, Barry King makes a set of these stamps.  Be glad they didn't ask you for a meandros.  Those are a spiral version of the greek keys.