This short piece is based on a difficulty in working with the softer, more supple and more granular leathers such as brain tan, elk or deer splits. They can be very frustrating because their fibrous nature makes it more difficult to see punched holes and thereby stitch seams. That can be even more frustrating when trying to use a patching or sewing machine where the needle and bobbin are reluctant to engage.
The hole you punch seems to go into escape and evade mode as soon as it is stabbed, and the stitching machines seem to lose stitches either entirely or somewhere in the middle of the seam or even at random. The subject bag shown here will be used in a later post, and can be used either as a hunting bag or a possibles bag.
It could just as easily be a shirt or a pair of leggings. It is a split, and that is important. When you pick an off the shelf deerskin from a retailer, it is awfully hard to rid the hide of that factory, almost perfect look. That’s because modern currying, done by machine, is a little too perfect.
The material it discards , often referred to as a split, is not so perfect. It is the irregular part of the hide that has all the flaws and is never finished. It usually shows up on a trade blanket on the part of some entrepreneur who grabs a lot of seconds and charges really low prices for the stuff. That’s OK, and more on this in an upcoming post as this is a two-part project.
It should be mentioned that the laborious way of stabbing and closing one hole at a time is a good tacking solution, but it just takes a lot longer with shifting tools in and out of hand, clearing stuck or tangled thread and exercising constant manipulation. Whether using a patching machine or hand stitching in a clamp where you are trying to keep your seam straight and rigid, the nature of the leather makes it harder to work with than a leather with a smooth flower side.
Sometimes this’ll help, and sometimes it won’t. I will only use this method when stitching up a seam that will not be seen, such as the seam that holds front and back on a bag and is turned inside out. If you want to tack the seam by hand, then that’s fine and you can blow off this whole idea. Else, Get a roll of that cheap, blue painters tape. When you have your bag glued together ( again inside out) Run a piece of the tape along the edge of the seam where that edge is about halfway down the centerline of the width of the tape.
Then flip it over and secure the other half of the tape on the opposite side.
In effect, you are adding a temporary binding to the edge of the project. The stiffness that this provides will help your sewing machine engage without binding or missing stitches.
If you are stitching by hand and using a clamp, the holes or your pricking run will be visible and the tape will hold the piece a little more rigidly in the clamp.
As is visible, I will pre punch holes with that God-Awful Chinese Cobblers machine that I stripped down, armed with ground pegging awl tips in place of needles, and use exclusively to run the spaced holes along the path of the seam I will stitch in my clamp.
When done stitching, simply rip off the tape as it will give along the perforation of the seam.
In the next post I wanna gussy up this bag, but whatever it becomes it will be fortified by a reliable, even seam.
Don’t shoot yore eye out, kid
The Capgun Kid
