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Some pics: The first is a feather carved by Jim Linnell. He made it during the class and it was raffled. I won and got to take it home. I plan to frame it and aim to reach at least half-way to that expertise in carving some day. Mine is still not done. Might put it up once completed; cannot promise, though it's not too bad. It looks a little like it's from a bird has been through a storm versus Jim's which looks like it's from a calm and collected bird! This is a turquoise pendant that I made in another class with Jim Linnell. I'm rather pleased with it. Everything from the 'silver' mount to the actual turquoise 'stone' itself are of leather.

I think that maybe the 9oz. leather does not crease - too thick to do that. When I make bracelets or straps for bags, it is thinner leather and that is why I probably face that issue. And I agree, stitching horses have jaws that hold the leather flat. I wonder if we get curved ones. It would be of so much of help to all of you who sew larger items in different shapes. Maybe someone with expertise in woodworking will come up with one.

@Mulesaw I will put up pics but it will have to be tomorrow. I need to find a place far away from everything else so that the mold spores do not get around and damage anything else. As it is, it is very humid where I live these days so there is little needed to encourage mold.

I found an old children's wooden horse with a leather saddle. I cleaned the horse and the saddle but the saddle is riddled with mold. I am in the process of cleaning it. Wipe and vinegar wash to start. The straps and seat seem okay but one of the sections under the back of the seat, no idea what it is called, is 2 pieces stitched together and pieces came off it as I tried to open it gently and spray inside. I literally have pieces of it. It seems to be veg-tanned leather and it is not peeling. I have pieces of it like one takes off pieces off a side of cake or cookie! How and why does that happen? Is the mold causing it? or lack of conditioning? Poor care? Probably all of these. More important, can it be saved? I have no idea of the age of the thing. I would appreciate any help here.

See, any time 2 layers of leather are stuck together, there is potential for creasing on one side or the other, depending on how the leather is folded, especially if the leather is not firm. e.g. I plan to use some filigree stamps on a bracelet, with filigreed leather on the uppermost surface, the colored lining and the inner lining which will be the same as the filigreed leather but without filigree. But it is soft leather, not firm leather and it will not be molded into a specific shape. I can stick this flat, in which case, when I curve the bracelet to wear it around my wrist, will not the innermost layer crease?

SO when you use a shorter piece of padding, will that prevent creasing when the final piece is straightened?

So as long as there is no requirement for padding from end-to-end, this works great. Thank you for explaining.

@TomE unless you stick the pieces together around whatever you are making or something of the same diameter as @Dwight explained above, how will you stich a piece of 15 inch leather to a piece of 15.75 inch piece of padding and get the edges to align? @Dwight that sounds like a good technique but will the outermost leather not crease when straightened?

@Northmount staplers and paper clips. I love those ideas!

@Mocivnik are you making that bag? Did this information help?

@Chipster99, I have those and do not like them. That is precisely why I started this thread. They are too sharp and can scratch the leather. The backs are heavy and large and the thread gets caught in them. That is why I prefer the earrings. They are blunt and the backs can be of different sizes, all much smaller. These might work for heavy, larger pieces where the leather is too heavy to be weighed down by them. Earrings will fall off in those. @NatesLeatherGds , @bruce johnson I also use earrings when I punch the holes in something that I make, not just for ready bought patterns. These work for anywhere where I need the leather to stay together and has stitching holes. Of course, they cannot be used when using pricking irons. There, glue and/or bulldog clips are needed. How do you prevent the clips from leaving marks though? Line the clips with leather? I sometimes keep the leather flat, weighed down with weights to prevent marks. @bruce johnson I usually don't glue the leathers together if I am using these. I don't need to. I do use the stitching pony or horse though, depending on the size of the piece, of course. If I glue the pieces of leather together, I punch the holes after gluing. With the leather already held in place with glue, no need for anything else while stitching. These really work well for me when I have to stitch along curves or long straight stretches. Holding the pieces together makes things so much easier. I don't like to glue edges because if the glue leaks out even slightly on the edges, edge finishing is a pain.

@NatesLeatherGds with bulldog clips you cannot have the stitching holes exactly coinciding as well as with something like pins. Also they can make marks on the leather. But if they work for you, that's great.

That is the pentagonal gusset

No idea when I can upload the gusset shape pic. My file size is small enough to remain below the limits. Will try later today. Another appointment now.

This is the front of the prototype. I cannot as yet upload the gusset pic. Will do so in a while.

Why not create a prototype with paper first? The bag appears to be a very long rectangle forming the 2 main sides and the gussets being wider at the top (trapezoid) and stitched onto the main part to form a rectangular base. Once put together, the extra material on the trapezoid shaped gussets should form that fold on each gusset naturally. With paper, you can manipulate the width of the top of the trapezoid shape of the gusset to your satisfaction and the base as well. After that, translating into a leather bag should be simple. NOTE: I just made a prototype with paper and I apologize - it is not a trapezoid on the sides, it is a pentagon. Pics follow.

Don't we face the same problems with our tools ? 4 mm chisels are all measured from different points, for example and give stitches of different length, depending on the maker. I think it is a matter of being 'different' from what came earlier and/or making more money on the other essentials. Think cell phone chargers. Thank goodness these need to be of a generic type now. Thank you EU! Think American English as well. When I first came to the US after a lifetime of British English, it was so much more evident.

You could do as I did. I got a humidity monitor with several sensors - placed them all around in the room. Then I could decide which areas needed a humidifier and which needed a de-humidifier. I bought several small humidifiers and dehumidifiers and placed them as needed. I check the monitor daily and maintain a healthy humidity for my leathers. Before that, I bought those packets of moisture absorbers and placed them near the leathers if the humidity was too high. They helped as well. If the door to your inventory room is kept open for long periods, this will not work though. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are most useful when areas are kept enclosed. I keep the door to my room closed at all times, opening only to enter or leave.,

Around 45-55% is good. You could have smaller, portable dehumidifiers close to where the leather items are stored. I have 2 sensors in the same room, one near the leathers and one some distance away. Depending on whether I place a dehumidifier close to the leathers or not, the humidity readings on these sensors differ. So while you might not e able to get the humidity down in the whole room, you can do so in specific areas.

@NatesLeatherGds Thank you.

@fredk, I'm afraid I'm going to be later than that. I'm going to Jim Linnell's classes! 2 of them over the week-end - Friday - to refine swivel knife techniques and Saturday to learn how to make leather jewelry - specifically how to make stones like Turquoise realistically. On Sunday he is teaching figure carving. I might not be able to go for it. But 2 classes itself will be a great learning experience.

@Danne, I saw that earlier. you have shown it so well. However, mine was multiple layers of about 4-5oz chrome-tanned leather, with curves and whatnot, and the leather has synthetic layers on both surfaces. I dare not apply any heat. Sanding directly was not an option, in fact sanding was not an option until it had a good layer of primer on it. Furthermore, with 4 layers, at least for me, the edges were not even and needed to be evened out before I could think of creasing or anything else. The edges could not be evened out by cutting so it had to be by building up the uneven sections. After the edges were leveled out, creasing etc. would have been possible.

@fredk I've been a bit lax, I'm afraid. You have added a lot of information here. I need to pull up my socks and get to work! Since the cold days are gone, I will check what effect the cold and humidity here have had on the leathers and update in the next few days. @dikman Thank you.

@NatesLeatherGds, thank you. @bruce johnson I've not tried wax as yet. I needed a bright matching color for the leather. Mixing colors to get a match was a pain and acrylics look different when wet and dry. I will try wax next. A gentle burnish would be nice. I used Uniter's primer and I am happy with it. I will try Martin's mix and Sarah Hagel's product too though. It is good to have a choice. Only thing is, this leather is of a firm temper, so the stiffening of the edge with the primer and acrylic paint worked. I'm not sure how to keep the edge soft on softer leathers and yet have it edge finished as well.

I recently finished a bag of chrome tanned leather and over some frustrating weeks, learnt first-hand how edge-finishing chrome-tanned edges is different from edge-finishing veg-tanned leathers. This is what I experienced: I had to stitch 4 layers of chrome-tanned leather together. It is evidently a split with synthetic coating. No matter how hard I tried, the edges of the 4 layers could not be cut exactly level to provide a single smooth, level edge. I had to edge finish. Not being veg-tanned leather, I could not use Tokonole or gum trag and burnish it, so edge paint it had to be. But that paint looked ugly and rough, so I had to sand it down. But sanding damaged the synthetic material and leather giving an even rougher texture, so I realized I needed a primer. The primer, a single thin coat, did not do much. It was still very rough and sanding still made a mess. So I applied another thin layer, and another and then sanded. By now, the primer layer was sufficient to coat the edges of all the 4 layers well and I could sand down until I reached the leather in the edges of all 4 layers that were the highest and left the remaining sections of all the edges untouched. I applied primer again. And repeated. By now, the lower sections of the edges of all 4 layers had built up to be more or less level. When I sanded next, they were level. I painted, sanded lightly and painted again, and got a reasonably nice edge. I could have continued to get a really shiny beautiful finish but stopped there. Through the process, I learnt this about chrome-tanned leather edge finishing. I need to build up the edge to the highest level using a primer and then paint the edges, so that it is smooth. This is the opposite of what we usually do with edge-finishing veg-tanned leather, where we flatten the leather using beeswax or other agents. Now peeling can be a real issue when building up layers of primer and paint – it is after all only acrylic something. That is why I kept sanding as much as possible only until the lower layers built up. As sanding roughens the surface, that also helps a bit to hold the paint in place. I’m still not sure whether thicker coats of primer and paint are better or thinner ones since there are proponents of both. My primer is a bit thick so I could not make a very thin layer. I made it as thin as possible. Now only time will tell how it works out. All this is surely known to experienced leatherworkers. I could not find it anywhere - probably more an oversight on my part since I am sure there will be some kind souls out there who will have explained it much better. For me, knowing why I do something helps me do it better. That is why, once I understood the principle behind using those primers and paints, I thought I would share it here. I would love to hear more about this from all who have been using this for years.