Basically Bob

Awesome! I really enjoyed the video. That's a really nice way to honour your Father.

You might find this video by Don Gonzales helpful

Thanks, Dun. Much appreciated!

So does my wife ... I only get 49% of the votes

Just finished this handbag, yesterday. (8 1/2" w x 9" w x 1 1/2" D) The pattern is from The Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michaels. I changed it up a bit and lined the inside flap and back with deer skin, which added more complexity to the construction than I thought it would. Never again. For example, when I dyed the edge of the flap, The deer skin sopped up the dye like a sponge - Yuk - made a big mess. I managed to get around this by gluing another layer of deer over top of the piece that was ruined. Also, it is extremely difficult to skive, so it added thickness to the bag that I really did not want and it does not burnish like veg cow. The molded front is made up with two molded pieces, glued together, flesh to flesh so that the inside of the pocket shows the grain side, (looks and feels great. I skived down a circular button and then glued and stitched it over the back of the Sam Browne stud. This was a great learning project, for sure, and I plan on doing more of them in the future. Thanks for looking!

LOL - going to make a smaller one, too, following the theme of "discreet, concealed carry". ... Ahhh, the 70's ... Great years!

Thanks, Mattsbagger Trying to come up with some simple items. Thinking I will crease the edge to make it look at little more finished.

A quick & easy pocket case that will hold four smokes. It's hardly noticeable in a shirt or front pant pocket. Like a mini cigar case.

I put this together really quick to illustrate my suggestion. IMHO you should be closing up the top of the gussets and nailing down the top of the pocket patches. The top stitch line shows how the gussets could be closed up. The bottom stich line shows how you would accomplish the same thing with a pocket or patch.

Good job!

Awesome!

Lookin' good. I especially like you paid attention to the details ... Like covering the hardware on the inside with leather. Thanks for sharing!

It looks great, Mike. The braiding is excellent and I especially like the colouring and stamping. Really cool how the texturing fades out randomly. thanks for sharing!

Good stuff!

Two more projects

The Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michaels is excellent. Al Stohlman's Art of Making Cases, Start with volume 1 and progress to volume 3

That is a great, practical idea! I would have found that very useful in my days as a business traveller.

Nice little bag. You did a great job.

Looks great. Neat and tidy & it looks like a good design. What did you use for a finish?

+1

Excellent! Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Thanks for sharing!

Very nice. I like how you paid attention and took care with the finer details of the sheath. The creasing on the strap and hole for the stud are perfect. Stitching and the arrowhead stamp pattern is excellent, also. The lighter colour works really well with the handle of the knife. Thanks for sharing.

JLS Leather, a regular poster on this forum, has several, simple, wallet/case patterns (free) on his website. ByNelson's advice to start small is very good.

I would start by buying three books: - the Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michaels (she guides you through projects, step by step, starting with simple projects, leading up to advanced projects. - the Art of Making leather Cases: Volumes 1 and 2 - perhaps three, later on. Start with the stitching methods in Michael's book. All the case making techniques you will need are covered in Stohlman's books. Also, you tube has gobs of info: check out Leodis Leather and Nigel Armitage - lots more, but sometimes it is tough to sort out the good stuff from bad. Tools: buy quality, for sure.

Yup, different design for sure ... just wanted to show that stitch holding down the top piece.