Reddit mentions: The best sewing braids & cords

I got mine here. It's a steel blade with a cast resin handle. It's in the sub 100 dollar range but will probably come out to a little bit more when you account for sales tax and S&H. My only suggestion would be to pick up some decent looking gold paint and touch up the details on the hilt as it is just a plain looking yellow and the gold really adds a nice touch. I also bought some blue parachute cord to wrap the handle and it feels like the real deal now. I thought the wooden plaque was a nice touch and is easily mounted on the wall with a single screw. So there you go, decent quality replica sword for under 100 bucks.

That's the drawstring. It's what pulls the carriage left as you type. So as-is the machine will just keep typing letters in the same place. Save this string and use it to measure a new piece and re-use the clasps. I use nylon blind cord which doesn't stretch and has a strong pull capability

Get some jute. It's dirt cheap and lasts great.

At some point in the future I'm going to try using something like this. It's the cord you would use to fill up the big piped borders on fancy pillows and so forth.

4 hours total. Here is the nano cord and you'll want a fid or something that does the same thing to keep your sanity.

I switched to Handy Hundred from paracord after 20 years of never tying up anything over 30-50 lbs. Weighs less, takes up less space. I can still see the utility in paracord, but ounces are ounces when your chasing elk...

Edit: added a link

The smaller trim is French gimp (braid). The large one is floral stretch braid trim. Both are common today. Example gimp Example floral stretch (Examples won't be exact matches).

They can be replaced. It's a little tricky, watch a video on YouTube before you start. The replacement cord is really cheap.