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I am about to design a leather sunglasses/glasses case. I am concerned that the flesh side of the leather, which would be on the inside of the case, will scratch/mark/scuff the glasses. I am using full grain hermann oak, and the flesh side is very tight, not hairy at all. Is this something I should worry about? I really do not want to have to line the inside with suede or another material. Would it be reasonable to lightly sand the flesh side to make it softer? I had thought about that but I don't want any flesh particles to be left on the glasses (I don't even know if that would happen, just hypothesizing). Maybe theres a conditioner or something that can be used? Thanks! Zayne

I've been experimenting with some briefcase ideas, incorporating some of my hand-made brass and exotic wood handles and hardware. This one is also lined with an Italian wool men's suit material. Simple single gusset brief, but I've adopted/adapted the rod look from the music breifcases. Great littel bag, and with the brass and Purpleheart handle, it really is nice to carry. Overall I'm quite happy with it, though I think that the leather would be more suited to a turned bag...that'll be next on my list.

Hello, First time of posting here for ages, but when last I visited I was always impressed by how helpful this group was! I'm making a leather case for my small medieval harp, to be carried backpack style. I realise veg-tanned leather is unlikely to be waterproof, but aim to make it at least shower resistant. I'm planning on normal style seams rathet than butt-jointed edges, for more strength, but can't decide whether it's better to turn the seam inwards or outwards to be more weatherproof. Inwards makes more of a channel for water to seep in if my stitching isn't tight, outwards leaves the edge showing, which may be more water-absorbent. Any advice welcome, please. I'll also welcome comments on favourite proofings/dressings which aren't horribly greasy, as it'll be worn when I have modern clothes too, while retaining a natural sort of look suitable for the historical appearance. Thanks, Richard.

This a Leather case I made for when I do leather fare work to carrie my hand stamping tools in.

Here are a couple of pics of a belt case I made recently. Also a link to about a 20 min YouTube video I put together while making it.

So today i finished my knife sheath , along the lines of making it i left out some burnishing , which made it really difficult to do when the case was put together. the edges are a bit rough because i have no skyver to take down the thickness of suade before stitching it so i had to try and do it with a blade which didn't work so well . well here it is .......

To whomever it may concern, I am looking for a manufacturer or artisan that can make custom made leather cases using the corner stitching technique, preferably by machine as by hand takes too long. Maybe you know someone who used to make these? Thank you and best regards, Rokko Miyoshi

Well, I finished it! This is my mothers Christmas present. I know that Santa clause will be giving her a pair of binoculars, so I decided to make her a case! I'm pretty happy about how it turned out seeing as its my first bag. I learned a few things during the process, which is what it's all about!

New design idea of an ipad Mini case. I wanted to bevel the inside edges of the frame that holds the ipad, but couldn't work out a good way to get in to the corners, any ideas? Also the closing straps are just a try out, hence the not so neat edges, gonna change them today. I also like the rugged look of using actual hinges on the case, but would like to recess them into the leather so they sit flush, but no idea how to do this! Any comments welcome, thanks!

Hello - I have followed this board for a while and have been working with the kits and packaged items. This is my first attempt at making a pattern and creating something, learning a lot more about leatherworking along the way. After reading "How to Make Leather Cases" by Al Stohlman, I thought "what can be so hard about that?" I can see several areas for improvement, but I am interested in feedback from others to see what I missed in my self-assessment. This was a gift for my wife, along with a few fountain pens. She loves it (which is all that matters to me)

My brother is making pens and sent a bolt action pen to me. So of course I had to make a pen case for it. It has a veg tanned 3oz as the primary and a 1oz black pig skin for the secondary. It is hand sewn but a Consew 255RB-3 leather sewing machine would have made the stitching a lot better. For a first design I am pretty happy with the outcome. See video on youtube at

Hello leatherworkers, I made this a few years back, but I'm new to this forum so I'll post it now. I bought my first drum back then and got very excited. Since I had been making small wallets etc. for myself and my gf, I thought I'd make a case for my drum (it was a big jump!). Needless to say, this was the largest project I've done, so it took many months since I can only work on it at night and weekends when I wasn't practicing my open tones. Now that it's done, I can finally practice! Goals I designed it so that it to take all my gear to my music class in one bag. The inside fits a 30" conga drum (it fits both my drums with an 11" and 12.5" head), a circular wooden board for under the drum, a drum throne seat. The top opens up via two 26" zippers ($20). The outside has a loop that fits the drum throne support (like an umbrella on a golf bag), two pockets, and a triple-fold suitcase handle. The large pocket holds a handheld cowbell with beater, a pair of clave sticks, and timbale sticks. The small pocket holds a digital metronome, a tuning wrench, and a pen. There is a loop on each side of the pocket. Final design I own no machines. Everything is hand-cut, hand-dyed, hand-painted, hand-stitched, hand-polished, etc. I made the body out of one piece of 4-5 oz veg-tan leather from Tandy Leathercraft ($150). It's cut into four sections that taper down like a mercator projection on a world map. The leather is dyed using Fiebing's professional saddle tan oil dye ($50); the body is darker because I mixed some of Tandy's own canyon tan water-based dye ($15). The lining is thin velvet-like material made of polyester from JoAnn's Craft Store ($12). The art work on the pocket is my version of the artist Evelio Garcia Mata's La Conga (1930s). The figures are filigreed, dyed ($20), then finished with Cova acryllic paint ($20). I baseball stitched the vertical seams with brass rivets ($10) at the bottom. Everything else is saddle stitched with nylon thread ($20). I also added wheels ($20) at the bottom after the photos were taken with a circular wood piece of plywood on the inside ($10). I used the Stohlman brand for hardware ($30). Cost, time On general stuff, I consulted Al Stohlman's books ($30) on cases, esp. the part about the golf bags. On specific stuff like handles and loops for buckles, I followed Valerie Michael's book ($20) on cases because the lines seemed cleaner to me. I spent a few nights a week for 3-4 months. For example, a suitcase handle takes 4 hours to complete; cutting/dying/painting/repainting the figures took 20 hours over two weeks. I spent about $200-$400, depending whether you count the left over material like dyes, paints, and books into the cost. Future project I plan on making a matching case for my wife's bongo drums. The art work will be La Rumba by Antonio Sanchez Araujo. Hopefully it will only take about a month when I get around to it. cheers, Tae PS The whole thing with the drum and seat are really heavy. I added wheels to the bottom for now, but I'm thinking of hacking the top part down so that it's just the drum. As this would require much surgery (and possible destruction), I've just been putting it off. I still haven't made the bongo case yet.