I don't have an awl and my awl's tip is far now.. I have to use a big upholstery needle. As it requires a lot of strength to punch the leather through, I lay the needle on the carpet and press the leather against it.
When I have all the holes I may eventually start sewing. I'm just a beginner as far as leather, but I gained one piece of experience. Working with leather is not as fast as sewing fabrics. It takes time to bring up the leather so that it would obey you :) Education mustn't be rash.
I have a book from library that tought me this great two-needle stitch. You thread one needle to each end of the thread. The rest is like basting from two directions. You make a stitch forward and then, with the other needle, you make a stitch through the same hole. Then tighten. In fact, I tighten the stitches after almost every move.
One thing that helps me is wax. I wax the thread before sewing and from time to time a bit near to the stitches. Working with waxed thread is fine. It doesn't rub so much (rubbing causes damage that shows up as hairs on the cord) and it lets the thread slip. When I had the stitch before the recent one loose, I wasn't able to effectively tighten it. Now it glides like a snake.
Finishing the seam proceeds as three stitches backwards. Now I have the body of the bag. Next step is a lid.
Attaching the lid to the body took another two-needle stitch. At one side it looks like crosses, at the other like doubled vertical stitches. It's very simple - each diagonal is made by one needle.
OK, the lid is done. I looked at the bag and found out I don't like one thing. The sides bend outside so that they escape from the lid's reach. Stupid.
But one stitch did for resolving this:-)
The swivels. I punched hole on the straps. Then I placed the straps on the bag and transferred the dots with a thin needle to the body. I put a handful of useless fabric inside and punched the holes through with the big needle.
The straps finished. I came back to my custom of a knot at the end of seam. I should go a few stitches back and just cut the cord out, but I just can't get over this habit:)
This is all for today. It was a long day, believe me.
