Hello everyone,
I am trying to refine my hand stitching skills and I would love to hear from you what you think about this last attempt. I am thinking also about upgrading my irons + awl (at the moment I am using a quite affordable Kyoshin Elle diamond pricking iron 3mm and a Kyoshin Elle awl)
I have made two tests, the first I am using only the irons and for the second the iron + awl.
I will say in advance that I am not a big fan of Tiger thread, but I didn’t want to waste my Fil Au Chinois for this test.
It’s not quite there yet, but other that my skills that need refinement, what else do you see that is not working that I cannot see? Thread thickness vs leather thickness? Iron size vs thread? Tension?
Any help would be very welcome
Thank you so much
Angelo
Hey Angelo, Still only a learner as well but I agree with the other comments here, practice with what you intend to use. With the stitching irons, I haven't used the ones you mentioned but I think most of the quality brands would serve you well. I use the Crimson Irons ones from Singapore and I really like them, my stitching improved out of sight when I got them.
@Fadi Thank you for the advices, I will definitely switch to Fil au Chinois for practice too, after all, practice has to be fun too, doesn’t it?
@Leathercraft Masterclass I am definitely up to improve the toolset in order to get to a more hi-end traditional craftmanship results.
I was thinking of Amy Roke irons + Awl - probably this is the wrong forum to ask for opinion about these - or Sinabrocks, although I would prefer the more traditional Irons rather that these.
Thank you guys
Angelo
@Angelo The first question I would like to ask is - what outcome are you looking for?
If you are looking for a traditional looking seam with a higher degree of angle to your threads, you may want to invest in a set of pricking irons rather than diamond stitching chisels like the ones you are using there.
You can get a very similar result to Lin Cable by using cabled (round) polyester waxed thread. These threads are generally quite inexpensive to purchase. Wuta leather distributes them on ebay, amazon and aliexpress.
Practice practice practice :)
My only advice would be to practice with what you actually stitch with. If you hate Tiger Thread (who doesn't?), then do not practice with it. You are basically going to football (soccer for les americans) practice in order to play basketball. You will get stamina and endurance for sure, but it will not help you score a basket.
It is the same with threads (in my opinion): i use mainly Vynimo and Fils au chinois, and i do not pull or tension them the same way because each one if different.
I would say practice with what you will be stitching and with the exact thread diameter too.
For example, the 0.6 Tiger is wayyy too big for the 3mm Irons for me. I barely tolerate the 0.6 Tiger with the 3.85 ones.
Another thing I found really helped me when practicing is to use a bright thread color (white specially). Because when revewing your work, you can easilly see exactly where the thread is going inside each hole and how angled they are. I sometimes find it hard to see details when stitching with a black thread for example :)
Hope this helps :)
Keep on stitching
I agree with you when you say that learning on what you like to use isn't a waste. It's just that I don't have a lot of Fil Au chinois left and these days shipping takes ages, so I wanted to "workout" with other thread, although that flat look is not really appealing to me. Anyway thank you!
First, its not a waste to learn on what you like to use. However, its also not a waste to learn on what you don't like. Your technique will show thru with whatever you use. Stitching looks good except for some the end stitches. Ritza thread is flat but can still be made to sit side by side as can be seen in some of the photos. Looks good, practice makes perfect.