I could not punch through my Team Pro with either a regular punch (impossible to position saddle for effective blow) or a plier punch (can't sqeeze hard enough to punch through entire depth). I ended up finising the job with a drill. I spent about 1.5 hours positioning the holes throughout the entire process. Your results will vary depending on the care you take. I did not use a card template, and measured each hole by hand. In retrospect the process would have been faster with the former method and this is the one I recommend.

Use shoe lace. Leather chord stretches and eventually breaks under the loads subjected.