I settled on glueing the fork pocket with the seam inward and not to include a plate over the side pockets. Fitting the outer facing was tricky; it had to be stretched to fit smoothly over the side pockets without leaving a lot of slack sticking out the sides. For this reason I wet-molded it first.
To try to keep the facing from crushing the side pockets, I inserted the knife and fork. To keep the facing smooth above the pockets and prevent the protruding rivet heads from making marks in the damp leather, I placed some small brass plates. The space between the top of the scabbard and top of the side pockets is almost exactly two inches.
To get the facing to mold as closely to the core as possible, I used most of a bag of binder clips. These somehow seem to have stained the back with little black spots, possibly from exposed steel on the edges reacting with the veg-tan (similar to vinegaroon).
Once the facing was dry, I trimmed to down to the straightest, closest edges I could manage using a combination of an xActo chisel point and scissors.
It was while punching the stitch holes that I remembered to add the belt slits, which have to be done before stitching or I would risk damaging the inner layer while cutting them. This method is, again, inspired by one used on the Bruegel messer. If I'm going to add a metal throat and a hoop supporting the top of the pockets, it's necessary to add the slits between them.
My plan was to loosely stitch the outer layer, soak it, insert the core and tighten the stitches one by one.
It proceeded according to plan except that I could only manage a single whipstitch with the length of linen thread I'd cut. The outer layer shrank nicely against the core. The problem of the facing above the pockets being a bit too large remains, but while unsightly, it's not too bad for me to overlook on a first attempt.
The use of two brass plates had caused a visible line across the top of the facing during the initial wet molding, so this time I added a single two-inch plate. This did seem to help.
Unfortunately, a new problem came up at the end: It seems that some of the hide glue I added to fix the facing in place either soaked through the wet leather or got out at the seams and onto the facing. The glue appears to have interfered with the absorption of the spirit dye, so that repeated brushings of dye failed to get rid of the patchy appearance. Whether this problem can be solved at this point and how, I'm not sure.
