I've never worked with leather or sewn ANYTHING. I can't remember if I saw a pack of scrap leather or the pattern on Amazon first, but I put them in my cart and the journey into madness began....

I'm pretty sure I should have started with something more beginner friendly, but you don't know what you don't know. The acrylic pattern comes with no instructions or tools, so I also added a small beginners kit. Between YouTube and reddit I soft brained my way through it. I found better advice/tips as I worked on it, but also wanted to complete a NOOB project to compare it to later.

Notes

I know I need to learn saddle stitch and other stitches

I learned the difference between veg and chrome tanned, with weights

Im getting better needles(John James), stabbed myself a few times

Just got a stitching pony, tokonole, strop and polishing compound, and sandpaper.

THIS IS A HOBBY, NOT A BUSINESS. ENJOY THE RIDE.

I have experience making bags, armor and wallets from leather, but not so much with shoes. In the pictures you see the three pairs that worked, there are also others that did not (in total 7 f*ck up individual shoes). I settled with 2.5 mm (6 oz) veg tanned leather, with no additional lining, makes it simpler to make and so far I am not sure where the additional benefit would be.

So maybe here are some people with more experience and can tell me:
1. why making lining?
2. whats your general take on using only one layer of veg tanned leather?
3. I heard the longer you wear leather shoes the more comfortable they get, do they ever get more comfortable then regular shoes?

On the shoes: brown ones were first, it's with the flesh side outwards, makes sliding in easy, but gives less support because of that. The flayed feet were 2nd, super tight fit and segmented to not bend when walking and they are sewn only on the inside. The purple ones I made recently, there I tryed out cut outs and I really like them and they do still need to walked in more.

Hi all, I've been doing leather work for a few months and this is the third project I've done. Still trying to get my stitch lines straight and consistent but I think it came out alright. Also started learning tooling This is a basic Joe Melling tooling pattern.

Wallet pattern is a slightly modified Corter Leather pattern. I felt the wallet was a little fat so I added a strap and snap. Plus it allows me to use these snaps that I love.

Things I would change or do different:

The strap feels a bit thin. Also the piece that the zipper is attached to is shorter than the front, which makes the left edge not as thick as most of the other edges. In the future I would just make that whole zipper face the same cut as the front face, which also making a backside for the strap.

Stats for those that care:

Leather: 1.5mm Tandy economy vegtan (was 2mm but skivved down)

Hand dyed with Fibings SaddleTan pro dye

Tooling antiqued with fiebings Mahogany antique finish

Thread: Ritza 25 Tiger thread, 6mm. Burgendy?

Stitch spacing: 3mm (8.5 spi)

Edges sanded then dyed with fibings dark brown then burnished with Tokonole

Total work time: est. 8-12 hours.

3rd year anniversary is traditionally a leather gift, and my wife loves tea so a tea cup holster made sense. I have done a bit of leather work in the past but nothing too terribly major and haven't tooled anything before. I learned a lot of wrong ways to do things! I do outdoor gear so I have a cylinder arm walking foot that has the capability to do leather but also hand sewed some parts. Wife is happy with the gift which is the only thing that actually matters.

I used inkscape to create the pattern, not sure if there's something better but I'm very open to suggestions.

My first project for my daughter, a matching bag to mom's! This is a half scale purse, I even scaled down the stitching to my finest iron, the one I typically use for watch straps. Saddle stitched with bonded nylon thread so hopefully it will survive the toddler days. Perfect size for a few dinky toys and a couple Nins. Banana (small) for scale

Very happy to be done with this project 3 match knifes 440c complete by hand and 6 matching sheaths. I can’t wait to never see them again

Inspired and educated to make this by @ simplealeather on Instagram.

Natural unglazed Rocado Shell Cordovan. Made with a 2mm brass core.

This thing will be a beautiful dark brown in no time!

I’ve been experimenting with ways to push my leather work further, and 3D printing has always fascinated me. I struggled for a while trying to figure out how to actually integrate it into my process without it looking gimmicky.

​After a lot of trial and error, I finally made my first bags combining these two seemingly opposite worlds. The core/skeleton was printed on a regular 3D printer using PETG filament, and then wrapped and glued with leather using chloroprene contact cement (nairit).

​It actually turned out crazy strong through drop tests. Of course, if someone sits on it, it will probably snap, but for daily structure, it holds its form incredibly well.

​Right now, I’m thinking about upgrading to an enclosed printer in the future and switching over to ABS to make it even tougher.

​I’d love to hear your thoughts on this combination and this workflow. Has anyone else here mixed 3D printing with leather? What do you think?

My first attempt at a backpack or larger bag of any kind. I used this pattern, but modified a fair amount including increasing the overall size.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4354419684/leather-backpack-pdf-pattern-diy?ref=share_ios_native_control

Belts I made from calf leather, goat leather and rust dyed elaphe skin

First one is rust dyed and waxed.

I started making belts this month, so feedback is welcome! I’m still figuring out the best settings for my sewing machine for this type of leather, so I’m not entirely happy with the stitching.

Am I a bad person for wanting to make something from this rays beautiful hide.

Edit: Obviously only if it died from natural causes, I don’t mean to kill it for the hide.

Would there be any risk to only lining part of a project? I’m making a laptop sleeve with salo reinforcement and adding padding to protect my computer, so I planned on lining it with some leftover lamb skin to create a barrier between the padding and my laptop. However, the lambskin hide I have is just barely too small to line the entire inside of the laptop sleeve. I was thinking about just adding the lambskin to the top 2/3 of the sleeve (the only part of the interior that will be visible), but I’m worried it’s going to compromise my project somehow. I don’t want to have to end up remaking the whole thing because I cut corners with the lining.

Is this a thing? And if this is a thing, does anyone know if there’s a name for the technique?

TIA

Card wallet I made for the GF

Im beginner and making a bifold with italian leather, and when i stitched on it and folded it, it creased up, is this normal?

Per my last post about beveling I am going to get a higher quality beveler than what I have now. As they're generally sold individually, what is a good *general* size for things like hats, tool bags, helmets, and my youngest wants to make armor...

I have a number of hobbies so I have to be practical on how much I spend for upgrades of each. I'll slowly get more sizes of beveler.

I’ve really enjoyed taking up leather crafting as a hobby , and i have gotten really good at creating patterns , punching stitching holes , edge beveling, stitching , burnishing .. everything but manually skiving the leather .
None of the cheap skivers that i got were getting off any bulk no matter how much pressure i use so i’m thinking now is the time to invest in a proper french skiver set .

I paid a pretty buck for a WUTA skiving machine thinking it would solve my issues but its so tedious to maintain and constrains me to such small size that i would rather just learn to skive entire pieces by hand .

I dont want to keep throwing money at the issue , do you have any suggestions for a quality french set that would last me a couple years of heavy use ? The kind that skives through leather like its butter

Hello! This is my first time posting here , all i wanted to ask from you very smart people of this craft if it would be possible to dye this brown leather jacket to a reddish colour (like the third picture , maybe even darker). I have never done anything like this but i think it would turn out pretty cool. Is something like this actually doable ? Please drop your suggestions in the comments! Thank you!

Looking at building small belt pouches as a first leather craft project. I'm after something that is hard wearing and is reasonably water resistant (or easy to make water resistant). I've seen people using both veg-tan and crazy horse leather for similar projects, is one better than the other? Any recommendations on treatment/dying/maintenance?

Does anyone know where I can buy some of these hidden style spring snaps? This image is from rocky mountain and they are sold out. Also, does anyone know how often they get restocked at rocky mountain?

Alguien se animó a realizar su propio tablero de juego de Damas? Acá les comparto dos que prepare para la familia. Con sus iniciales grabadas. También preparé un juego de ajedrez. Eso lo comparto otro día!

My nephew "commissioned" me to make a sheath for his carpenters hatchet. It's the first one I've made, and the first time carving/beveling a project instead of just playing around. I know my beveling could use more practice as its kind of "lumpy" from inconsistent hammerstrikes and movements. And I definitely need work lining up my stitch holes with the stitch line.

Thats it. I've applied and I'm nervous. I have a plan and everything if I get chosen, but if i don't get chosen it'll hurt a bit. But it'll all be ok.