How to hand stitch leather
Hand stitching is a important skill that will help you to make beautiful and functional leather projects
Tools & Materials
| Type | Name | Description/Where to find |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Leather | Can be any size but small is recommended for starters, in leather scraps bin |
| Material | Wax thread | Special thread that makes finishing the stitch very simple, in leather sewing bin |
| Tool | Two Sewing Needles | For sewing the thread, in leather sewing bin |
| Tool | Stitching Chisel Set | For punching the stitching, in leather sewing bin |
| Tool | Rubber Mallet | Used to drive the chisel into the leather, found in the woodshop |
| Tool | Scissors | For cutting the thread, found in clean prototyping |
| Tool | Lighter | For melting/burning the thread to seal the ends, not currently in lab. Bring your own or talk to Zane |
| Tool | Thick Cutting Mat | For protecting the table from the stitching chisel, found in the cabinets above the sink near MREH |
Safety
- The chisels are sharp, be intentional where you punch holes
- Fire is hot, please be careful
Instructions
 Before you begin, make sure you have all tools on hand |  Take the silver handle of the chisel set and tightly screw one of the three prong heads. Keep in mind, wider chisel points will make stitching easier but the stitches will look more spread out |  Choose any place to start and place the chisel about an 1/8th of an inch away from the edge of the leather |
 Holding the chisel in one hand, firmly strike the handle with the rubber mallet until it punches all the way through the leather. Be careful you do not strike too hard as that will cause the chisels to dig into the cutting board and damage both tools |  After making one set of holes, remove the chisel and reposition it so that the first tip is resting inside of the last hole from the previous set and punch again. This ensures that each hole is correctly spaced throughout the stitch line |  Continue punching holes until you have spanned the entire length of your stitch. Tip: if you have a sharp corner it might be necessary to change out the three-prong head for a single-prong in order to accurately follow the curve |
 Here is what it may look like when all the holes are punched |  Measure out the length of thread for your stitch. Tip: A general rule of thumb is to measure three times the length of your stitch plus a hand's length (base of palm to tip of fingers) of thread |  Once your thread is measured, cut it with the scissors and thread a needle on both ends |
 Find (or simply designate) the beginning of your stitch and thread one needle through, then hold both the needles together in the same hand and pull tight so that there is an even amount of thread on either side of the hole |  Take the needle on the underside of the leather, pull it up through the next hole, and pull tight without reducing the thread for the needle on the top side |  Take the top needle and thread it down through the same hole from the top side and pull tight |
 This is what the first stitch should look like |  repeat those two steps until you reach the end of the stitch |  Once you have reached the last hole, stitch backwards one time |
 Take the “top” needle and stitch backwards one more time. This results in both the “bottom” and the “top” threads both poking out the underside of the leather |  take the scissors and cut the threads, leaving about a quarter of an inch left |  Take the lighter and light the ends of the wax thread |
 Let the thread burn/melt all the way down to the level of the leather |  Once it is burned down, blow out the flame and then quickly squash the melted wax with the pad of your finger. It will be hot, but if you wait about five seconds after blowing out the flame it will not burn you |  This is what it should look like after snuffing the melted wax |
 Repeat with the remaining thread |  This is what it should look like then you are finished sealing the threads |  Flip the piece over and admire your work! |
Further notes
- If you want to stitch two pieces of leather together, you can either punch through both pieces at once if the leather is thin enough, or measure where the holes should go and punch them individually. Then place the pieces together and follow the same steps to stitch them together and seal the edges.