Small leather goods

Hello my crafty friends!

With the lock-down being still in progress I’m sure I’m not the only one who is having an extra free time to make and sew.

I am not making many clothes lately, but instead focusing my attention towards leather crafting and bag making. Last week I told you where I bought my leather from, an today I will show you everything I’ve made so far. It is not a lot, and nothing impressive really, but for someone who is just starting working with leather it is a massive improvement.

My very first idea was to draft a Passport cover with a space to store my travel ticket. I wanted the design to be as simple as possible with some sort of a closure. Initially I though to put a magnetic snap, but I did not have one on hand, so instead used heavy duty snap. In all honesty this is my second version, because the first one I’ve made was to small for my passport ( silly me). Forgot to account for the leather thickness and I could not close it, but it was very easy to rectify and now I have a perfect Passport cover.

Working on this leather I’ve realized straight away that similarly to a fabric, it has a different feel, drape and flexibility in comparison to the purple leather I worked with during the leather workshop I’ve taken last year. This brown leather is more flexible and kind of stretchy as well, so I need to fight it out how to work with it, as even burnishing edges is more difficult then it was when I worked on purple leather.

My second make was this eyeglasses case, which I shared on my Instagram feed awhile ago. This is by far my proudest make so far as a beginner (excluding the purple cross body bag of course;)).

Again, I drafted the pattern myself , but wanted to step up my game and incorporate the lightweight navy leather in some way. After some thinking I decided to add a decorative strap , which would become a part of a closure and side panels to give this case shape.

I measured my sunglasses because there are the largest in shape and I wanted to make sure the case will fit my other eyeglasses whenever I travel and need to pack them to take with me.

The pattern is very simple in shape. The main body is a big rectangle with a slightly curved side panels. The navy strap goes all around the case and is only attached at the beginning and the end. I used a screw back head button stud. It was my first time working with this type of closure but it is super simple. Just punch a small hole to put the stud through and secure it to the leather with a small screw that is attached from inside. I had made a small error here too, by making a opening slit in the wrong direction in the navy leather strap. Typically you need to punch a hole and make a small snip going to that opening so that the stud can go through, however I’ve made the snip on the wrong side of the hole and with time and use it might get larger 🙁 I guess I might have to make another case when that happens hihihi

I used a waxed thread here and I must say that I find it much easier to sew with. I only have two threads at the moment, one brown which I need to wax before use and another black that is waxed already. Few months ago I’ve asked on one of the Facebook groups I follow which thread the leather makers prefer to use, and majority of those people who replied said that they always use waxed thread. It saves time and the cost is nearly the same because you do not have to buy a bees wax separately.

For my third make I decided to use a free pattern by Bitchen. I believe it is a Korean leather maker, who produces the most beautiful bags and other leather items. Most of his patterns are free and I watch his YouTube videos tutorials to learn how to put the pattern together. I fell in love with one of his bags patterns and am planning to make it once I have more confidence!

This time I’ve made his small leather pouch, which is super cute, but it was my most difficult project to date. The side panels are constructed of two pieces and I had to use a leather glue to first attach it to the main body, after that had to punch the stitching holes, which I found a bit tricky. I’m not used to working like that, but I’m glad I’ve tried it because I got to learn something new. I used a magnetic closure this time and I really like the overall design. It is a small pouch and I use it to hold all my sewing machine needles. I’m thinking to scaling the pattern to larger size to make it big enough to hold my phone.

Before I started this project I purchased a pack of multi color leather trims from Pittards because I wanted to have a samples of different leather hides and weight and I used one of the trims to make the inner flap pocket.

For my latest project I decided to draft a small belt bag, and used the same pattern design concept learned on the workshop…wanted to make sure I still remember 😉 This belt bag is big enough to hold all my essentials such as phone, railcard and a house keys.

Again I wanted a simple design, so there are no compartments or pockets, which could be handy, but it is something I need to learn to do next.

I really liked the stud closure before, so decided to use it once again. Sadly to say I’ve made the same mistake and snip the leather on the wrong side of the opening …. so disappointing. To rectify this I punched another hole next to the first one making much bigger opening. It still works, but the opening is now too big and the stud has nothing to hold on to. Och well…. live and learn. Third time lucky????

I will not be using this as a belt bag because the flap keeps opening so instead I’m using it to hold the embroidery thread of my current project. I could sew on a contrasting leather patch to cover the whole and try to make the correct opening, but for now I’m happy either way.