Couple questions about designing

Told you she was the local leather genius. Haha

Thanks @morganstanfield!!! Would not have thought about slits vs. holes. Good to keep in mind. As well as spacing. I would have thought the opposite, so this is good to know!! I’ll have to invest in a speedy sticher!

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Just for perspective, I’d say that in general, a 3/16" stitch length is pretty ideal for most non-garment, non-saddlery uses (belts, wallets, purses), unless you’re using lacing or very heavy duty thread, or using a hard leather. In those cases, you just have to experiment. I’ve played around with very fine stitches on kangaroo and split pigskin (1/16") and been able to tear the leather in my hand after a half-dozen abusive handlings. (And when testing out a design, I always abuse the heck out of it to simulate the vagaries of normal usage.)

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Love it. Okay, I’ll be doing lots of testing once I get my GF in. (Maybe before) Theres so much to learn!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!

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Funny you say that. What are your thoughts on this?

Just trying to learn this stuff.

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This, and the entire rest of your post, made perfect sense. Anytime you ‘compromise’ any type of material, it weakens it. Over many years, I’ve done lots of sewing with cloth, but some principles are the same or similar. Thanks very much for your input. I eventually would like to work with some leather, too…but I think I need to concentrate on one direction at at time for now.

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I had a hard time getting nice circles too. Does anyone have a recipe for a dashed stroke?

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I’ll check it out when I have a chance–it’s a bit long to watch tonight.

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Merci viel mal - Thank you @morganstanfield!!! Since we will get an GF: I somehow thought it would help to make notches (hope that is the right word for the German “Nute” - had to look it up in the dictionary - or is it “small channel”?) between the holes. This way the thread wouldn’t wear off that fast/easy. Or is this wrong thinking?

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Channel or trench is more accurate than notches if this is what you mean:

The tool doing the cutting is called a stitching groover. I am hoping the glowforge can cut a channel for the stitches and the stitch holes without months of experimentation and countless cows sacrificed for the cause.

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Actually this part is quite fun, and I rather enjoy it. Just set your width and go! If youve never done it before just try it once on a small scrap to get the feel of it and you should be good. The feel of the leather being cut and watching that little string of leather pop up always makes me happy haha. The groover you have shown in this photo (I own one btw) is a good tool, as it generally comes with a few different pieces, The ONLY gripe I have about it is that they did not include round spacer bar as well. Using the square bar leaves you unable to rotate it down to cover the depth of the leather which will sometimes cause you to make a mistake and slip a bit. This is why the guy in the video has a slightly different groover for making the channels which helps prevent those errors.

I personally cannot wait for the glowforge so that I can have it cut my sewing holes for me. I really hate the amount of time it takes and the amount of noise it makes to hammer through leather. Especially if you have a few pieces stacked on top of each other.

Amon Bracers!

This is a piece im working on that hasnt been sewn yet, but all the holes have been punched. It takes long time. I dont use an Awl however, I use these:

They take a lot less time, and I can use a hammer to get it through multiple layers of leather. If youre planning on sewing leather together I highly recommend these. You can pick up a set from tandy, or get them online really cheap ($8 maybe?). Some of the lines arent perfectly rounded on my projects, and some of the stitch holes are a little crooked, but once I get my GF all of that will change! I cannot wait. So excited.

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Thank you so much. You answered questions I didn’t even know I had. I like @JeremyNielsen assumed more stitches was the way to go. In your opinion is the speedy stitcher worth the money? Also any recomendations on the best type of thread to use? It’s very generous of you to offer your knowledge so freely. I promise you it is very appreciated.

I know you are not asking me. But this guy makes a great point.

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I’m not going to complain about somebody trying to help me answer a question I have haha. Thanks for the link. I’ll give it a watch.

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Thanks… I am trying to learn leather right now as well.
@morganstanfield has been helping me get up to speed.
And when I see videos like this one:

It just makes me want to jump in with both feet!

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Exactly. I didn’t order the Glowforge for leather, but it is opening so many new opportunities to create. Leather seems like a great media to work with a laser.

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Oh man… thats just amazing.

Oh its going to be incredible. I cant wait to be able to do patterning like this without all the hammering, and being limited by the patterning tools you have on hand:

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Wow, that’s insane. Looks awesome! Is that really leather? It looks like a slab of wood that has been carved.

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yeah. its made by the same guy who made this:

which eventually became this:

Pretty freakin incredible…

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Okay, so now I’m starting to worry that by the time I get my GF (mine is late in the queue, like August to October), there will be a cow shortage due to all the Glowforgers ahead of me.

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