Hand stitching & sewing of your leather footballs and baseball gloves.

Football and baseball gloves have special sewing kits that are marketed just for them so that the average person can repair the stitching themselves without the cost of paying someone to repair it for them. These kits can be purchased at some shoe repair shops, sporting goods stores, leather repair shops, leather craft stores. Each kit comes with complete directions on how to sew your football and how to sew your baseball glove. With these easy to follow instructions the most inexperienced person can restitch their own football or baseball glove if they want.
FOOTBALL: With a football, you must let some of the air out of the ball to allow the ball to be more flexible while sewing it up again. The kit is for the white lacing replacing. It is not the easiest thing to get the new leather strip as tight as the original strip was, but it can be done. If you do not feel up to it your self, just take it to a repair shop. Be sure not to over fill the ball when you are finished. If any of the other seams that are stitched together on your football happen to break, understand that the ball is not ruined. This is repairable, the ball must be deflated and the lacing has to be removed. The air bladder is then removed and the football shell must be turned inside out, which is not an easy task. This requires a steel or very strong wooden post, which you then press one end of the football in towards the inside to come out through the opening. once the tip is pushing through the hole, place it over the post and pull down pulling the rest of the football shell over the rest turning it inside out. You may need to flip the ball over and use the post to press the other side of the ball through the opening to get the football completely inside out. Now, once the football is inside out you can have the seams restitched at a shoe repair or a leather repair shop. Most people do not own a machine that will sew the leather thickness of a football seam. Once you have had the seam or seams sewn, you just reverse the process and turn the football right side out using the post again. Reinsert the air bladder correctly to ensure that the air valve is in the correct placement. Air up the bladder just a little bit, but not all the way. You will need some pressure when you start to lace the white lacing back in using a new lacing kit. Once you have the lacing completed and cut off in place, you can air up the football to the recommended pressure. You may want to take it to a sporting goods store and have them air it up in one of their racks for a football. Some of them will have specially sized tubes for placing the football into before airing it up to ensure that the football stays formed without any bulges.

BASEBALL GLOVE: With a baseball glove, you have a very long leather lace throughout the entire glove lacing the fingers and thumb together. This leather lace does break after a lot of use and abuse on a field. After all, most people do not keep their gloves conditioned the way that they should with a good leather conditioner, which will keep the leather from drying out and cracking or peeling. When you have a glove that the leather lace breaks in, it really is not a difficult repair to do yourself. It just takes time and a lot of attention to detail. The kit comes with the directions, the leather lace and the needle. There are many knots across the glove in different places holding it tightly together. As you thread the leather lace through the fingers and the palm of the glove you must pay very close attention to the directions and how straight the lace is. The leather lace must not be twisted or it becomes weak and can break easily when used. Make sure that you get the crisscrosses correct and tie the knots exactly the way the directions tell you. After you finish sewing the glove, you really need to condition it with a good leather oil, such as, Neatsfoot Oil is one of the most popular conditioners for baseball gloves. Use a rag to apply it and rub it in very liberally. Then work it in by bending the glove and folding the glove over and over. Then form the glove the way you want it folded and leave it lay. Wipe off any excess oil if any, but it should soak right into the leather especially if the leather if very dry.