Last fall I finished a buffalo powderhorn and suddenly was overcome with an urge to put a really fancypants strap on it. I went through all the options I had at home and there was absolutely nothing for materials that tripped my sear. So I got on the phone to a buddy, Julup, to ask what he might have in his heap of trade goods. He sent me a photo of some very thin embroidered ribbon in a gorgeous red, black, and white pattern. He said it was far too thin to be used by itself but it could be sewn to thin leather. We made the deal and spent several days pacing until it arrived. Once it was in my hands, I knew what leather backing I wanted. Several years back, someone sent me a partially braintanned deer hide, and I apologize for forgetting who that was. I cut two strips and carefully sewed them together to make a longer strap.
I have now spent 8 hours on stitching the edges together and I am about halfway there! I am getting 16 stitches to the inch by using the pattern on the edge of the fabric ribbon. There is a small interrupted black line that I am using to guide the stitch spacing. Since I am using black thread, it disappears into the pattern on the ribbon side, but shows against the tawny brown of the leather to create a pretty pattern.
Why am I going to such lengths? What the heck was I thinking? If I was paying myself minimum wage for this job, I could have gone to someone that specializes in card weaving or small loom weaving and had a fantastic custom wool yarn strap woven for less that I will have into this for labor, not even including materials!
