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DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 4: Learning the Crucial "Box X" Stitch

By Rain Noe - July 18, 2013

in Materials | Object Culture

Now we arrive at the most important video in our series on DIY webbing projects!

In Part 1, we covered materials and hardware. In Part 2, we covered tools. In Part 3, we showed you how to set those tools up for webbing.

Here in part 4, we finally show you how to start putting it all together. Don't worry if parts of the video seem too fast or overwhelming; as always, I've laid out the relevant review points in text form that you can digest at your leisure. So dive into the video and start figuring out what you can make.

Hit the jump for the review points.Sealing the ends. Remember that I'm using polypropylene webbing, which is why a lighter can be used to melt and seal it. If you're using cotton webbing, the lighter's a no-go. I'll work with cotton in the next, final video, to show you how to deal with the ends.

Learning to lock your stitches. As you saw in the video, unlocked stitches will easily come apart at the beginning and end points, since the thread "tails" are just free-floating. Learning to "backtack" over the beginning and end stitches will lock them into place. Some important tips:

1. When placing your machine in reverse, don't turn the handwheel backwards; it always rotates in the same direction. When you put your car into reverse, you don't stick your toe under the gas pedal and pull it upwards.

2. When switching your machine from forward to reverse, or vice versa, always ensure the needle is sunk all the way down into the material. Otherwise the feed dogs will move your material slightly, potentially screwing up your stitch.

Learning to do turns. When you're ready to change directions, remember this sequence:

1. Sink the needle all the way down. 2. Raise the presser foot. 3. Use the needle as a pivot point to rotate your material around. 4. Drop the presser foot. 5. Resume sewing.

The "Box X" stitch. Your first few attempts at it will likely look terrible. Don't get discouraged—while the stitch itself is easy to understand on paper, it requires practice to get the hang of. Some tips:

1. When working with webbing you generally want to keep your stitch length on maximum, but it's okay to adjust them a bit shorter—if, for instance, you're trying to get your Box X centered and the stitch length is throwing your alignment off.

2. You do not need to sew the pattern in the exact sequence I've illustrated in the video; that is just the sequence that I personally have found to be the easiest way to execute it. But feel free to monkey around a bit, as long as you stick with that pattern. No matter which part of the pattern you start drawing first, or what sequence you "draw" in, it will always be a single, continuous line. If you don't understand what I mean, try drawing it first with pen on paper.

In the next and final video I'll walk you through a complete project from start to finish, and provide some efficiency tips.

Lastly, I cannot stress how important the first three entries in this series are. It's really crucial to understand your materials, get the right thread and needles, set the machine up properly, et cetera. If a single one of those things is incorrect, you will not be able to proceed. But once all of those ducks are in a row, you'll be free to just create.

Now go make something cool!

» DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 1: Materials & Hardware
» DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 2: Tools You'll Need
» DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 3: How to Set Up Your Sewing Machine for Webbing
» DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 4: Learning the Crucial "Box X" Stitch
» DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 5: Putting It All Together

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Mik Frawley

8 years ago

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Thank you for your excellent tutorials!

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Tessa Wilken

9 years ago

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Thank you so much for the videos. I purchased enough materials to make many sets of custom collars and leashes for about the cost of a single set. I'm also using the materials and your tutorial to customize rifle slings and other police gear. You're very helpful and entertaining.

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TBonePickens

11 years ago

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I'm not design student, but had purchased a surf rack for my paddle board. Unfortunately the straps were too short for the larger board. Followed your instructions and used the buckles that came with the too-short straps. WORKED GREAT. Thanks a bunch.
-t.
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JimmyFlim

11 years ago

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Awesome vids! Thanks!

One question... I am using 1" heavy nylon webbing. Is a Singer 44S capable of handling this? Or do you recommend hand cranking with a denim needle no matter what?

I'm new to sewing and am trying to get a prototype put together. This sewing shite seems to be the most difficult leg.

Thanks again. Very happy I found these vids.
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yoshi

11 years ago

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I read somewhere that it's better (stronger) to use a series of vertical lines instead of an X in the middle of a box stitch. I can't remember where I read it, and when I tried finding it again, I couldn't. But I did find a post on Tom Bihn's forum that says bar tacks are the best (http://www.tombihn.com/forums/thoughts-tom-bihn-bags/5813-thoughts-stitching-workmanship-tom-bihn-bags.html). Anyhoo, just passing along the info.

And THANK YOU for the videos. They're fab! :-)
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grigoriou

11 years ago

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Sewing is a for sure a useful skill for Industrial Designers. A less capital-intensive and space-intensive way to buid and test a webbing prototype is to use rivets to secure the parts together. The easiest would be to use "screw rivets" like most leather belts nowdays. You can open the holes with a punching tool (or just a heated nail in case of synthetic straps). if the head of the rivets is not wide enough you can insert a washer on each side before assebmling it.
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hipstomp

11 years ago

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John, I would very much like to try this, but I'm not 100% sure I'm understanding your sequence. Any way you can e-mail me a sequential sketch, flipbook-style?

- Rain
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John Canfield

11 years ago

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An easier way to do a box-x, and eliminate backtacking is to:

1. Sew the square of your box-x
2. Once at the beginning, resew the first line of stitching, this will lock the first pass into place.
3. sew diagonally to create the first leg of the "x"
4. Sew across the bottom of the box
5. Sew diagonally back up to the beginning
6. Sew across the first pass one more time.

You can adjust it where you please, including only having two passes of thread at the top.

Awesome!

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