Leather was used for several common items of clothing, including shoes, pouches and bags and belts.   Oak-tanned hides from cattle, goat, sheep and deer were regularly used.   There are two main ways of joining leather - riveting and stitching.   Stitching was the most common method, with riveting being used mainly for the attachment of metal parts to leather items.

Stitching Leather
In Anglo-Saxon times a boar bristle would have been used for stitching leather, although now metal needles are far more readily available!   Leatherworking (or saddler's) needles are usually blunt. #1   This means that all the holes need to be made using an awl before stitching.   The best awls for leatherworking have a diamond section blade. #2   (The advantage of this shape blade is that after stitching the hole will close up around the thread making a more secure and more waterproof stitch.)   Linen thread is used for stitching and should be waxed before use bu drawing it several times through a block of beeswax. #3   The main stitches used for leatherworking are 'saddle stitch', 'tunnel stitch' and 'whip stitch'.

Saddle Stich
This stitch is the easiest of the two and is generally used for items such as pouches, bags, etc (not shoes) or perhaps for reinforcing the edge of a strap or belt.   Place the two pieces of leather to be stitched together, face to face.   Make a series of holes about 1/8-1/4" (3-6mm) apart and about the same distance from the edge.   Take a piece of thread and wax it, and then attach a needle to EACH END.   Put the needle through the first hole until the thread is the same length each side of the leather.      Then stitch the leather using a 'running stitch' with each needle so that each hole has a thread passing through it from each side.

Tunnel Stitch
This stitch is a little more difficult than saddle stitch, but it has the advantage that it does not break the surface of the leather, making a waterproof, hard wearing seam.   This stitch is commonly used when sewing shoes.   Instead of making the hole right through the leather, the hole is made through only about half the thickness of the leather, coming out through the edge (for butted seams) or near the edge (for overlapping seams).   The stich used is basically a running stitch, and can be done quite loosely then pulled tight every fift or sixth stitch (making sure all previos stitches tighten at the same time.)

Butted tunnel stitch	Overlapped tunnel stitch

Whip Stitch
Whip stitch is used to stop a leather edge stretching and perhaps for decoration, particularly on shoes.   A series of holes are made along the inner edge of the leather (as if doing tunnel stitch) and the thread is then sewn along in a spiral.

Finishing Stitches
The usual method of finishing a line of stitching in leather is to sew back between the previous four or five holes with the same stitch used.   Sometimes the thread is knotted off, but this is not usually necessary.

Riveting Leather
When leather is to be riveted a metal plate or washer is used each side of the leather, and a hole is made through the metal and leather.   The rivet is then passed through the hole and cut to length before peening over tightly.

Decorating Leather
Leather straps and belts were OCCASIONALLY decorated with SIMPLE desgns, usually just parallel lines along the length of the strap or belt. #4   The tooling would be done by wetting the surface of the leather then drawing a pointed bone (or perhaps wooden or metal) tool over the surface.   As the leather dries the pattern of pressed lines  remains in the leather. #5   Stamping with simple designs MAY have been used on items like large knife scabbards, although there is no real evidence for this from Britain (although decorated scabbards like this are known from Frankia).   Decoration by cutting patterns into the surface seems to be unknown from the period.   The leather MAY sometimes have been coloured with some kind of stain.

1   When working with very fine modern clothing leathers a special sharp needle with a diamond or triangular sectioned head is now often used.   These needles are very modern and are not suitable for stitching leather of the type used for Anglo-Saxon clothing.   back

2   Awls with round or square section blades are fairly easy to get hold of from hardware stores, but are not really suitable for leatherworking as the leather does not close up again properly after stitching.  back

3   Many modern linen threads come prewaxed, but these should still be waxed as above as the commercial waxing is not very good.   back

4   The intricate patterns of knotwork and interlacing animals seen on metalwork (and later manuscripts and stonework) do not seem to have been replicated on leather despite what many modern reconstructions show!  back

5   This technique works best with vegetable tanned leathers with a non-polished or waxed surface.   It tends not to work with modern 'chrome-tanned' leather, or leathers with glossy surfaces.   back

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