Solo Fine Threading XVI

[Willis Efram]

Continued 3 Spring 526

Having done the rest of the cutting work, Willis took out a few tools including one used to punch holes in leather to continue his work. While in some cases knitting the needle through thin leather could be done, for most leather goods it was better to punch a hole where the knitting would be done. This was extra tricky with such a case as this with differing parts that had to be matched up. However if there was one thing Willis felt he had down pat after many trials and attempts and made items it was fitting and preparing holes for fitting two pieces together.

Another thing Willis often did, which helped reinforce the edge and the part where the hole would be punched, was to fold over the edge of the leather item where the hole would be punched. With a thicker and deeper area through two surfaces it was less likely to wear out than a single layer. The only better way, Willis thought to himself, was to reinforce the hole area with metal such as a ring or small part of metal sown into the item to feed the thread through. However, Willis also knew, this was more costly and more difficult than just using leather as the crafter had to work in sync with a metal worker and take extra effort to attach said metal piece.

Short of that, Willis simply settled on folded the excess leather material he had left on the area where the threading would occur. For starters there was the places where the four main pieces would meet and attach, which Willis began his work by pressing and cutting the metal with the thrusting of the piercing tool.

First thing first was the bottom side of the crotch and seat of the pants, where they would attach to the legs. Willis worked his way along each surface, comparing and matching them as he worked so that when he was done the two parts would match. On from there was the part on the pants legs where the two sides of the leg would be curved and looped upon itself and form a circular tube for the leg to go through. Rather than attaching to another part it would attach to itself, which Willis adjusted for by bending and fitting the pants leg in the form it would take when done. With the holes fitted on the pants leg to knit to itself and to attach tot he upper parts, Willis turned on to those upper parts. Beyond just adding holes to attach to the legs, Willis moved on his hand and his tool and next worked on a series of holes where the crotch part of the pants and the seat of the pants would meet. A crease along the side of the hip, was slowly fitted with holes to attach those two sides.

Lastly was the preparation for the belt loops. These were the smallest and hardest to do, seeing as each was on a small bit of leather to fit a belt through. First there was a few holes on each belt loop, to allow them to be sown into a loop once attached. And within that was another part, which had to be matched on the top of the crotch and seat piece which would attach those loops to the piece as a whole. Only once all of this was done did Willis pause in his work and take a short break, having finally finished preparing all of the parts for threading work to come and be done.

WC: 600

[Willis Efram]

Having done more or less all of the cutting and prep work, Willis finished up his work by taking out a small grinder and smooth and working at the leather. Rather than using this on the entire piece, Willis used these on the parts where exposed cut leather was left. While he had cut this several times, and trimmed it down flat, the cut surface was still not quite ready. With this in mind Willis began by using one hand tool to rub at the larger cut areas, and another smaller tool to rub at the smaller spots like the holes cut for threading.

The larger hand tool was used for the larger sides, including the top and bottom of the crotch and seat pieces. While some folding of leather had been done, there was still some roughness which had to be worked out. Slowly Willis worked his way along these pieces, along with the leg pieces where each cut had been done and was still exposed.

With that all of the larger pieces were ground down, and so the smaller tool was now focused on. This was mainly for the belt loops as a hole, and to neaten each of the holes pierced through the pieces. The belt loops by themselves did not take too long, Willis taking a loop in one hand and the smaller grinding tool in the other. One, two, three, Willis worked his way through each of these in turn until each had been given the appropriate amount of attention.

Having ground down each piece, Willis took out another tool that was then used to smooth out those ground pieces, more of a buffer or polisher for the leather rather than the more abrasive grinder. Returning to each of the places he had just worked on, Willis repeated his route to polish off and leave the leather in a smooth and supple state. Tanning the leather properly, Willis knew, was important. But so, the Akontak reasoned, was how it was treated and worked while crafting it. It could mean the difference between dried out or cracked leather, leather than wore out too soon, or leather than broke at the critical moment.

With all of this in mind Willis gave the leather the equivalent of a full body massage, kneading and softening the leather, feeling each inch with his fingers, and when he found a rough or needing part of the piece giving it a nice rub down and smoothing until it felt soft to the touch. First was the pants legs, slowly moving his fingers from top to bottom and pausing often with his smoothing and rubbing tool. His work took him up one side, down the other, and then on to the second leg in a repeat of this action. Only once he had felt each square inch of those pieces and was satisfied with their feel did he move on.

He also continued this on the crotch and seat pieces, being smaller pieces than the legs in surface area they went quicker but still took some of Willis time and attention. Across one part, and then up a bit Willis repeated this across again and again until he had covered each inch and both pieces. Finally he finished this off with the belt pieces, a few quick feels and touches and rubs of those small pieces, before Willis loosened his shoulders and stretched before beginning the next piece of his work. Oiling, after all, was a careful thing and one he did with extra care in the wet environments of Syka on any given day.

WC: 602

[Willis Efram]

Done with all of the cutting and prep work, Willis turned to oiling the pieces of cut leather. While this was something he could do after completing the piece, the crafter knew it was better to do so now while the piece was still in pieces since it would dry faster and more completely in that open state. Likewise, Willis knew, it would be easier to oil in its current state than assembled, and so he began with it still apart.

Going through his things, Willis felt around until he found a jar wrapped in some cushioning which held the oil he used for waterproofing clothing items. While there was some stronger ones he had for leather goods they were not as comfortable to the touch and left residue, and so he settled for this one he had to reapply occasionally but which worked well enough. Popping the jar open Willis found it was about two thirds full, still full enough that he could use it for awhile without needing to get more unless he oiled quite a few items or some very large leather items.

For applying the oil Willis once more went through his tools, soon enough coming up with a brush he used for the task. While he had different sized ones for different sized work and a few different ones for harsher oils, this one was the one he used mainly for this softer oil and smaller to medium sized pieces.

Setting the oil aside but within reach Willis dipped his brush, rubbed off the excess back into the glass jar so it did not drip anywhere else, and began to slowly apply the oil stroke after stroke with one hand while the other hand slowly moved and adjusted the leather piece. To start things off Willis began with the left leg piece, a nice long but flat piece of leather. Working his way up one side Willis slowly spread the oil, and then brushed it in deeper like a second massage on the leather piece by running the brush over the spot until it seemed the oil had soaked in but for a thin coating on the surface. And then with that spot done Willis moved on to another spot, slowly working his way up the piece from top to bottom.

Leaving that side out to dry Willis turned to the next leg piece and repeated this process again. Starting at the bottom, slowly rubbing the oil in, massaging the leather from one side to the other, only stopping once it was properly coated. Likewise Willis did his work on the seat piece and the crotch piece, these being a bit trickier as they were less of a straight pair of pieces but a piece with many curves and bends. Eventually however these pieces as well were oiled on one side, leaving only the belt loops.

The belt loops for their part did not take much, and being so small and thin were the quickest to dry. A few strokes here and there, and Willis had one side done. With that done Willis just had to wait a few bells for the oil to dry, before returning to his task and doing the other side. In the meantime Willis decided to take a break and get a snack before returning to his task, knowing at a thought and a feel of the air that they were in for a rare dry spell that would last long enough at least for his goods to dry.

WC: 589

[Willis Efram]

After getting a bite to eat and resting for a bit Willis slowly made his way back to the commons. In the intervening bells since he had left his oiled leather had dried, no longer leaving it wet to the touch. While it would still need some time to be completely finish the process of waterproofing, it was long enough that Willis could handle the items and turn them over to oil the other side.

Checking over his items laid out on a bare section of the commons where it would not bother anyone, Willis began turning over the pieces now that globs of oil would not rub off on anything it touched. Now though Willis could oil the other sides, and so he once more took out and opened his bottle of oil, along with the tools he used for oiling such as brushes.

Having just a short time ago completed this step for the other side of the pieces, and now more familiar with the curves and nuances of the pieces, Willis began working the oil into the leather one piece after another. Starting from the leg pieces Willis worked up one side, starting by spreading a bit of oil and then massaging and soaking it in before moving onward. This process was repeated over and over again, slowly moving along the piece. First he would dab some oil after scraping the excess off his brush back into the bottle, and then spread it. From there he would brush and massage the oil in, before move on to another patch. First this was done on the length of one leg, and then moving to another piece along the other leg part.

Taking a bit longer Willis moved to the crotch and seat piece in turn, taking a bit of extra time with those parts due to their curves and nuances. And once those were done Willis turned to the belt loops. These required a smaller brush which Willis turned to, slowly applying and massaging in the oil across each of these. Once all of the pieces seemed coated Willis returned with a dry brush, evening out the coating of oil and checking for any missed spots or thick spots that needed evening out onto. Only once he felt it was truly well done did Willis stand and stretch and step back from his work.

From that point there was another game of waiting, but this time while he waited for the oil to dry Willis did not take a break. Instead he began preparations for the next step of his work, which would be assembling the pieces into one final unit. Checking over his design he nodded to himself, seeing what he would need. With that in mind Willis pulled out a length of sturdy twine he used for sowing together things. He also took out some tweezers, some snips for cutting the twine, some bands and strips of leather for holding things in place as he worked, and other things he would need in his work.

Once all of those were placed and at the ready Willis had nothing to do but wait, and so he spent some time chatting with the others working at that time of the day in the commons, passing the time while periodically checking his work for dryness.

WC: 556

[Willis Efram]

After another break, Willis finally found himself ready to finish up his work. With the leather cut and prepared, oiled and air dried, now Willis only had to assemble all of the pieces together to finish up. Pausing to check over his goods one last time and finding them dried enough, Willis checked the designs he had made earlier one last time before beginning to move parts around. Now that everything else was done Willis was ready to finish things up quickly, as he could feel the coming rain on the air and could tell it would be a fierce one and not a good fit for freshly processed leather.

Grabbing a needle and threading it with the twine he had ready for threading the stitching of the trousers, Willis began by assembling the crotch and the seat piece. Holding the matching holes up to each other, Willis applied a small clamp he had to stop that section of the garment from moving while he worked, and began to quickly sow in and out of the open holes he had punched in the leather.

Since these pieces were separated the way they were, Willis ended up combining them up the side as the hip would lie. First up one hip Willis quickly finished off that bit of stitching, before finalizing that section. This amounted to tying off the end with the needle and snipping off said needle, securing it in place, and then snipping off the other end attached to his twine and tying that off before snipping off the excess there.

With that done Willis repeated the process on the opposite hip after refastening the clamp, re-threading his needle with the twine and then snaking it in and out as it ran down the opposite hip. Having just done this for the other side Willis found this easy enough, and soon was capping it off by snipping, tying, and snipping till the other side was snugly in place.

Now with a firm place to work off of, Willis continued his work in short order by applying the belt loops around the top of the newly assembled portion of pants. Each of these was quick and easy, but as a total more time consuming as Willis had to finish off and tie in place his twine at the end of each loop rather than after a larger section of work. This left him with a repeated action he still managed to get into the flow of. Knit, sow, loop, and then cut and tie and cut and tie, only to repeat this.

Once the belt loops were done Willis turned to the legs, moving quickly to attach the clamp and quickly going up the side of the leg to turn the flat leg of pants into a tube for the leg to go into. This took longer than the other parts, as the closer Willis got to the middle of the leg the further he had to snake a hand inside the looped leg to get to the needle he had passed inside only to pass it back outside with the next swoop and then back inside again after that. Still Willis worked hard and quickly had both legs looped and assembled and ready to attach.

Fastening each of those pieces to the bottom of the newly assembled upper portion of the pants was a bit trickier however, as where the other pieces had been assembled in a line these pieces were being sown and assembled in a circle. With the legs Willis had been forced to sow and thrust his arm in one end of the leg or the other, now Willis passed the needle in and out and reached in through the torso opening to reach the inside of the point where the leg and torso piece met.

One circling motion after another, with much reaching in and out again and again, ended with both legs attached to the upper piece. And with that, Willis sighed while brushing some sweat from his face, was a pair of finished pants.

Having finished one Willis planned to turn that pair in, getting the buyers opinion before continuing to the second pair. But with the rain coming quickly, Willis stowed his finished pants, stowed his tools and things, and headed back home for a break before all of his things were soaked through in the coming fierce rain.

WC: 737