Solo Fine Threading VI

[Willis Efram]

26 Winter 524

After weathering the heavy rain with his leather goods safely away from the torrent and having a good nights rest Willis once more made his trek back to the commons. This time however he did not have all of the large pieces of leather hide prepared for cutting, instead he only had his cut out pieces, a few bit of extra leather just in case it was needed, string, and of course his weatherproofing materials.

A good oiling was needed before this piece was put together, and he knew it would be much easier to do so to the pieces before they had all been sown into one pieces. And so with this in mind Willis made his way back to the covered area of the commons, finding for the moment himself alone there.

Spreading out his equipment and materials, Willis laid out the various pieces he had prepared, and a few of the simpler tools he had. Before he weatherproofed the leather he wanted to add the holes for threading it all together, doing his best to choose unobtrusive places and places where he would not overly impact its ability to keep out water and things.

As with before Willis began with his chalk, slowly considering each piece and where those pieces would meet the other pieces. For the middle piece this basically meant all along both sides of its surface, but for the front and back it was a bit simpler. The front piece after all would connect to the middle at the bottom and sides, but that was all. The back would connect similarly, with the large overhanging top portion draping over the top and front to cover the opening on the top side.

Thinking this over Willis considered how he could change this for his next work, adding some kind of fastener or such to the front, or even some kind of ties or something to hold it close rather than just letting it drape over the top as it did now. Considering this was meant for use in the settlement it was not so critical, but for anything used in the jungle firm fasteners keeping it closed would be needed much more direly.

He would also want to be more careful about protecting the seems, perhaps folding the leather in such a way that they were hidden inside as he had seen on one of his earlier repairs, and sowing the seams in a way that it kept the container more watertight. Here in Syka the user could go inside, but being out in the jungle rain would be much more of a constant issue and being more or less water tight was much more important.

With these considerations in mind Willis finished marking out the chalk spots all along the edges of the pieces, marking out where each small hole would be gouged to allow stitching later on during his work. While not quite there yet Willis did hit best to keep in mind his entire process and everything he would be doing during the making of the item to keep on track and to make sure nothing he did affected a later step.

WC: 530

[Willis Efram]

With all of the spots marked out, Willis began one of the most tedious parts of his work, punching or gouging out all of the holes where the seams would be sewn. Mainly this would be along the edges where each piece connected, and each end of the strap where it met the main piece of the work.

Starting on the strap Willis took out the gouging tool and holding it over the piece with the scrap wood he used held below it Willis quickly began the gouging motion. As before he did a lighter cut of sorts to guide him, before pressing in full force and gouging through the material with a thin needle like cutting edge that had a sharp point and a long length of thin metal leading up to it to the tools handle. This was perfect for punching holes through things, though the one he was using now was the smallest and thinnest one as it was just meant to be wide enough to allow a string through and little more. He had a few more with wider punches, which would likely have the opening started with the smaller one and widened with the other tool.

Since the strap was not too wide he only made two holes across its width, deciding to instead support it with two more holes a bit higher up above each of the initial ones. That way there were a total of six holes for threading the end of the strap. While he could have reinforced it more, and likely would for a piece in the jungle, he did not think it was needed for a piece meant for usage in the settlement proper. Still, thinking on this, Willis reminded himself to make sure sturdier pieces were more reinforced when being connected.

Once this was done Willis continued his work on the other side, repeating the same steps until it had a similar set of holes for when the leather was stitched together. With the strap done Willis instead passed on to the more laborious part, the sides and front or back pieces. These had much wider side areas and all needed to be connected, with their holes overlapping where they would connect. This of course meant much more caution was needed in the work, and he was forced to remeasure several times over and again for each piece before making any cuts. Up the sides, and across the bottom for the front and back, with holes all along the sides on three surfaces with the bends for the middle piece. All of these holes added up and took some time, with a simple shallow mark leading to a deeper gouge punching through before he was finally done with all of the pieces.

Looking things over Willis made sure he had not missed any, and that all of the points matched up when the material was temporarily assembled, before dissembling it all so he could begin starting on the next to last step of the process, oiling and weatherproofing it.

WC: 510

[Willis Efram]

Now that all of the surfaces of the bag had been cut and prepared, Willis reasoned, it was time to weatherproof it before stitching it all together. In Syka weatherproofing mostly meant waterproofing, as that was the single most common weather that happened on a near constant or at least daily basis. Since this piece of leather was something meant to be worn and was often in contact with skin more caustic but more permanent measures would not fit, and so Willis settled on a oil mix commonly used and sold in the mercantile. While it did have to be reapplied over time it worked well enough for the Akontak's uses.

Wondering of what other fancy waterproofing substances might exist or which he might learn of, Willis took out a brush and some oil and began applying it to one side of the pieces laid stretched out before him. No individual stroke took long, but when all of the pieces were added up quite a bit of surface area had to be covered. Likewise no area could be missed, or else the material was likely to be ruined when wet leaked through or even rotted the fine leather working he was doing. And so with that in mind Willis had to be meticulous, ensuring each inch was covered in the oily substance.

While he kept at this he focused on his work, slowly moving from one side of a piece to another. Piece by piece and inch by inch he worked through, coating the strap, the front piece, the longer back piece all spread out, and the long narrow middle piece. Eventually he was done with this, having coated every inch several times and left with nothing to do but wait. At that point he needed to let the pieces air dry, and Willis simply rested for a time to cool his nerves so long spent concentrating on his task.

Eventually even this waiting was done, and while all of the leather was oiled it was properly soaked in and dried enough to allow him to turn the pieces over and repeat the process on the other side. Like with the first side Willis was careful and meticulous, making sure each inch was rubbed over several times, working his way from one side and corner of a piece to the other over and over on each piece until they were all coated with his slow but methodical brush work.

Once more he was then left to wait, letting the pieces air dry for awhile and letting his mind and body and nerves rest. This took just as long if not longer than the first side, and by the time both sides were dried enough Willis knew it was time to pack things up. While he did plan to finish today all of the messy work was done, just leaving sowing, and rain was imminent so the Akontak planned to finish up the last bits of his work for this piece back in his room.

WC: 504

[Willis Efram]

Having made it back to his room where the rain could not reach, Willis prepared himself to finish up his work. All of the cutting and oiling was done, which just left stitching it all together and finishing work.

Before doing this, Willis took one last chance to check the fit, fitting each piece in place as it would look when done. This let him check the overall shape and the fit of the seams and their matching holes before beginning any work. Willis was nothing if not diligent, and so kept at this measure twice and cut once mentality through all of his work. Once more satisfied Willis began his final work, threading a needle and picking a spot to start on.

Deciding to start on the smaller pieces, Willis began his stitching by making a seam of thread connecting the front and the middle piece together. As with before this was not so hard, simply tedious, as he slowly fed the thread though the holes he had made, with the length of string tying it together looping in and out. As he did this Willis considered vague ideas of ways to do this while not leaving any pieces exposed, either making a flap with holes on each piece or some kind of covering piece like on an earlier work he had prepared... This however would mean more work, and was beyond his current ability but something he intended to try later.

Slowly weaving the needle in and out along the seam Willis formed a small piece tying it all together, working his way through and along. This was the first full piece he had made that required this other than the cloak he had made, but being a flat piece more or less it had not required the same kinds of stitching.

Working his way through the entire length of the leather piece Willis finally reached the end of the length, making a knot and tying the end of the string in place before snipping off the needle. Once this was done Willis went through and tightened all of the bits of string tying the seam into one piece by piece, until it fit snugly. Then he repeated the process, holding it tight and snipping the length off, knotting the string, tying it into place, and once it was snug snipping off the remaining excess bit of it. With that done the entire length of one side of the bag was connected, starting to seem like a unified piece. While not quite done Willis smiled at his work and the process he had made, just left with connecting the other side of the middle to the back of the piece and connecting the strap to the body of the piece.

WC: 462

[Willis Efram]

Having done almost have of the work of connecting the seams of the piece, Willis began his work on the next seam connecting the back and the middle of the piece. Like with the other side this was a mostly tedious thing, with Willis snaking the needle in and out over and over again. Slowly it reached down one side, across the bottom, and finally up the other side. Then like before Willis knotted the end, tied it in place, and snipped off the end with the needle. With that done Willis worked his way through his threading, taking out all of the loose bits by tightening them, tracing his way back to the beginning.

With that done he once more snipped out a bit of excess, knotted and tied the piece in place, and then once more snipped off the additional excess. Looking over his work Willis was more or less satisfied so far, considering all he had done. Being careful Willis pulled at the piece in various places now that it was more or less in one piece less the strap, testing the seams by pulling and tugging as would happen in normal use but not with his full strength.

Not finding any obvious issues, and not seeing any tears or missed threading from this testing Willis was fairly certain he had done a decent job. It was not armor grade, not going to be useful in the jungle, but should he hoped work well enough in the city to carry things around casually.

With a nod to himself Willis finally turned to the strap, noting each open spot for the threading and matching it up with the same holes on the sides of the piece. With all of the other parts done Willis was sure this would be good to do now, and once more threaded his needle. Going in and out of the piece Willis worked a seam up one side of the strap, going through each hole before looping over and going back down the other side of three holes. Once this was done he knotted and looped and fixed in place the end before snipping, and then tightened up all of the gaps in the short length of string. Then as before he snipped off a bit extra length and tied off that end and knotted it into place before again snipping off the extra until only what was needed remained. This process was repeated on the other end of the strap where it connected to the middle piece, threading the needle, threading the seam, knotting and tying it in place, sniping off the needle, cutting of the extra on the other end, tying and knotting and finally snipping off the last excess.

Picking up his work Willis smiled, moving the strap over his head and should to try it out for himself. Bending down he grabbed a few objects and tools that were not going to cut the bag and place them in, seeing how the bag held the heft.

Once he was satisfied with his work Willis smiled again, ready to show off his work the next day at the mercantile and move on to the next piece he would sell.

WC: 539