HippieLee

Maybe it's called something else in real life but at the Tandy store near me they have milled leather - it's veg-tanned, natural color and you can tool and dye it. It's pretty thick (I'm thinking 6~8oz?) and it's very soft - floppy like. I haven't used any yet but I'm planning to make a purse for my wife from some and maybe a vest for me. I think they said they tumble it for a long time to soften it up. It feels nice and I look forward to using it. (Unless the experienced guys here know of any issues)

I was interested in your question so I started googling (because I'm still so new I don't even know what all these thread names are) and thought it was interesting when I found this image that I think shows exactly what you are asking: I found it at this site: http://www.fineleatherworking.com/linen-thread and I know absolutely nothing about it other than this image. I have only hand sewn anything but the only thread I;ve used so far is the stuff I got at Tandy. I love findng out there is a large world of colors and sizes out there and that picking the different ones gives different effects.

Good lookin' out, Dwight! I had just been telling my wife I needed to hit up Staples but we have Joanne's here too and that's a much better deal. Thanks for letting us know.

If you have a staples near-by they have many different sizes too: Self Healing Cutting Mats I hope to get a big'un when I finally build a proper worktable.

oh lol! Someone might have said you were crazy to take that on as your first project but seeing how it turned out, they would have been wrong. I thought you were angry because it didn't fit in the carry-on sizer at the airport. Glad that's not the case! (no pun intended).

Welcome to LW! Beautiful wallet. What kind of colors did you use? Airbrush?

I don't understand what you're mad about - I'd be happy as heck with a piece like that! Now I'll have to add that to the long list of things I want to make.

Thanks for that info! good to know as I was considering an order too and wasn't sure what size I should get.

If you're working on a smaller piece use some contact cement and stick the piece to a larger piece of something stiff (I cut up old cereal boxes for a nice big flat piece of cardboard. Old cereal boxes work better because I've discovered that your wife will yell at you when you use a new one. I don't know why - that bag of cereal fits in the pantry better without a box anyway.). That way you can hold the whole thing still with your arm rather than chasing the leather all over your table. Oh and this also helps keep the leather piece from stretching out too much and deforming.

You're welcome Bill and Thank you! I generally wear it using the D-rings with the belt I made just for that but the extra loop in the back is good for putting it on a belt and wearing it as a hip pouch. Here's me at the highland games in February:

Thank you kindly Cheryl - I hope to keep getting better and better and I know I'm in the right place for that. :-)

A sporran is the pouch men wear with their kilts because kilts have no pockets. They come in a dizzying array of designs and varying degrees of formality from plain leather day-wear to full mask animal faces to silver cantled, long-haired formal dress. The first I made is this: I also made a belt for it but I don't have a picture of it - which is fine as I don't like it and will re-make it soon anyway lol. You have a member here who does spectacular sporrans - Wyvern is an inspiration.

if not leather I wonder how well it will cut stiffer plastic/acetate? Like what craft-aides are made from...that could come in pretty handy.

Beautiful shoes, friend! May I ask how you accomplished the pinking/brogue holes? Is there a tool for that?

Not quite a year ago I decided I wanted to make my own sporran so I searched out leather-working advice and joined up at this site and have been reading it ever since. But since I finally made a couple posts I figured I ought to say "Howdy". Right up front I want to thank you all for the advice and help you so freely give here - I've seen so many things I never would have imagined I could do and now I can not only imagine them, sometimes I manage to not screw them up too badly! Now that I've made my sporran and a few other small projects I feel a LITTLE more comfortable posting here and look forward to learning from y'all every day. I'm also pretty lucky to have a Tandy store nearby with a couple of guys who love teaching and aren't afraid to tell me when to buy stuff somewhere else and will not only tell me what I did wrong but show me how to do it right. My wife and daughter have a long list of stuff for me to make now so I'll be leaning on you guys a lot lol. Thanks again!

Well I'm certainly way too new to be giving leather construction advice so when the regulars here show up please pay way more attention to them. I just wanted to say kudos for making a Skyrim pouch! lol , I love that game. I believe you are absolutely right in that the game designers don't care about construction - at least not to the point that we would as makers. I think there's no reason not to do it just like you said - sew the front flap inside-out and turn it so you have an inside pocket and then put decorative round lace on the front flap seam. In fact - make the front flap and back side all one long piece - it does not appear to have a gusset so the main pouch will just be a larger piece of soft leather (milled would be great) sewn onto one end and the front flap pouch on the other end. Both inside out and then flipped. It looks like the design at the bottom of the main pouch can easily be carved. Structurally speaking I think you need the softer milled type leather for the main pouches and back/front piece but you might want to add in a stiffer leather piece in back for support Here's a sporran I made that kind of illustrates what I'm talking about regarding the back piece folding over to be the front flap - you would just sew the pouches to each end instead of having the gusset in there for the main pouch (This was my first attempt at a sporran - lots of things I'll do differently on my next):

Petty's Pocket Leather (pocket because you make wallets and such but that might be too limiting if/when you branch out)(THe point being you add the 's to make it obviously a name rather than an adjective) Leather By Petty - your initials and logo could incorporate the x that is common now for "by" - LxP InZayne Leather Goods - Your prices are CRAZY!

I made several baskets for Christmas presents but this was the only non-tan color. It looks greener now in a different monitor too - I think I may need to get my laptop screen calibrated lol - I swear last night when I posted this from home it was looking weirdly blue-green - but it's definitely Christmasy in real life.

I was pleased with how this basket came out: It really looks more green in real life - phone cam problems. This was with Tandy professional water-stain.