.

[lantzn]

I went ahead and laid this out in InDesign. This could help knowing where to punch the thread holes and cut the letters. As soon as I have a width and height of the finished label I'll save this out to 100% size PDF for downloading.

[lantzn]

Lantz,

I'm away from my rucksack at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I've been doing them at 1 5/8" x 2 5/8".

As for the stitch holes, I drew a line along the inside edge of the label and used a four pronged punch to make the holes all around.

Michael

Thanks Michael much appreciated. What exactly are you doing with the letters? Do you cut an outline around the letters and peel away the leather around them or are you just pressing the leather down around the letter's perimeter?
I was looking into different leather stitching, are you using the one where you push the thread through the hole and then slip the line of thread on the backside through a loop made by the thread push through? This is how you get that look where the thread appears to go in and out the same hole without pulling out.

This video show the concept of what I'm talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=yNFMzAEW0V0

[ShanghaiJack]

Lantzn,

Could you send me a PDF in that font using the letters "SJ" and "BL" if it's not too much work?

[lantzn]

Lantz,

The letters themselves are from a sort of stencil stamp alphabet kit from Tandy Leather. The "H" from the kit didn't look right, so I did some tweaking on that. The leather is moistened, then the stenciled letters are pressed in. This gives you the giude or outline. Next, the letter outlines are hand cut with a sharp knife. Then, using leather tools (as seen in the first pics,) the background around the letters is stamped (hammered) in. This makes the letters stand out from the background.

As for the stitching, again, look back at the first pics in this thread. I have always handstitched (without using a sewing awl like the one in the video.) Actually, after several labels, I tried a sewing awl, but couldn't get the hang of it, so I continued to sew by hand.

One long piece of thread with a needle on each end. Go through one hole and even out the length on either side. Then, it's just a matter of one needle going through one side and the other needle going back through the other side. And so on... Kinda hard to explain, but a good leather craft book will show you how. That's how I learned it.

Michael

I fully understand what you're saying about the sewing, once you mentioned using two needles. You're just figure 8ing the two needles through the holes. So you have a long piece of thread with a needle tied to each end.
Thanks that sounds simple enough.

[lantzn]

Lantzn,

Could you send me a PDF in that font using the letters "SJ" and "BL" if it's not too much work?

Not a problem. I'll resize the image to Michaels specs and make some templates. I'm actually going to do "LN" for my initials on my bag.

[lantzn]

Lantzn,

Could you send me a PDF in that font using the letters "SJ" and "BL" if it's not too much work?

Here you go.

http://cyberwerks.net/BackpackLabel.pdf

[ShanghaiJack]

Thanks a lot. This will definitely make it easier to make that label!

[lantzn]

Thanks a lot. This will definitely make it easier to make that label!

I just started to work on my label and noticed when I was doing some adjustments to the artwork the amount of holes increased. I've correct the file and uploaded it. You might want to download it again if you haven't started.

I was in JoAnn's fabric yesterday and saw some Tandy Leather products. I grabbed a leather sheet, wax thread, needles and punch.

[ShanghaiJack]

That's great, thanks a lot. I was thinking about PMing you about it anyways. One of my boys spilled juice all over my laptop and I managed to lose some files that weren't backed up, including the label.

[lantzn]

Lantz, the stitch holes are punched with a tool that resembles a litte fork.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-u ... 08-00.aspx

This tool punches 3 or more holes at a time, depending upon the size of the punch. This makes it much easier to makes even, straight punch holes, though even with this tool, I've had to scrap several labels for crooked holes.

I got to where I would punch the stitch holes before tooling the letters in, so I didn't waste all that time on the letters and have to scrap it due to a crooked stitch line.

Look forward to seeing another member's homemade label!

Michael

Michael the How to Video on that page shows him using a scribe device to score a line along the edge so you can punch a straight line of holes. Are you just eyeballing it?
I'll have to pick up one of these tool sets.
I posted the beginnings of my label in another thread. I used a line of printed dots to know where to punch my holes. Marking a black dot on a metal ruler with the same spacing as the 3-hole punch tool would allow you to line up the ruler where the dots should be and then mark them on the leather.