leathercraft

Made with pueblo leather, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you have proper reinforcements, because it's very supple and won't hold up very good after a while.

Technically the second collar, because the first jig for the rivets didn't have guides. Everything was a little skewed plus the dome rivets were a little too small anyways. Good practice though.

Hand stitched, which really makes me want to buy a sewing machine.

Here's another watchstrap, I got many pics of old projects in my gallery that I'll keep share over time, hope it's not seen as spamming and that it doesn't bother anyone haha. As usual, I'm happy to share details about the build :)

Simple deck case I made. Very easy project as it's made with a single piece of leather, folded and held in shape with only 2 rivets.

Here's mobile I made, got the pattern on etsy, can't remember the name of the shop but I can look it up if someone is interested.

And here are detailed pics

Here's a bifold I made for a relative. Made it with pueblo leather, aquagum glue, meisi linen thread and fiebing dye + tokonole for the edge work.

Happy to share details about the craft.

And here are more pics:

Here's one with more details than the previous one, and one more pic of the strap from above !

Watchstraps are definitely my favorite thing to make, so here's one I made, more are probably coming haha.

I'm happy to share additional Info about it if you have any question.

I was wondering how you hobbyists say no to friends and acquaintances mostly. I have gifted a few small things and others just know that I do leather work.

I am getting inundated with requests and some are just way too much work. Of course they offer to pay but my time is limited and really I can’t even ask for a real hourly rate without out being prohibitively expensive. Especially when I have to design from scratch it takes me a ton of time.

I also would like to keep it a hobby and make when and what I want and not fulfill orders! I already have a side hustle I don’t need another one.

I was wondering how your experience is and how you handle this.

This is a bag I stitched for my significant other's renaissance faire costume back in June.

Hello all.

I'm new to this hobby but have always longed for specific leather attributes to things I already own or want to replace (worn out imitation leather stuff).

I'd like to appreciate the fact that I now have the freedom to create anything I can realistically imagine granted my skill-level.

Since this first piece, I've made a case for my glasses that I've forever wanted to replace, but loved the design of; I've made other sleeves for tools, trying to improve my stitching.

Every new small project excites me so much, especially ones that require new skills.

Thank you all for being such a wonderful community.

And to all that are curious about leathercraft, I'm telling you that you won't regret the journey.

This was a fun and simple little project. It was my friend's birthday the other day and I hadn't got her a present yet. She is a rather accomplished palaeobotanist/artist and ginkgos are her favourite thing. So I actually downloaded one of her own pictures of some leaves, scaled them correctly to life size and printed them out. I then traced them onto leather, finished them a little and made a quick leather thong to string them onto (the clip and split ring are just there to give her options).

Really quick and fun little project and I'm rather pleased how it came out.

So this is a project I've been putting off for a while because I'm still bad at skiving and reducing the thickness of the t-pockets is kind of needed so it doesn't become super chonky.

I kind of like it? I made a bunch of mistakes, one side "pulled" a little after gluing and when I make my holes it was no longer properly aligned and ended up going through in such a way that it cut through the edge of the top layer meaning the stitching went a bit odd. I also didn't think through the assembly fully and made life harder for myself in a few ways putting it together.

Whilst I really like the look of the leather, I'm not sure how good a decision it was for this project - I feel that the natural unevenness of it looks great on a large panel but on something as small as a wallet the top edges where it is just a single layer look a bit rough and wonky.

This was also my first project using a new type of thread, I used a round waxed ramie thread rather than the normal flat waxed polyester thread I normally use. A real pain to thread onto the needle but it gives a really nice look I feel. I'd like to try a groover one day to make it possible to sink the thread into the surface a bit more.

So yeah, I'm relatively pleased, the pattern I made works even if I made mistakes in construction. If I was being fancier I could add an extra card slot or an extra wide pocket, a coin pouch or make it so that there is a pocket behind each card holder.

A remarkably quick and easy project I wanted to get done in a short amount of time. I got to use a piece of purple leather I had been saving. Inside is a single card slot and a bigger space behind it.

Very similar to the wristlet bag I made recently but tiny, I really just wanted to focus on polish and execution for this one rather than trying anything crazy.

Happy with how this one turned out, I love the colours and, whilst I thought the leather I picked was too thick, it is pleasingly chunky and sturdy.

Also gave me an exuse to do my favourite little design accent which is to stitch a different piece of leather on, edge to edge, with that satisfying joining, crisscrossing, stitch (if anyone knows the technical name please let me know, I just made it for a different project, it seems to work and I love the look of it).

This was a smaller project after my last one, I wanted to make something relatively simple that could have a pouch with some ability to expand. I ended up reworking how I would make the expanding gussets a bunch of times, settled on attaching them to the front section by gluing then turning them in on themselves and stitching the fold, which has kind of worked but not my favourite technique there by a long shot.

I need to get some more, thinner, leather, I'm struggling with the thickness of some of the pieces I have at the moment, this one ended up rather on the chonky side because of it.

As ever, plenty of mistakes but overall still pretty happy with how it came out.

I've had a bit of a hiatus in my leathercrafting recently. I designed this bag back at the end of May and quickly cut out the pieces, attached lining leather etc. then I just stalled for over a month. I got rather disallusioned with my design and the thickness of the leather (especially once lined) and was thinking it just wasn't going to go together properly and wouldn't work. I have a fairly limited number of larger leather panels so I was a bit depressed I had just wasted some.

And so it sat there, cut out but not in any way assembled for over a month. Until the weekend where I finally got some motivation. I had cut my dry spell short the week before by making some little trinkets for a gift (a simple passport cover and a little bookmark) and thought this was the time to get back on this horse too.

Some of my original fears did come to light, I had real issues skiving some of the leather at the join (the front and rear are separare pieces), I need a better skiving tool really and the lining and glue didn't help matters (I should have left a portion unlined). The leather also didn't shape to the gusset I made quite right either, I definitely need to learn how to properly measure for a gusset.

Desipite all those issues I'm actually quite happy with it. The overall shape and design is quite pleasing, the colours worked far better than I thought they would and I like not only the colour contrast but there is a texture difference between the red and blue leathers.

So yeah, really happy I finished this project, it was by far the most longest and most laborious project I've done so far and I've learnt a lot of stuff to apply to future designs.

So I've just become an aunt for the first time and I want to get something for the little man that is something meaningful to actually keep.

Normal presents are covered, I've got them a little keepsake box, practical every day stuff sorted etc. This is something which doesn't have to be now - think of it more like a christening gift but for a child that won't actually be christened.

Now obviously I can think of buying something or commissioning something (handmade blankets etc.) but it seems somewhat a waste to have a skill (or at least be learning one) and not putting it to good use for this kind of occasion.

Is there an item anyone can think of that would make a good gift? Doesn't need to be "useful" necessarily, just something that could be appreciated down the line. My mother thought I could make a something like a passport holder? Open to ideas!

This was a great leather (OAO knock Iron from OA Leather) to work with! A larger bag that fits the work laptop and a ton of other stuff. I made the strap so it can be adjusted between crossbody and just on the shoulder. All handstitched with Ritza thread. The only hardware is zipper on top and two 1 inch buckles.

So this was the product of a mistake. I had already taken my previous project (https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/24039237), measured it and replicated it in LibreCAD for a reproducible pattern and this was my attempt to use that pattern. Problem is that the full length of the strap is longer than a piece of A4 paper so the pattern was split over two pages. Plan was to scratch each half onto my leather and cut it out in one go.

However I got a bit too enthusiastic and accidentally traced and cut the entire thicker section of it out... So rather than abandon it I made the best of the situation and found a contrasting but similar thickness leather and tried my first join! A bit of glue, some accurate stitching chisel placement and they were attached! I was genuinely shocked as to how well it worked, I thought much more material would be needed for that to work that easily, or that I would end up with it looking a mess seeing as the strap holds a lot of tension in it when worn. I'm aware this isn't necessarily the right way of doing the join, I was in a bit of a hurry and just kind of skimmed the instructions (and not very well), I want to try a better, stronger and more decorative stitch next time.

Either way, this is my second iteration of the same design, its fascinating how just changing the material and colour a little changes the vibe of the entire thing. I'm going to keep iterating on the same design, get some snaps in rather than the SB closure, skive down the edges of those retaining bands to reduce the profile of the edge, get some edge bevelling or edge paint involved, try to do some lining etc.

For most of my detailed cutting I've been using generic #11 craft knife blades and it seems the "wear curve" on them is rather aggressive to start with then kind of goes flat.

Like, a new blade goes through leather like butter but that lasts for maybe 4-5 decently sized cuts before it starts needing multiple swipes and then at some point it almost feels like the leather is bumpy or grainy where the blade isn't cutting through denser sections.

I don't want to be too wasteful nor do I want to be forever changing blades - how long do you tend to go between changes?

I had a lot of fun with this one, just made it on the fly. Was originally planning to just make a relatively simple one that I could use to try lining an item but it seemed a waste as the suede side was so soft. Ended up creating this, its a really simple shape and not too difficult to make. Once I start doing some skiving to reduce the thickness where the retaining bands attach and some other embellishments I think this could look really good. I want to make this exact one again but this time in a much darker leather and with a really heavily contrasting thread.

I also made this keyring the other day, lets just say it was a learning exercise... The rivet was my first one and it went wonky, cutting a tiny slot with a knife through two layers was not a fun thing and I made a bit of a pigs ear of the stitching placement. I did however enjoy making a little geometric design with my awl.

I had a lot of fun today. I had the day off so went down to the leather shop where my crafting journey began and bought a bunch of new tools, supplies and more leather offcuts to have more fun. I ended up getting around 8kg of leather, some black Tokonole, Sam Brown studs and punches, double cap rivets and setter, water based glue and some wing dividers.

When I got back I made this little wrist cuff thing, its rather comfortable, really just made it to see what an adjustable item using the stud could look like to have a go at using it.

I also made a little clutch I had been wanting to make for a while, it was actually one of the first patterns I downloaded, printed and stuck to card but I just didn't have any leather of the right thickness and size. I think the leather I ended up using was a little on the thin side but this was otherwise a very simple little project.

In my ongoing obsession to make little leather holders and pouches for the tools I need to make other holders and pouches in a weird cycle, I decided a nice and quick little project was to replace the little plastic holder for my awl with a leather one.

So I quickly sketched it, measured it and drafted it then made it. I think it came out ok, I really, really don't like this leather though, I don't know exactly what it is but its the only one I've got that's really thin enough and its got this weird stretchy texture where the top layer seems to move around when cutting and it burnishes really weirdly and not very nicely. It also gets all kinds of weird stretch marks and things around the stitches, I'm interested to find out what it actually is.

Just came back from a week away for work which has torn me away from my learning. Getting back into the flow of things with a simple little project and free pattern from J. H. Leather which is a little pouch for holding needles.

I made a few mistakes on this, had to unpick some thread and the pattern seemingly was designed for stitching chisels of a different pitch so I've got some uneveness (yes I probably could have accounted for it but I just kind of went in head first on it). I'm not overly keen on the pattern itself so I'd like to draft my own at some point instead to make it more how I prefer.

I do feel I'm coming to a point where I need some new tools to play with, an edge beveller and some simple hardware setting tools (and hardware) in particular.

I am having an idea for a bag and I believe I have seen this technique somewhere before. I just have no idea what it’s called and hence have a hard time finding a video or instructions.

Essentially I want a round corner the comes out a bit and then the gusset over the two sides. I believe I have seen an approach where you cut a side piece with rounded corners and then cut perpendicular into the middle of the corner. Then sew that cut and turn over. The corner sticks out essentially and the side is then attached to a long piece that runs from one side around as bottom and up on the other side.

I am not sure if I am explaining this well enough to ID. I will try to find a pic.