Now what.... I've already broken about 8 leather needles on 6 straps... no good. At least I have some decent straps to show.  I had met Joel Serrato at a workshop by Jose Villa a few months back. I had mentioned by strap idea, he said just do it!  So, now that I was hitting a major machine issue, I emailed a few photos of the straps over to Joel, see what he thought. "Cabron!!! these are beautiful!!!!"  That is all the encouragement I need, keep trucking...