Halitech

beats just throwing them in the garbage

another commission piece, to take an old leather jacket and convert it into a laptop bag. Everything was reused except a piece of stiffener I added to hold the laptop and thread/rivets.

word of advice that I read on here and was echoed by an employee at Tandy, buy the best gear you can afford, you won't regret it. Just don't mortgage the house to do so And start with the basics that you know you will use a lot, not the one off tool that you might use once a year. I nice slicker for the edges is one thing you can get that is inexpensive and will make your projects look 100 times better. Also, take your time and think things out so you don't waste leather. Bristol board (or even old frozen pizza boxes) make great templates so you can put things together and see if they are going to fit so you can make your mistakes and correct them by adding or removing pieces first.

nice work and love the paint job

there will always be something you need as you go along lol if you have one near you, check out a kitchen and counter store and see if they have any samples they aren't selling anymore and you may be able to get a nice piece of granite or marble to work on cheaper then what a leather supply shop would want. I picked up one a month ago at a place near me for free that was 12"x12"x1.5". It's not pretty but it works and it is flat and polished.

It looks like the one that comes in a kit from Tandy in which case, the holes are already there to make it easier to do for the beginner

I'm sure he'll love it and nice work. Maybe if he keeps it in a shirt pocket it won't allow the edges to get too bent

beautiful work outside. How did you set it up inside?

looks good and good idea to convert it to a card holder however the edges of the cards may end up getting bent in his pocket as the holder isn't as wide as the cards

I'd rather look at tits then tuts myself but certainly wouldn't get much work done :/ might need to move this to the adult section if we keep going down this train of thought

after closer examination (with my glasses off) it seems what I was seeing as a second set of holes is actually a small gap between the leather of the seat and where the lacing is crisscrossing over the edge of the 2 layers of the seat. I've got Lacing and Stitching for Leathercraft and it is explained in there so I think I should be good to go. Thanks everyone for the help

I've been looking closer and I think it is the double loop as electrathon has stated. Is it possible the holes I'm seeing under the double stitch is what was used to hold things together while the the double stitch was done?

Hello I've been asked to do some repairs on an old 3 legged stool (the type that folds up and the legs come off) as the leather is badly damaged where the legs go in. I'd like to redo the entire thing by taking it apart, cleaning what leather can be kept, and just replacing what absolutely needs to be replaced as it has a very high sentimental value (was made by her dad who passed away when she was very young) but I'm lost on the type of lacing that was used to put the tops and corner pieces together. I've got a couple of shots of the lacing so if anyone can help me out it would be appreciated. From what I can tell there are 2 sets of holes, one close to the edge and one about about 3/4" from the edge. The first pic is from the top side, the second is from the bottom if that helps any

the finished product

almost finished inside view of the bag. All inside pieces are sewn into existing seems to hide them strap pad on the carry strap. Edges have been slicked and 1 coat of resolene applied in a 50/50 mix

after most of the main construction and dye work

So, I was commissioned to make a "commuter bag" for a friend that will carry her lunch bag, a travel mug and a book. She's just started taking the bus instead of her car and didn't want to carry multiple bags on the bus First picture is a bristol board mock up (I find it easier to have a template to work from then trying to cut things with just a ruler and square) This allowed me to lay everything out on the leather as well so I didn't waste or have to buy extra 2nd and 3rd pics are the carving work done for the end pieces I used a single layer of resist on the moon and parts of the horse shoes to prevent the dye from sinking in when I dyed it 4th pic is the custom artwork done on the front Will post more as I put it together

well, on one hand, you can definately claim to have a 1 of a kind ball

they should be now, I had to resize and load them here, dropbox apparently doesn't like linking to here

Had a friend ask me if I could turn a jacket into a carryall/overnight bag This is what I started with After breaking it down into a bunch of parts including taking the lining out, shortening the zipper and making some edging, I put things back together to come up with this. Everything except the handle is made from parts of the original jacket Also decided to remove the red flap when I added the edging around the zipper. The pic shows it with the clamps while it was still drying

didn't know there was an adult section but when you get the chance, I'd like to take a look around, you know, just for ideas of course

for a first project, you definately had more guts then I did. I started small with key fobs and lighter cases and the biggest I've done was the slouch bag which other then the handle, was just cutting and sewing. They look great.

almost the same way. I glued everything first and then sewed it. if you were to take a piece of paper, lay it landscape and cut 2 slits 2" each from the bottom and the edges, to the top you would have the only cuts I made until I did the flap.

that part I did with a machine but basically I overlapped the 2 pieces I was using for the front and back and cut it so the extra would fold in on itself to give it a flat bottom and more support on the bottom.

I'm a newbie too, only been working with leather about 4 months and there are much better out there to look up to