[Maciej K.]

I want to ask you about the sewing method used in medieval time for leather scabbards.
look below - this is very popular method today:

... but - I can`t find any historic source showing this type of sewing.
I can find something only like this:


Do you know some historic sources of cross sewing - from first picture??

[Martin Moser]

Hi Maciej,

I don't know that much about scabbards, but have extensively researched shoes. So, if you allow the analogy, going by the techniques of sewing leather employed there, apparently such cross-stitching was not employed, while you see the other 2 types of stitching (and more) quite frequently. The only occasions I remember seeing suh cross-stitching was on reproductions of shoes where I know it was done differently on the originals these were based on.

[Maciej K.]

thanks Martin. actually there is analogy between sewing shoes and scabbards - IF we are talking about things from the same period. just as I thought - there is propably no historic source where we will see cross sewing on scabbards.
So, I`m really curious why such many people make cross-sewing as standard method for sewing leather on medieval scabbards?
Also - question to creators - how are your experiences and methods for sewing such things? what kind of sewing you make?

[Quinn W.]

I can't confirm the use of the cross stitch on scabbards as I'm not so much an expert there either. i do recall seeing a winding stitch in artwork though, which comes out like a series of diagonal lines all in the same direction.
I would caution against taking the shoe/scabbard analogy too far, though. The main stitches I use in shoemaking are designed to keep the stitches from being visible or exposed to wear once the shoes are turned. This just isn't really possible on a scabbard.
There are a lot of stitching styles out there and the number of variations we see show us that each was designed for a specific use. So if a stitch used on the bottom of the shoe isn't the same as the stitch used on the side of that same shoe I'd be hesitant to assume it's analogous to something else entirely without direct evidence.
That being said, if you really want to use a shoe stitch on a scabbard I would recommend (based on leather experience, not historical evidence) going with a side seam but basically "upside down", i.e. an edge-grain butt seam rather than an edge-flesh butt seam. It's a nice strong stitch and I can't see you having any problems with it.

[Kel Rekuta]

We went through this a couple years ago.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...+stitching