My buddy called my leather stitching "sloppy" and he was right

Tbh I thought my saddle stitch was fine until my friend Mark who does leatherwork on the side pointed out my needle angle was off by about 15 degrees. He told me to tilt my awl so the hole goes in at a slant instead of straight down, and man the difference is night and day. Been doing it this new way for 3 weeks now on my journal covers and the stitches line up perfect every time. Anybody else get humbled by a small tweak like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_campbell4617d ago

tilt my awl so the hole goes in at a slant" yea thats actually called a diamond awl technique, not a saddle stitch thing. Saddle stitch is just the thread going through, not how you make the holes. Youre doing it right but just so you know, a straight punch with a diamond awl still works fine if you keep your needle angle matching the previous hole.

lucasschmidt3d ago

Yeah the stuff about matching the needle angle to the previous hole is spot on - most people don't realize you can actually run the needle through at a slight angle even if the awl went in straight, and it'll correct the slant as you go.

milaw1417d ago

@ray_campbell46 is right on that, the awl angle and needle angle are two different things you gotta match up. I spent a whole weekend redoing a wallet because I mixed them up. Tilt the awl one way and the needle another and you get a mess. It's a real pain to get them both to work together, but once you do, those stitches look clean as hell.