Thread tip for canvas and leather hand sewing

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Seagull

Settler
Jul 16, 2004
902
108
Gåskrikki North Lincs
Here's one tip I came across in a sailmaking book. A really great alternative to the pre-waxed polyester thread used with the Speedy Stitcher, is to get ones hands on a half fathom of 14mm diam. 3 strand polyester rope as source material and strip the whole thing down to the sewing thickness you need. The Buff coloured type, when you wax-up a single yarn , is almost indistinguishable from the stuff originating in Poughskeepie (?) and it just flows through canvas and leather with minimum ruckle , when doubled for canvas work.
Do try it, a 3 feet-ish length, will set you back less than a Fiver and rendered single yarns of about 3 feet 6 inches, makes the ideal length for speedy sewing the doubled thread.
Most Chandlers will stock the Marlow or the English Braid brands, but whatever you do, don't get confused with the Hempex and suchlike ropes, they are made from processed Polyprop and do not have continuous filaments.

Happy sewing!

Ceeg
With little else I can amuse myself this rainy old day, I made another Ditty Bag and during the making, I've worked out that the actual total length of the threads in a meter of the 14mm stuff, works out to be something around 370-ish meters...is that a cracking good buy or is that a really cracking good buy
 
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