Practice stitching

[Tugadude]

1 hour ago, toxo said:

And that's another side to this stitching thing. I believe the reason that Dieselpunk.ro is so popular is because of his round holes. The Motoko3 I posted above was my first leather project and that was just a few months ago. That encouraged me to do many more including The Large Weekender. Would I have had the confidence to get so into it if I had to do things the "right way"? And Chuck, before we start talking about weakening the leather (and there's no doubt that it does) let's just remind ourselves how much weight a supermarket plastic bag can take.

 

Beautiful job on the bag!  Is that an embossed leather or the real skin?  If real it must have cost a fortune, or in England is that "donkeys"?

 

3 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

Traditional? How about time proven, like in thousands of years of actual testing! The leather helps hold the lockstitch in place and is a much stronger stitch because of that  also that the loss of the leather weakens the leather.

 Your example is awesome, try and read our nations constitution without knowing cursive then ask yourself if your children need the ability to understand it themselves or have it read to them by an "expert".

By tradition, I didn't mean the saddle stitch itself, but rather the importance of it being slanted.  Some believe that to be a "true" saddle stitch, the threads must behave in a manner as to create a slanted stitch.  They contend that a flat, or straight stitch just doesn't pass muster.  I'm not saying I take it that far, but I am saying that I STRIVE to create the slant.  I am not always successful.  Sometimes I am.  And sometimes only on one side!  But I keep trying.

[toxo]

Thanks Tug. It's embossed and I have to own up to a cock up. I didn't realise till I cut it out that it's a big bag and I questioned whether @ 1.3mm it would be thick enough so I "lined" it (glued) with some 2.4mm veg tan (all I had on hand). This of course meant that I had to punch all those holes and cut out again. Now it's more like a stylish suitcase than the collapsible gym bag I envisioned originally. Still, it's all fun right?  

As an aside, I have to say that the quirks of this site and the quirks of my clubs WiFi are contriving to drive me up the wall.

I was sitting in the club about an hour ago and wrote all this out on my iphone. Now firstly, for some reason the clubs WiFi won't allow me to connect to LW.net. I turned off the WiFi and connected, wrote out this message and after submitting was told that I was a bad boy because I'd used an emoji. On trying to delete the emoji the whole lot went missing. I sat there and said to myself, Oh what deep joy.

[rodneywt1180b]

Any monkey can make a saddle stitch.  A good saddle stitch is a different matter.  Good looking stitches take consistency and a lot of practice.  It takes time to achieve that.  I'm still working on "good".  Watch Neil Armitage's videos and keep practicing.  You're off to a good start. Also keep in mind that what seems like huge imperfections to you are actually pretty minor and won't be noticed by non leatherworkers.

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, Tugadude said:

Beautiful job on the bag!  Is that an embossed leather or the real skin?  If real it must have cost a fortune, or in England is that "donkeys"?

 

By tradition, I didn't mean the saddle stitch itself, but rather the importance of it being slanted.  Some believe that to be a "true" saddle stitch, the threads must behave in a manner as to create a slanted stitch.  

There is a reason they believe that, the importance is what makes the stitch, the diamond cut that doesn't detract from the leathers strength or integrity, the angle of the cut, diamond shape, provides that when the stitch is pulled it seals the hole and provides the tension that keeps the lock stitch locked  and the thread itself sewn correctly provides the lock stitch that doesn't fail. Its a micro-system if you will developed over hundreds of years by folks that used leather on a daily basis. Some times we fail to realize  that there is much more to such a simple thing as a stitch and why it matters. On a handbag no biggie on the reins of a horse well maybe a biggie ifn he goes off.  I an not an expert at stitching or leather work by any means but always strive to learn and understand and am very guilty of over studying the process but for me I have the urge to know why something is the way it is and why it done that way. 

[chuck123wapati]

3 hours ago, toxo said:

Ha Ha! Chuck you should be a politician. As you can see the hole/thread/needle size can be improved on but it is all saddle stitched and it took forever. If I'd had to prick and awl I'd still be doing it now.

LOL its beautiful!! and agree it would take some time indeed no matter how you did it. Your right I do tend to talk to much, its ok to tell me to shut up I get off track easily. 

[toxo]

4 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

LOL its beautiful!! and agree it would take some time indeed no matter how you did it. Your right I do tend to talk to much, its ok to tell me to shut up I get off track easily. 

Come on! I wouldn't dream of it. All opinions are valid. That's how we learn from each other. It's the fanatics we need to watch, the only way is their way and no one elses opinion counts for anything. You've only got to look at our UK MPs over the last couple of years to see how good that is.

[rodneywt1180b]

Correction to my post above: Nigel Armitage, not Neil.

[Tugadude]

I just came across this video and I think it does a good job of explaining the mechanics of the saddle stitch.  He teaches it with a cast, which is good for some types of leather and thicknesses but not desirable on all.

The other thing about the video is the choice of thread.  In my opinion he should have sized up for those irons.  There is too much of the slit showing after the stitching for my taste.

 

 

[toxo]

I think you're right on both counts Tug but is this guy ever on a commission? I wouldn't buy a raffle ticket from someone that smarmy.

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Tugadude said:

I just came across this video and I think it does a good job of explaining the mechanics of the saddle stitch.  He teaches it with a cast, which is good for some types of leather and thicknesses but not desirable on all.

The other thing about the video is the choice of thread.  In my opinion he should have sized up for those irons.  There is too much of the slit showing after the stitching for my taste.

 

 

Pretty good video showing the proper sewing techniques but I'm still not buying one lol, the takeaway for me = hole size affects the looks of the stitch dramatically , finishing the stitch work with final seating of the stitch via hammer is important to a good looking stitch. I agree I think with a heavier thread the slant would be more natural looking on both sides, the side with the bigger holes was to big for the thread size while the other was marginal. Is there a rule of thumb for thread size compared to hole size?