Sewing Awl, One Color, One Size

As a beginner in the world of leatherworking, I have come to appreciate the incredible value and versatility of the Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl. This tool has truly revolutionized my leather projects and has become an essential part of my toolkit. The Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl is incredibly easy to use, even for someone new to leatherworking like myself. The design is intuitive, and the instructions provided were clear and concise. Within minutes, I was able to thread the needle and start stitching my leather projects with confidence. The stitching results I achieved with this tool are nothing short of impressive. The Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl creates strong and durable stitches, ensuring that my leather items are built to last. Whether it's repairing a torn seam or creating new leather goods, this tool consistently delivers professional-looking results. What I find particularly remarkable about the Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl is its versatility. It allows me to work with various leather thicknesses and textures, accommodating different project requirements. The sturdy construction of the tool gives me confidence in its durability, knowing it can handle the demands of my leatherworking ventures. In summary, the Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl is an outstanding tool for any beginner leatherworker. Its user-friendly design, impressive stitching results, and versatility make it a must-have for anyone looking to delve into the world of leatherworking. I highly recommend this tool to fellow beginners who want to create high-quality leather projects with ease and confidence.

Works just as demonstrated in the video! Excellent tool to repair a torn canvas chair, and I anticipate this will function well for many projects in the future. Obviously good workmanship and quality.

Wonderful compact tool. I had one and couldn’t find it when I decided to add some modifications to my black backpack. Then found the original one from a decade ago. I decided to keep the second since it’s so compact and keep it in a mobile repair kit with extra fabric for patching. Keep it all in a small pouch and add it when off doing crazy stuff that a now old man would do like going to a coffee shop or shopping at a consignment store. You know, those dangerous activities where my gear can be injured! It is easy to use but be careful stabbing yourself when working with thick material. No joke.

I stumbled across this tool--the Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl--and read so many positive reviews that I decided to try it out. It seems like an ideal tool to keep aboard a sailboat for on-the-water emergency sail repairs. Although I haven't used it to repair any sails yet, I tested it out on other projects. For instance, I used it to sew visible stitching marks in my anchor rope at 20' intervals so I can easily know how much anchor rode I'm feeding out while anchoring. I sewed a few test stitches in a couple of pieces of 1/8" thick leather scrap. And I tried sewing a couple of pieces of very light material (like T-shirt fabric). First, the needles are impressively sharp and the line is very heavy duty. It works great for thick/substantial materials like rope and leather. The standard needle and thread are overkill for light materials, however, such as thin cotton--partly because the needle head is so large (i.e., makes a large hole that stretches/tears light fabric), and partly because the line/thread is so heavy it causes the material to bunch and ruffle. A smaller "fine sewing" needle can be purchased separately, and I would recommend getting it for sewing projects that involve light to normal weight fabrics. For heavier materials like heavy canvas, leather (i.e., repairs to shoes, heavy canvas tents/bags/sails, straps on heavy duty wilderness packs, etc.), this tool comes ready for the job and seems well up to the task. Second, the Speedy Stitcher is relatively simple to use--once you figure it out, which may take awhile. Essentially, a thread leads down from a bobbin in the handle, out through the side of the handle, around a tensioning post, up through the chuck, to the head of the needle. When you begin sewing, you pull out all the thread length you'll need to complete your repair. To sew, you (1) push the needle all the way through your materials, (2) pull the needle back out partway to create a loop in the thread that lays alongside the needle, (3) pass the tail of the thread through that loop and snug it up as you extract the needle to create a lock stitch--just like a sewing machine. When you finish, cut the thread and tie a square knot to finish off and secure the stitch. It helps that the needle is very sharp and the thread is hefty and stiff, making it easier to handle than a much thinner, more supple thread would be, and dispelling any worries about breaking the thread as you tension a stitch or tie a finishing knot. It's plenty strong, though how "speedy" you're able to sew will depend on your manual dexterity and how cavalier you feel about working with such a sharp needle. I sew quite slowly to ensure nice, even stitches and to avoid stabbing myself. The tool itself is great, given an appropriately suited task. The main shortcoming here is the lackluster instructions. While adequate to figure out how the device operates, they are not particularly well illustrated. The illustration for setting up the device to sew is limited to a single picture that looks like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy--with thick, fuzzy lines that make it difficult to see precisely how the thread should be led out of the handle, through the chuck, and up to the needle head. You'll be able to figure it out, but you'll be baffled when the instructions tell you to "Continue thread along handle groove and through ferrule hole as illustrated" (If you know what a ferrule is, you'll be fine, but it's strange not to label it or otherwise mark it in the picture). Then you're told "Place needle in threaded post making sure that grooves in needle and threaded post are in alignment with each other." (If you examine the actual tool carefully, you'll figure it out, but if you think the picture is going to help you... well, I hope you enjoy squinting at fuzzy and indistinct lines and feeling unsure.) To be clear, this isn't a deal breaker and I've seen worse instructions, but it's strange to me that someone can make such a nice tool and apparently realized an illustration might be helpful with its setup, yet DIDN'T think it was necessary to make that illustration sufficiently large (and labeled) to make it truly useful. As it turns out, there is a diagram that defines the parts of the tool for those who wonder what "chuck", "ferrule", or "tension post" means. However, in a cardinal sin of technical writing, they are identified in a separate illustration on a separate page than the written instructions that actually use those terms. Besides the fact that parts diagram is small and lost in the busy look of the title page, there is no standard cross-referencing system (letter annotations) to call your attention to the diagram's existence in any way. Maybe I'm nit-picking because I was a professional technical writer, and perhaps other people won't see it as a major annoyance. But a clearer illustration could've saved me five minutes of confusion and timid assembly. Since this is the kind of tool that people probably use once then put away for a long time, I suspect they'll need the instructions every time they use it--and go through the same, initially baffling process of setting up the tool to prepare to sew. If you're going to illustrate it at all, why not do it right? By contrast, the three other illustrations showing the sewing process are fairly accessible. They suffer from the same fuzziness, but the simpler nature of what they're illustrating (the three stages of making a stitch) makes them easier to comprehend. Even so, you'll still have to try sewing a thing or two before you really "get" how it works. Another quibble: The steps to make a stitch start with the setup as step number one. That's strange, since you don't need to set up the tool after every stitch! I'm sure reasonable people will realize this, but it again illustrates the sense that the instructions aren't really polished. They feel more like an afterthought someone didn't quite have enough time to refine and organize fully. All in all, a great tool that I certainly recommend for people who want an effective, compact sewing tool for in-the-field heavy duty repairs to tents, packs, sails, saddles, shoes, etc. I deducted one star because of the lackluster instructions (which could be much clearer with a few simple tweaks) and because the tool does not include the fine needle or fine thread. I suspect many folks will want to sew materials that need them. Yet, it appears you must purchase the needle separately--for nearly the same price of the entire tool. That will annoy some people greatly if the included standard needle and thread prove too large for their purposes.

I had one years ago and lost it. They work great.

Perfect for small to medium sewing, but punch holes in leather first. Satisfied here.

The quality is very good, just as the seller described, easy to use.

I already had one from 40 years ago, these tools are well made and last for ever, use an awl to punch holes and the curved needle to sew leather