Sewing or Stitching 3D prints  

Sewing or Stitching 3D prints

I'm working on some shoes, mostly leather or other traditional shoemaking materials.  I've 3d printed some vibram-like soles out of Ninjaflex 85A, and they've been very successful on my test prototypes.  I can outline that in a separate thread if people are curious. 

Look at a modern tennis shoe or hiking shoe.  Often they feature a rubber toe cap.  When one kneels on the ground, this rubber toe cap takes the brunt of the abrasion, instead of the leather (or whatever other material the shoe is made of).  Previously the shoes I have made did not have any kind of toe cap, and inevitably get scuffed and scraped on the toes if I use them for working as I inevitably end up on my knees or crawling about a jobsite (think tile work or the like).  

I'm currently building a shoe for working/hiking.  It will take lots of abuse, get scuffed up toes.  I could certainly glue on a toe cap, and find that Renia Colle de Cologne glue with their accelerator will stick Ninjaflex 85A TPU to leather so well, that the top printed layers will delaminate from the infill when you try to pull it apart - in other words the glue holds better than the strength of the material itself.  But in my build there is still a section  of the rubber cap that will require sewing or stitching. 

I'm currently considering printing regular holes in a pattern in the rubber toe cap, which will extend around the sides of the shoe to create a sort of band.  Technically this would be stitching (through existing holes) rather than sewing (which involves piercing a material with a needle or an awl).  Has anyone ever attached 3D printed items to something else, using sewing or stitching?  Any experiences?