One Wallet, Two Stories: The Art of Stitching by Hand and Machine

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What's Inside

A Return to the Needle and Thread

The Reality of Saddle Stitching

Craft Over Commerce

A Japanese Pen and the Psychology of Scarcity

From Accident to Strategy

Irrational Craft, Lasting Legacy

Returning to the Craft

It had been a while since I sat down at my workbench. The past months had been filled with travel, video production, and chasing leathers across the world. Somewhere along the way, I drifted away from the simple joy of crafting with my own hands—the very thing that started this entire journey. So I decided it was time to return to my roots, back to the playground of leathercraft.

For this experiment, I chose my all-time favorite vegetable-tanned leather. After more than three decades in the leather business, no other leather appeals to me more in sight, touch, and even smell. Those who love leather know exactly what I mean: the soft creak it makes when handled, the warmth of its patina, the scent that feels both earthy and timeless. There’s a magic in it that defies explanation.

The Travel Wallet Revisited

The project I chose was personal: my second-ever design, the travel wallet. We’ve been making this piece since the very beginning, selling tens of thousands over the years. I still carry the very first one I crafted back in 2016. But now, I felt it was time for an upgrade—one that might even inspire a new drop in the line.

I prepared the leather with care. Then I realized something: I no longer had a sewing machine in my studio. That meant going fully manual—hand stitching every detail. It felt like stepping back in time, back to my early Etsy days when I stitched each piece by hand before switching to machines out of necessity. Hand sewing was simply too slow and physically demanding to keep up with the orders.

Saddle Stitching vs. Machine Sewing

Revisiting saddle stitching was both nostalgic and painful. It took me about an hour and a half to stitch a single passport wallet by hand. Toward the end, I was faster, but I was quickly reminded why I had moved on from this process. It was unscalable and physically demanding.

That’s when a new idea took shape. I would compare the two approaches directly: machine sewing versus saddle stitching. Using the same leather, same pattern, and same finishing techniques, I made two more wallets—one stitched by machine, the other by hand. The only difference would be the stitching itself.

The results were telling. The machine-sewn wallet took just seven minutes to complete. It was efficient, clean, and durable—just as the thousands of machine-sewn wallets we’ve produced over the years have proven to be. In contrast, the saddle-stitched wallet told a different story. It was slower, more emotional, and deeply artisanal. Most people wouldn’t notice the difference at first glance, but for those who know what to look for—or who know the maker behind it—the piece carries a different weight. It demands respect for the time and craft it represents.

The Cost of Time

As I reflected on both versions, I realized I loved them equally but differently. Machine sewing is practical and reliable, while saddle stitching carries the soul of tradition. But cost plays a crucial role here, and I wanted to break that down honestly.

Both wallets use about two square feet of leather, which comes to around €15 per piece. For the machine-sewn version, assembly, staining, and edge burnishing costs about €12 in labor—making the total cost €27. The hand-stitched wallet, however, was a different matter. At 1.5 hours of my own time, and valuing that time at €50 per hour, the labor alone cost €75. Added to the leather, the total comes to €90.

To make the pricing fair, I multiplied both costs by four, the midpoint of my usual pricing range. That brought the final prices to €108 for the machine-sewn wallet and €360 for the hand-stitched version.

A Limited Experiment

I wanted to take this beyond just theory. So, I cut 100 pieces of this special leather, all ready to be sewn, and turned it into a real experiment. Both versions of the travel wallet are now available as made-to-order pieces. The machine-sewn wallets will ship within about four weeks, while the hand-stitched versions—crafted personally by me—will take between four to eight weeks. Each hand-stitched piece will carry my signature logo, and the edition will be limited to 100 units to keep it realistic for the holiday season.

The project is live now at atelierpegai.com/pages/leather-lab More than just a sales experiment, this is a study in value—what it means to balance efficiency with tradition, machine precision with human touch.

What This Means for Leathercraft

This journey has reminded me why I fell in love with leathercraft in the first place. Machine sewing and saddle stitching both have their place, each telling a different story about the craft and the maker. For me, this experiment isn’t just about wallets—it’s about listening to you, the audience, and seeing which story resonates more.

So, what do you think? Does the soul of hand stitching justify the time and cost? Or does the practicality of machine sewing win out? Either way, this experiment brings us closer to understanding the future of leathercraft together.