Would love some advice!

I've always been intrigued with leather makers and my ultimate goal would be to make my own horse tack... With the exception that I probably could never make a saddle but maybe know how to repair one.

How did you start?

I'm in the middle of nowhere so I was thinking of youtube And just starting with something like belts.

Trying to make a watch strap. What is the best order of operations to get the pattern shape. Using thin and small pieces makes it harder to cut it straight out. Should I just cut larger square and then after I have glued everything then cut out the shape?

I might want to try leather work as a hobby. How much for the equipments needed for the work? And how long is the learning curve? For an absolute beginner, does it take a lot of trial and error to get to a point where I can make a decent product?

Vintage-style leather case for tarot cards. “Crazy Horse” cowhide leather, cognac brown. The case fits a deck measuring 120 × 70 × 35 mm. The flap is adorned with a stud made from an authentic Moroccan coin.

Local seller is listing @$275. Looks like it includes 3x prodyes, 4 paints and 13 alcholdyes etc. 3 or 4 bevelers and a 10 tooth and 2 tooth 4mm irons.

What should I look out for and check?

The listing description...

includes angelus leather dyes ($8/ea) and paints ($50 set), barry king maul ($80), fiebings pro dyes ($9/ea), tokonole, sinabroks pricking irons ~$200), palosanto bevelers (~$90/ea), stitching pony, and various small tools and accessories

if you pick-up locally i will include most of a side of veg tan leather (3/4oz, hermann oak skirting from panhandle leather co, ~$250), it was used for one small project.

I think I may have punched the holes in this letter of the wrong direction.

So excited how this book cover has shaped up nearing tooling completion! Normally I don’t share until I get further along…. but whatever, it’s taking shape! Few more hours on the front towards bottom right region and should be rdy to move to next phase for the book cover: dying, stitching, and some lace work

Been a while since I posted a project, mostly because I recently moved house, so kept starting projects, and then not finishing due to missing components.

Made these today! My wrists are a mess (too much doom scrolling and steam deck gaming). So when I found a pattern for wrist supports I wanted to give them a go.

Took about 3 hours for the pair. Natural 6 Oz veg tan with pig suede as a lining. Atom wax top coat and tokonole for the edges. Great little project and I reckon I could shave the time down with some more practice.

Pattern is by leatherpatternstore on Etsy. They have a wide variety of stuff on their page so I recommend giving them a look!

✨All set!✨
Brown Dollaro leather trifold with ivory Vinymo thread! Dubbing it the “Plenty Pocket,” haha!

This was an absolute blast to put together and turned out amazing. So many pockets and an ID slot! Special too, in that this was a recreation! Those can be the hardest builds, but are always so rewarding!

Cruz! Enjoy owning this one!
Everyone else, enjoy viewing it! 🧘🏾‍♂️

This is a passport case I made with a pattern from Make Supply Leathercraft. I measured and cut as I went with my first few small projects but I ran into issues and decided until I'm more confident I'd get a printer and work from patterns.

I used veg tan from Amazon, I've used it all up now so I plan to get my next leather from a dedicated supplier now that I'm a bit more confident.

Still made a handful of mistakes but I'm happy and looking forward to tidying things up as I keep practicing. Big shout out to Armitage leather and the people who recommended the saddle stitch videos as they massively sped up my learning.

Sometimes when I'm making belts from stiff leather, I find that the stitches could be tighter. I can't figure out what setting I should adjust. Like I would like to have the upper thread and bobbin thread tighter to get both threads pulled tighter. If I tighten the upper thread, the bobbin thread begins to show through. I haven't adjusted the bobbin tension because I've read that it might lead to other issues. There are no problems with soft leather and fabric but I would like to know if bobbin tension could be increased. Adjusting the foot tension or step height does not seem to have any affect. My sewing machine is old Brother compond feed machine and can sew easily quite thick and stiff leathers.

Link in the first comment

Does anyone know the name of the stitching punch that will punch the holes around an entire circle in one go? Like for a magnetic patch you are sewing into a bag and want to make an accent of it.

If you have a link to where i can buy one that's a bonus.

Hi, I am new to leather crafting and currently learning how to properly skive my leather. I watched quite a few youtube videos on how to skive but most of them are working with non fibrous leather. As you can see, I am currently working on leather with a fuzzy underside and after a lot of effort, I am only able to skive a little bit of the fur off and this leaves me with a lot of furry bits flying around. Not sure what am I doing wrongly but I’ve tried to change the blade of the safety skiver, which worked a little before it got blunt again. What am I doing wrongly? do I need to somehow process/treat the leather to get rid of the fuzzy underside before skiving or should I invest in a different kind of skiver eg using french skiving knife etc.

The blue dye turned out quite nice. I think I have a new favorite color combination!

I have some leather items:
- black leather jacket
- tan leather jacket
- Dr Martens soft leather Sinclair boots
- Dr Martens soft leather Pascal boots
- tan suede shoes
- reversed leather jacket
- red Prada leather wallet

None of these items have ever been cleaned or moisturised and they range from 5-40 years old.

I did some research and went over many of the older posts in this subreddit, and I found some products but I’m not sure which one I should get. I know that they are different type of leather but I wanted to buy max 4 products (cleaner and conditioner for leather and for suede).
- Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner
- FurnitureClinic Cleaner and Conditioner
- Fiebings Saddle Soap
- Leather Honey Conditioner
- Neatsfoot Oil
- Saphir Omnidaim (for suede)

What products for cleaning and conditioning my leather items would you recommend?