A STITCH IN TIME . . . . .

Mr. Legendary Leather is moving right along on this project. He has dyed the leather and begun stitching the thin piece of leather (that will form the loops to hold the 22 LR bullets) to the belt. Very similar to the time consuming step of measuring and drilling the stitch holes, the actual hand-stitching process requires a few hours of patience and labor. Mr. Legendary Leather does not own a sewing machine that is able to sew through leather like many other leather crafters use to speed up the process. His items are all hand-stitched. Stop and think about it. Stitching a thick piece of wax thread through two layers of leather . . . my fingers ache just thinking about it. Often times, Mr. Legendary Leather uses a small pair of pliers to guide the needle through the thick pieces of leather.

As he forms each loop, Mr. Legendary Leather places a 22 LR bullet inside that loop to let the leather stretch and form to the bullet itself. He comments that you don't see too many cartridge belts for 22 LRs for the simple reason that the bullets are so small and crafting a belt to hold such bullets is very time consuming because the loops are many and quite small. Most shooters will just store these bullets in some type of pouch because of their size . . . it's just easier. But to some, the look and feel of a cartridge belt around their belly gives them a sense for the rustic old west and how things must have been all that long time ago . . . a time where hand crafting an item was the only way things were made.

Stitching the thin piece of leather, that will form the loops to hold the 22 LR bullets, to the belt itself.

The bullets are placed in each loop after it is stitched to start the stretching process.

A view of the stitching from the back side of the belt.