Tools for Leatherwork

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Stitching Leather

Leather can be sewn by machine or by hand. Leather sewing machines are special heavy-duty machines and are too expensive for the average home crafter, so you'll most likely be stitching your leather projects by hand.

Stitching leather requires some specialized tools that you'll want to know about. To create uniformly spaced holes in the leather through which a needle and thread will be drawn, you need first to mark them in some way so that they're evenly spaced, and then punch the holes through the leather. One method for marking the leather for punching is with a stitching wheel (sometimes called an overstitch spacer). A stitching wheel (recommended: #8091-00) is usually made with a wooden handle and a metal shaft that holds a removable wheel with small dull points evenly spaced apart. The wheels come in several different sizes, but the most commonly used are five, six, and seven holes per inch.

Another method for making evenly spaced stitching holes is to create a groove even with the edge with a tool called a stitching groover, which is a tool with a wooden handle and a long thin shaft that holds an L-shaped piece at an angle that both measures and gouges the leather in one step. A stitching punch is then fit in the groove and struck with a rawhide mallet, then moved along the groove until all the stitching holes are punched. A stitching punch is a heavy metal tool that looks something like a fork with thick tines. The type used for creating holes for the most commonly used leather stitch, the saddle stitch, is called a diamond hole punch, and comes as both a single-prong or a four-prong punch, with different spacing available.

A tool similar to the stitching punch is used to produce the larger holes needed for threading lacing through. This is called a thonging punch and is used in the same way as a stitching punch.

A final way of making both stitching and lacing holes is by using an awl, after marking the holes first with a stitching wheel. An awl is a small, pointed tool for making holes in wood, leather and other materials, and is something that's handy to have in the home toolbox, even if you're not planning on working with leather. The awl is pushed partially through the leather to make a smaller hole for sewing and all the way through to create the larger holes needed for lacing. This is a less accurate way of getting your holes punched, but gets the job done, nevertheless.

For the actual process of hand-sewing leather, you can use two different kinds of needles. Thin leather is sewn with a glover's needle, which has a sharp point. A harness needle is used for thicker leather. Both kinds of needles come in different diameters and so does the thread. You'll want to match your needle and thread diameters, which are then matched to the diameter of the holes you're punching to accept the stitches.

There are two different kinds of thread for stitching leather: nylon or waxed linen. My husband, who is a professional leatherworker, prefers waxed linen thread, because he says it doesn't stretch and it doesn't cut into the leather.

To do most kinds of lacing, you'll need a special two-prong lacing needle that actually holds the flat lacing between two metal strips that wedge in place against the prongs.

There are several stitches you can use for sewing and lacing leather. Sewing stitches most commonly used include the single running stitch, the double running stitch, and the saddler's stitch.

There are special tools for stamping and carving leather, plus tools you'll need for dyeing, painting, and finishing leather, which we'll cover later in this chapter. But now that you have some basic familiarity with the leather-crafting tools used for cutting and stitching, let's move on to the basics of choosing the right leather and then tackle your first project.