Trying something new

I'm nearly out of clutch frames. I've ordered more, but due to Covid and Chinese New Year and Spring celebrations, they're stuck in a warehouse until the end of March. Ugh. 

So, I've decided to use the time to learn new skills. I've bought a book and am taking a class on European luxury bag making techniques. First up is learning to saddle stitch. It's a type of sewing that's done completely by hand, and is the way the very best bags in the world are made. 

Saddle stitching requires that you mark a straight line to follow, then punch all of your sewing holes with a tool called a "stitching chisel" or "pricking iron". Then you attach two blunt needles to either end of a single piece of thread and pass both needles through each hole from opposite directions. 

This method makes a stitch very hard to rip out. Unlike stitching done by machine, if the thread breaks, you can't tug an end and pull out the whole seam. It also makes a seam a lot easier to repair if a thread did happen to break. 

It is meticulous and time consuming. But if made of sturdy leathers, a saddle stitched bag could easily last a lifetime or more. So it's worth the effort.