Making a Basic Project (Stitched)

I need to apologize again for taking much too long to get this post out. Things have once again been a little crazy for me and it was a challenge for me to get this one done. I hope to have the second post of this series ready to go within a week or ten days from the date of this one going live. Thank you for your patience!

In thinking about the topic for the next post, I came up with an idea that I wanted to share with you. I may have mentioned previously that I do not use kits for my projects. It is because either I am hardheaded or I like the freedom of self-expression. It might be that the decision depends upon the day or my mood. Anyway, I do design my own patterns for my projects and I attempt to draw a decent pattern to carve and stamp on it. The problem for me is drawing because truly, about the only thing, I know how to draw is flies and that only happens if I do not take a bath for a week. (I do not really do that.)

Over the years, I have made many gun holsters, knife scabbards, and many things that required me to design the pattern and to be able to mold the leather to fit the item. I had been doing leatherwork for over twenty years when I heard about a trick that many if not most saddle makers use when they stretch and form the leather over the front of the saddle. I had fought for many years to form leather to fit the item better for which I was making the holster or scabbard and this trick works amazingly well.

Before I share the details of the trick and its recipe, I want to share one of my methods for shaping leather around an object such as a gun or multi-tool. The first thing that I try to do is make a wood form shaped with similar dimensions to the multi-tool. That way I do not have to have the item in my possession to make the form or the scabbard. Another thing about making forms to shape your leather on or around is that it does not have to be wood, it can be composite decking, pvc boards, or anything you have on hand that will work well for you.

Having the basic dimensions of the item, such as the length, width, and thickness, I cut out a piece of wood using those measurements. Many items are not going to be the same width or thickness on both ends. If you run into this, there are at least two different ways that those differences can be managed. One of them is to cut your piece of wood so that it is the same width and thickness and not worry about any tapering on the tool. The second is to cut the wood piece the same size as the item for which you are going to shape the leather, including any tapering. This can have its own drawbacks, which will be discussed a little later.

The photos below show an example of a belt carrier/scabbard that I made many years ago. When I made it I did not realize that, I would be showing it on a blog for everyone in the world to see. It is not perfect by any means and I do remember that it was one of the first projects that I made using my heavy-duty sewing machine to do the stitching. It is still a challenge for me to get my stitching done the way I would like it with this machine. It would be nice to have a better one. However, it is what I have and it saves me a lot of hand sewing and eliminates most of the potential sore fingers.

Multi-tool - front view with flap closed

Multi-tool -with flap closed

If I were to make another multi-tool carrier I might do it a little differently but for now I will explain how I would make one very similar to the one in the photo above. At first look, you might not see anything wrong with it but I always have a tendency to second-guess myself when it comes to designing a pattern for a project. As you can see in this photo, the pocket is close to an inch shorter than the multi-tool is long. This is so that the person wearing the carrier can open the snap and grab hold of the tool easily and hopefully, without dropping it. (This carrier was a prototype that I decided to go ahead and use.)

I like to design my own patterns for anything that I can. Making my own patterns requires me to have my own leather and other materials needed to complete these projects. As previously mentioned, I start this type of project with a piece of wood that is very close to the size that I need to use in forming the leather. The piece of wood under the tool in in the photo below is longer than the tool, which is no problem. You can also see that there are a couple of nail holes in the piece of wood. I nailed it down to a piece of wood to hold it in place. In later photos, you will notice that I used a couple of screws to hold this form down on the board to make it easier to remove when necessary. By the way, I keep all of my forms for molding leather because I may need them to make another carrier exactly the same within the next decade or two.

Multi-tool and basic wood form for shaping the leather

On the piece of wood shown above, you can see a faint line going across it about an inch below the squared off top. I used this piece of wood right around twenty years ago to make a couple of other multi-tool cases. I believe that they were a little shorter than the one in the photo. I marked a second line on my form to line up what will be the top edge of the pocket into which the tool will fit. I try to keep the edge of the leather as close to this line as I can. If it gets a little off it is no problem because it can be trimmed to make it right. I generally need to trim the top edge of the leather anyway because the leather will more than likely stretch differently in some places than in others.

The photo below shows the edge of the multi-tool and a mark on the form. I decided that I wanted the grip points, (for the lack of a more appropriate term), to be above the top edge of the pocket. I chose to do this because it might make it easier to grasp the tool at those points and pull it out. It might be a little difficult to see, but the line is marked just below the grip point so that the leather will go no higher than that.

Marking the wood form for length of the leather

The photo below shows the multi-tool sitting on top of the form. The line on the form can be seen just to the right of and below the grip points. Although it cannot be seen in this photo, the bottom edge of the tool is even with the bottom edge of the form. This form is actually a little wider than I would like it to be, but I did not have access to a table saw to make it a better fit. Actually, if I was a the point where I would have to trim this form down I would make a new form. I would not want the form much more than one-sixteenth of an inch wider than the tool.

 

Marking the Form for Length Closeup View

I will stop this post here for now and get the next one going so that it will be ready within just a few days. I will discuss measuring the leather, the thickness, and molding the leather to the form for a good, snug fit.

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything in this post. I will be glad to answer your questions.

Have fun!