On the cross-stitch

A corset holds a body under tension. The leather provides the structure, but the stitch is what keeps it together. If the stitch fails, the corset fails. So I stitch by hand.

The stitch I use is a saddler's cross-stitch — twin needles, waxed linen, every pass locked into the leather. Machine stitching unravels if one loop fails. A cross-stitch holds even when one stitch breaks. The rest of the seam doesn't care.

It's slow work. Each hole is pierced first with an awl, then the needles cross in the leather itself. The result is a seam that holds tension for decades without stretching.