There is a long-standing belief in leatherworking that a hand-stitched wallet is always better than one sewn by a machine. There are good reasons people appreciate traditional saddle stitching, particularly its construction and the way it holds together if a stitch breaks. But when it comes to making a high-quality leather wallet, I believe there is more to the story than simply how it is stitched.
At Dark Forest, I make leather wallets in Portland, Oregon, and I have spent years refining how I build them. One of the most important decisions I made was moving away from hand stitching and investing in a vintage Landis No. 3 sewing machine. It wasn't because I wanted to take shortcuts. It was because I wanted to make more wallets without pricing them out of reach for the people who appreciate them.
Why I Chose Machine Stitching
Hand stitching takes time. A great deal of time. Every hole and every stitch requires individual attention, and that labor has to be reflected in the final price of a wallet. I respect that process, and there is certainly a place for it in traditional leathercraft. But I also wanted to build a business capable of producing thousands of wallets a year while keeping my products accessible to more people.
Rather than charging customers more for the additional hours required to hand stitch every wallet, I looked for a way to maintain the character and quality of traditional leather goods while increasing production. My answer was a machine that has been doing this kind of work for generations, paired with a deliberate approach to materials and construction.
The Importance of Thread
One of the biggest misconceptions about machine-stitched leather wallets is that the stitching must be delicate simply because a machine is doing the work. That isn't necessarily true. The thread you choose matters, and so does the machine running it.
I use a vintage Landis No. 3 sewing machine with size 277 thread on top and size 207 in the bobbin. This is a substantial thread combination compared with the finer thread commonly found in many wallets. The top thread is roughly three times the size of what you might find in some more delicately stitched wallet construction, giving the stitching a bold appearance and providing a robust thread for everyday use.
The goal isn't simply to make the stitching look heavy. It is to choose materials that suit the job. A wallet gets opened, folded, handled, and carried in a pocket day after day. Its seams need to stand up to that regular use. By pairing a heavy thread with a machine designed for demanding leatherwork, I have developed a construction method that prioritizes strength without requiring every wallet to be sewn by hand.
Does Hand Stitching Make a Stronger Wallet?
Traditional saddle stitching has a genuine advantage: its construction can help prevent an entire seam from unraveling when an individual stitch breaks. Machine stitching works differently, using interlocking upper and lower threads. If that lock stitch is disrupted, the seam can loosen, depending on the damage and how the stitching was finished.
That distinction is worth understanding, but it doesn't tell the whole story about a finished wallet. Thread strength, abrasion resistance, stitch tension, spacing, leather quality, and the way the wallet is assembled all contribute to how well it holds up. A hand-stitched wallet made with unsuitable materials isn't automatically superior to a carefully constructed machine-stitched wallet.
This is where I have focused my attention. Instead of trying to reproduce every aspect of hand stitching, I developed a different solution: use a robust thread, a machine capable of handling it, and a construction method suited to the demands of a wallet carried every day.
Making Quality More Accessible
I don't believe quality craftsmanship should be reserved for people willing to pay a premium for the most labor-intensive production method. There is real value in traditional handwork, but there is also value in understanding how to make a well-designed product efficiently.
My approach allows me to increase production without abandoning the principles that matter to me. I can make wallets here in the United States, pay attention to the materials and construction, and offer customers a product that doesn't require the additional labor cost of hand stitching every seam.
For me, that's what thoughtful manufacturing is about. It isn't choosing old methods simply because they are old, or new methods simply because they are faster. It's understanding the strengths and limitations of each method and finding the right solution for the product you're making.
At Dark Forest, that solution is a traditional leather wallet sewn on a vintage Landis No. 3, using substantial thread and a process refined through years of making leather goods in Portland, Oregon.
The result is my own approach to wallet making: traditional materials, purposeful construction, and a commitment to making quality leather goods more accessible.