Gusset holes that line up with the panel

Why gusset holes drift apart

A gusset is the strip sewn between a front and a back panel to give a bag, a pouch or a card case its depth. The panel's edge curves round its corners, and the gusset is straight. Prick each piece on its own and small differences add up: a slightly different start, a corner pricked a little tight, a strip cut 2 mm long. By the far end the holes no longer face each other, and the last stitches pull at an angle.

The fix is to measure along the stitch line, never the cut edge, and give both pieces the same holes from the same starting point. PatinaCAD's box stitch commands do exactly that.

Copy the panel's holes onto the gusset

1. Prick the panel's stitch line with the Stitching tool.
2. Draw the gusset's stitch line. It needs no holes yet.
3. Select the pricked line and the gusset's line together.
4. Choose Stitch ▸ Project stitching holes on the selected lines.

Each hole is recreated on the gusset at the same distance along the line, measured from the end nearer the start of the pricked line. The new holes are linked in stitching order, ready for the stitch preview. If the gusset is shorter than the panel's seam, the holes past its end are left out, and PatinaCAD tells you how many.

The gusset's line has to be near the panel: within 100 mm unless you change it in File ▸ Options ▸ Box stitch.

Turn a curved edge into a straight strip

Often you draw the panel first and want the gusset to match it. Select the panel's pricked edge and choose Stitch ▸ Straighten curves into strips. PatinaCAD draws a straight strip of the same length below the selection, with every hole at the same distance along it. That strip is your gusset's stitch line, already pricked. The curve itself stays as it was.

Leather bent round a tight curve doesn't keep its length exactly, so the Allow for leather stretch dialog offers three choices:

• No allowance: the strip is exactly as long as the curve.
• Set the strip's length: type the length you measured, and every hole is spaced to fit it.
• Stretch by a percentage: for example −1.5% for thick leather round a tight corner.

Two more ways to match holes

You don't always need to copy holes. When two edges have the same shape, prick both with Fixed pitch and start each from the matching point: the same corner, going the same way. Fixed pitch never squeezes a short stitch in at the end, so the holes match one for one, and any odd length at the end stays without a hole.

When the edges differ in length and every hole needs a partner, choose Number of holes and type the same number for both. Each edge is spaced evenly to fit that count.

Tips

• Plan the gusset from the stitch line. On a rounded panel, the stitch line inside the edge is shorter than the edge itself, and the gusset has to match the stitch line.
• Check the counts before you cut: select each stitch line and choose Stitch ▸ Count holes. They should be the same.
• When you prick both pieces yourself, use the same pricking iron on each. Copied holes keep the panel's blade shape and slant.
• Print the pattern, cut out the paper gusset and walk it round the paper panel, hole to hole. Paper is cheaper than leather.
• For the reasoning behind all this, read how to make gusset stitch holes line up.

Good to know

• An edge made of several pieces joined end to end, such as a straight side running into a rounded corner, counts as one edge in both box stitch commands: select every piece and the holes follow round the corner. Pricked pieces only join pricked pieces, and bare pieces only bare ones.
• The gusset's line must have no holes of its own. With several pricked lines selected, the one with the most holes is copied.
• Stretched strips appear 10 mm below the selection, one per pricked curve, running left to right.