Every seam in our workshop is sewn by hand with the saddle stitch, the stitch saddlers have used for centuries on harness that had to survive the road.

Two needles, one thread

A single length of waxed linen thread carries a needle at each end. Holes are marked with a pricking iron, then both needles pass through every hole from opposite sides. Each stitch locks against its neighbour.

A sewing machine makes a lock stitch from two threads that hook around each other inside the leather. It is fast and regular, but if one stitch breaks, the whole seam can unravel from that point.

With a saddle stitch, a broken stitch stays a broken stitch. The seam holds.

How long it takes

PieceStitchesHours of stitching
Lungarno card holderabout 1801
Ponte bifold walletabout 4202.5
Arno toteabout 1,4007

Seven to the inch

We sew bags at seven stitches per inch and small leather goods at eight. Finer would look more delicate; coarser would look rustic. Seven is where a seam is strong and still elegant.

And when it wears?

Linen thread can wear before the leather does, usually on the handles after many years. That is exactly what our free repairs for life are for: we unpick the tired section and sew it again, by hand, in the same holes.