Arthritic hands.

[toxo]

I've read a few posts about folk struggling with sewing and a thought came to me, (didn't hurt that much). Like a lot of people I've done a few patterns that use holes instead of slits for sewing. I don't want to get into the purity of it. I just want to point out to some that may not have tried it that it's much easier to get two needles through a 1.5mm hole than a tight slit.

It's quite tedious to get all the holes done with a single punch. There are multi punches of course but getting the right spacing as per the pattern may not be that easy although the spacing can be adjusted at the end in the same way as you would with a stitching chisel. Even with such a tool it's still a chore for arthritic hands. Then I thought, what if there was a hole instead of a needle in the sewing machine? That could be a game changer for dodgy hands.

Then I happened to be watching the maestro Cechaflo sewing a steering wheel and guess what he used for the stitching? If you don't want to watch the whole thing, get to 1.04 but it's only there for a second so look sharp.

Now I'm thinking how do I fettle something like this for my Adler.

 

[Bert03241]

I design in Corel Draw, I make my holes 1mm and cut the leather with a laser, then I use a dremel and drill out all the holes with a 1.6 mm bit. I also use rubber fingers for pulling the needle thru this makes a big difference for gripping the needle. Sure some here don't like the the holes but hey to each his own right.

[Mulesaw]

To me it looks like he is using a regular leather needle in the sewing machine.

It does look like a big needle though. So you would probably need to go with something fairly beefy. 

[Bert03241]

I design in Corel Draw, I make my holes 1mm and cut the leather with a laser, then I use a dremel and drill out all the holes with a 1.6 mm bit. I also use rubber fingers for pulling the needle thru this makes a big difference for gripping the needle. Sure some here don't like the the holes but hey to each his own right.