How to: Hand stitching leather with traditional saddle stitch

all settles touched this is also saddle stitched this is the very first bag I've ever made well as a gift for Charlene Valentine's Day 2013 that's some messy stitching in fact wait Jack let me go and get something that's all I had to stitch this bag and it was blunt first travel bag I ever made saddle stitched so I made this bag several years ago for Charlene when she went into hospital to give birth to our son Noah all Barry's men stellastot she's couple thousand stiffness in this bag [Music] so as you can see some of my most treasured memories are literally tied together with the saddle stitch so today we're going to be looking at what goes into the saddle stitch the tools the thread how to get a clean-looking stitch on the front end and the back end of your stitching and if I'm going to be showing you stitching I'm going to be making something so I'm gonna make another one of these one of my favorite designs let's get this started [Music] [Music] [Music] so there are loads of different ways to hand stitch leather and make holes in your leather my preferred method is using something called a pricking on this gives that classic angled look to your stitch so just a quick tip while I'm busy marking this piece of leather over here when I'm stitching thicker letters like this wallet that I'm doing now I'll put my stitch four millimeters from the edge and when I'm working with those more it's called a more refined leathers like your share of letters and so forth I will stitch that three millimeters from the edge so the way I start off any a little bit of stitching and get that whole even is by just putting that top tooth on top of the item and then I'll just leave that second tooth just marked on so I know that there's my starting point and that's where I put my first hole so while I'm busy marking this leather over here I have seen a lot of guys trying to mark their liver in a horizontal fashion now don't do that eyes don't look like a tree I think all of us look better when we're looking down the line so when you're marking any of your pieces of leather do it in a way that you actually looking down [Music] I'm busy working up to this top corner over here and I think a lot of guys battle with getting their stitches even at this point so what I like to do when I kind of coming up to any sort of a line like this I will just let that I won't knock through but I'll let that and make sure that my holes are actually going to come up to where it needs to come up to [Music] we're just a quick recap just before I start stitching this wallet together I've used an eight SPR pricking iron which has mocked the holes I'm now going to use a zero zero four zero zero for John James needle I only used two sizes of needles guys I either use a zero zero four or I use the zero zero two so there's only two sizes of needles that I use the zero zero four is actually a smaller needle as you'll see it's slightly slightly smaller than or at least a couple of more smaller than the the other one and it just allows for a finer thread right so the next thing we need to cover is what's our thread do we need to use when we're using an eight SPR pricking iron now obviously this comes down to personal preference whether you like a thick heavy looking stitch or you like a thinner lighter weight looking stitch so this the threads that I like to use for this size stitch would either be in the little cable thread at least would be a four three two or a five three to the four three two gives a little bit of a heavier looking chunkier looking stitch and the far three two a little bit more of a delicate look and then I'll use the twist brand of threads and this comes in a 0.55 mul through it this is the one that I'm actually gonna be using for this project now I really like the way this thread stitches it's a poly thread so I know that it's never going to perish I don't have to wax it it just makes it much easier for me to get the project done a lot quicker so I want to be using this for today's project [Music] so a quick little tip often these threads battle to get through the ire of this the needle so what I have done is and what I like to do is I just use mice carving knife and I'll literally to slip through it which gives me a nice angle on the end of that thread and then I can just take a little bit of beeswax and just hold down that fray so what that's giving me in as a nice flat area for that thread to go through the needle so it works off and then you can see it pops through nice and easily through the art of that needle and then the way I like to thread my needles I'll take a length of thread through the end of the needle about double the size of the the needle stick the end of the needle through the center of your thread that creates quite a large loop as I push that front piece back and then I'll just pull through the back until I have a little loop and then use my finger just to pull that top piece over the bottom piece and that's it done this gives a very very secure loop for stitching so just a quick tip to stock your stitching off correctly the first thing that you want to do is make sure that your thread is nice and even so the way that you do that is you obviously put your needles together I like to do it once I've already pulled my first thread through and make sure really obviously checked it at this point but I'll make sure that my thread is nice and even so I can hold back and I'll double up and there it is nice and even so there's a couple of things that you guys are going to see going on here that really helped me transition from when I first started leather work many many years ago to getting very very clean stitching and consistent clean stitching and that is when I first started I asked used to stitch forward and you'll see now our stitch towards myself now the biggest difference with that is I get a consistent pull because I know a lot of guys battle they say oh I'm getting a great stitch on the front end but my back the back side of my stitching is not great so this is one of those things that actually really help you get that backstitch nice and consistent I found it was a big thing obviously moving towards me the other thing is you'll see me stitching with a sadness or not there is a video on my channel of making this thing you can make yourself one as well I personally prefer stitching with the Sadler's all so you'll notice well I'm using my all over you I'm not looking at the hole on the on the back side of the leather I found this is one of those things that really got me to speed up my leather work and it does take practice lots and lots of practice obviously getting that right and getting the confidence to to get that right but especially like doing a product like I'm doing now where the leather is folded over itself if I was consistently looking at that back stitch I'd have to be lifting my head back and forth in this crazy position and actually becomes quite painful for the neck after a period of time so that's another another quick hint on getting that right also while I'm busy with my all over year one of the things that you really want to practice is just that same motion of getting your all to go in at the same angle every single time you know and that's that's another thing that we'll just take a little bit of time but very rewarding now once you've got this motion right and you start getting confident you're stitching it's a very rewarding I don't know activity I guess now something else you may be noticing as I'm stitching over here is that I have a very precise and specific way that I pull that thread so I'm pulling the my right hand I stitch right handed a little bit towards myself and my left hand is actually going upward slightly now I'm wishy stitching on a traditional settlers clamp but if you start on a stitching Pony we're in a more vertical position so if that thing was vertical up on you you would have to be pulling down into the right with your right arm and upward and outward with your left arm obviously be stitching right hand if you're stitching left-handed that would just be in Reverse so this is one of the benefits I think personally of stitching on a traditional on a traditional clamp I'll get to stitch keeping my arms almost in a parallel position so instead of having to pull this left arm at the quite an angle to get this angled this angled stitch the angle of the clamp does that all automatically for me so when that needle from the left hand side my left hand needle comes through the hole I will put the right hand needle in front so I'm just going to put it in front of that and take this be a little bit I'm gonna put that here in front and then obviously just pull it through so I've got a cross that is going towards that front needle and because of the angle of the hole if you see the angles of the hole that happens with the pricking iron I've got a section that is angling upward so I'm gonna pull up that thread towards me it's obviously over exaggerating it and I'm going to take that needle that wasn't my right hand at singing in front of that needle now now I'm just going to push it through the top of that hole and when it comes through onto the backside there's a comes from to the backside a I'm going to do what's called costing that stitch so I'm going to take that thread and put it over the needle so I'm taking it pretty good over the needle and then I'm gonna pull that through now do you need to cost the needle like I do on the back end over there probably not my font gives me a nicer angle on the backside as well as the front side okay so one more time of yet that left needle comes through the needle from the right hand side goes in front of that needle I'm going to pull through I have a cross now in my hand and that needle is going to go through the top end of that hole and on the back side I'm going to take that thread and just put it over that put it over that needle cost it over so it comes through its own loop on that side and then I'll just pull and finish off that that's red that's my backstitching or the backside or master ching probably could be a little bit neater that's okay if you've been searching for any given tom you've caught it thread before so when your needle goes through you catch a thread you pull your thread you'll stitch through and you've got a problem because it's not pulling tight so one of the things that I do is as I push that needle through if you're looking on the back side as that needles coming through I'll give that before I cost it I'll give that thread a little tug back towards and I just only one motions I'll pull and pull over and do it one more time so this just stops that thread from being caught now just in a single motion so as that needle comes through and I'll push the next one forward just as I'm about to cost that three it's a while there needles coming forward I'm pulling this thread back towards me pulling that thread and then I put it over at the same movement and that way you will never ever catch a thread and if you do let me put one through you so if you do happen to you so if you do happen to catch a thread I probably won't be able to do now as you're pulling back it's going to pull off of the the needle as I'm pulling back it's going to pull right off if you've caught it and that will save you a lot of headaches in the future takes a little bit of practice to get that rhythm right so as I'm stitching IV I'm going to show you that rhythm while I'm going so that's it's happening so quick that it doesn't actually slow down my stitching at all but I tell you what when you catch a thread they can take over to you and thicken and cut and join there's actually just a simple one movement motion coming through [Music] [Music] I don't want to get to the cornea this is where a lot of beginners and intermediates hand stitches start to find difficulty where they throw these stitches on the on the corner the easiest way to resolve that is to turn your item so that the stitch is always facing the same way so basically there I'm stitching in a certain position straight and I'm going to turn that corner stitch now so that the hole is exactly the same as if that was a straight stitch coming straight towards me and that's going to give me a stitch that'll fall and I'll keep just turning their product to allow to fall into the exact same position it would if I was touching straight so as I can post that corner you'll see now that the stitching has got a nice even look to it let's simply just moving the product around in the clamp to keep your pool consistent alright so I finished my last stitch coming towards me and the way to finish off this saddle stitch now is to take several stitches back on themselves it's called a back stitch so what I like to do it well the easiest way I like to do it is if I take that needle from this side I'll go underneath the thread so I'm going to move that up there so go in at the bottom of the hole underneath the thread on the front end I'm gonna do is one needle at a time just to show you how I do it making sure that I haven't caught the thread coming through on the back end if I have caught that thread coming through on the back end obviously reposition take that needle out and make sure that I'm under the thread on that side as well and then obvious you just pull through so now I can see if you see it needle thread coming through it's actually below the so there the tool said nasty next to each other now I'm gonna finish off going three I like to always finish off with three back stitches but one will be strong enough efficient and item like this way it's gonna be a low wear-and-tear right so we've stitched up the cord pockets and I'll be stitching the main body of this cord wallets together but something I do when if I have two pieces of leather that are glued together and this is of utmost importance to get good looking stitching on both the front side and the back side and that's and I've already been doing this a little bit and that's to get your edges as absolutely clean as possible and even so what I'm doing here is also when I'm looking down when I'm looking down the edge I'm making sure that the edge of one of the edges is not leaning to the side because what happens then is you get stitches that are lopsided as well so I'm making sure looking down their age and ideas with every product that I make so look down that edge make sure that the edge is straight if it's not I'll come back in with my mind knife and I'll just even it out that a little bit more and this will get you a much better looking stitch on both the front side and the back side so I'm just about to start walking with a pricking iron now I'm walking more holes to you to stitch and one of the things I was one of the points are technically is if I was going to mock that piece of leather there nah I've got an incredible Rock in that leather because of the pocket on the back end so what I do is no matter what I'm making I get the item as flat as I can the edges I'm stitching as flat as I can before our market because now when I come down to mock that item I can hold and hit with it going straight down verses verses the iron having to move and adjust as the liver Wiggles underneath quick note I hit the pricking iron with the exact same force where I was hitting one more thick leather or three more thick leather my hits I like to hit it goes around about a depth of two millimeters with these ions that I use and that'll be consistent on no matter what product that I'm using so if I'm using thinner leathers it will often go through if I'm using thicker leathers it won't go through [Music] [Music] so while I'm busy stitching over you I thought I'd show you an exercise that I used to do because I wanted to get really proficient using a Saddlers awl so literally what I would do is take a small piece of scrap leather mock my pricking on on the front end with the line coming ten miles down and then on the back end just have a pin line with the same distance in other words ten miles down again ten was on the front with my marks off ten miles down and then I would obviously just mount that again and then what I'll do is come back and see how far I am from the lawn so you can see I'm obviously on the line with those three that are stuck through so I hope you found some value in this video on how to settle stitch or at least the techniques that have helped me improve my stitching over the years and I hope it helps you improve your techniques if you like the look of this card wallet I have made a PDF version of the pattern available which also includes a lot more detailed photos of the how to construction of this so you can find the link to that below and if you have found some value out of this video please remember to hit the like button below room to subscribe to the channel because I will be adding a lot more videos like this to the channel with techniques and little tips and tricks that have helped me along the years of leather crafting and I look forward to seeing you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: CHARTERMADE

Views: 1,407,856

Keywords: hand stitching leather, saddle stitching leather, saddle stitching leather tutorial, saddle stitching, hand stitched leather wallet, stitching leather, how to hand stitch leather

Id: QaSMBVXY9CM

Length: 23min 4sec (1384 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2019