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This is a practice piece, looking closely at patterning, and stitching. And it's green -- because I wanted to use some of my nice Angelus green dye and some Forest Green linen thread. My brother-in-law is a Green Lantern fan, so he gets first crack at it, but if he doesn't want it, I'll find another home for it. I learned some important things with this project: 1) I get straighter stitch lines if I don't try to make holes in all three layers at once. I laid out the lines and (using my 3 mm stitching chisel) made the holes on the top layer only, then I marked the ends of the next line on the next layer down. I then made a nice straight line going from one set of marks to the next, and then made holes along that line. Same for third layer. 2) Make the inner piece slightly bigger than I plan for, because trimming to fit is better than trying to get it exactly right. 3) cutting card slot pieces is exacting work. 4) skive, skive, skive!

So this is the first wallet I’ve made. Any suggestions as to how to get the dye more even and how to get the basket weave straighter( I seem to struggle with that). Well and any help I could get would be great

Here's a work in progress--- this is the outside of a wallet, using a historical woodcut as a design. The dyes are Fiebing USMC Black, Fiebing Red, Angelus Tan, Fiebing White. I like how woodcuts translate to leather. I was also pleased by how the white turned out -- it looks antique here.

Just finishing up this Elephant billfold. I purchased the elephant from a guy who was closing up his shop. Great color and texture. The interior is fully lined with black French goat, hand stitched with .45mm Golden Ochre Amy Roke linen thread, edges are creased and painted with Fenice.

Hi everyone, I need some opinions. The top picture is my new project. This is my fourth wallet ever and I’m really happy with how the design turned out. Still of course working on my stamping but who isn’t. So now im at the dying phase and I’m a little stuck cause I don’t want to ruin it. I’m going to antique it but I definitely want to highlight the fish. Maybe even add colour? So I need opinions. What would you block, where and why? Also I need help to get my dying look more consistent. I’ll put some examples of my previous work so you know where I’m at. I he first pic is my project. The last colourful one was done all in dye... except the white of course. I have a hard time not complicating things. It’s like if I’m not striving to be professional why am I doing this at all.

This was a fun little wallet to make. My customer requested this specific geometric design and I had to make a tool to work with a stamp I already had to make the design work. He also wanted more credit card capacity in it so I came up with a pocket design that gave him multiple slots on each side. In the end I really liked how the outside design looked and I think it worked out pretty well.

This is the last wallet I made yesterday. Was inspired by all the float planes flying by at my summer job on the port.

Hello All, This is came from a template provided by Tboyce. I downloaded the revised version of the biker wallet, went to FedEx office to get it printed. I had them put it on 24 in X 36 in paper though there was quite a bit of excess paper at the bottom. I don't know what paper sizes they have though so maybe that's the only size to print on. I really like the template! The only issue I really ran into was in the card slots. The cards are really hard to push in and pull out, but I really think this is an issue with the waxed polyester thread I'm using from Tandy Leather. It might be a little to thick in diameter and a little too waxed. I've had a similar experience with other wallets I've made. So I would suggest to go with a non waxed or perhaps a thinner diameter thread. I've been wanting to try a new thread but haven't found a good cheaper price tag. I want to try Ritza Tiger thread but that's pretty pricey for me, so if anyone has a suggestion to try out I'd love to hear it! Also, I always have trouble with beveling thinner weight leathers. Does anyone have a tip or trick to do get a nice clean bevel? I've tried holding it down with a ruler but it still seems to push the leather at times. Yes I probably need to sharpen it better and I'm trying but I still haven't quite figured out sharpening anything well enough. Yes I know this is the show off section but I am always open to critiques to help me improve my skills, so if you see something feel free to say it, please! Anyways here is my version of this wallet:

Need help finding a trifold wallet pattern. I've used the search function on here and I'm not having much luck. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Here is another wallet I just finished for my brother's 18th birthday (today). It is stingray and pigskin. Comments/critique are welcome. Thanks for looking! -Ryan

Here is a recent creation of mine for a friend. She is moving away and asked if I could make her a billfold. She said if I could possibly carve a silhouette of a horse, that would be great... and of course when someone is easy to please and doesn't want you to go through a lot of trouble, it just makes you want to go all out on it. And I happen to know she really likes duns and buckskins. The veg tan is 4 oz belly and the lining is pigskin. It is machine stitched. I tried something new in my stamping by spacing my camouflage a little more and then adding a seeder dot in between them. I actually think it looks pretty good that way. Any questions? Comments/critique are always welcome. Thanks for looking! -Ryan

Hey all, Started binge watching some leathercraft videos on YouTube and got me hooked to the point I had to try it. I've made 3 wallets so far, the first 2 based on a free pattern online, one having the outline of a business logo on the back, the card holder was my own design but admittedly its a very simple one! Attempting a vertical wallet tonight for a friend of mines birthday, love to see what you guys think and offer any advice

I wanted to do bifold wallet for a while , so when customer contacted me I know what to do. Customer didn't wanted a coin pocket, but on next one I will put zipper pocket for coins. And video:

Brand new to this.... any help on where to start ?

Hi everybody,I was working last couple days on this project, minimalistic stitchless wallet, I call it "The adapter" because it adapts to number of cards or cash that you put inside, it can hold single card safely or 12 cards and 40 bills like in video.

Hi, I'm Andy, I've been a reader a longer time here and I wanted to show you a wallet I recently completed. In normal life I'm an IT guy and a few months ago I had the feeling I need to create something with my hands to compensate my fully mind-based job, if you know what I mean. I came to leatherworking by the requirements that I can do it with my hands, I can do it in the apartment at home, I don't need big tools and I don't make much noise (since my son is sleeping by the time I'm working). While I now know that the last part is the hardest I came to have pretty much fun with leather so I think now it's the time that I can start to contribute here once in a while. So here's a Bifold wallet I made, the leather is veg tan kangaroo, lined on one side with some cotton, dyed by hand, finished by hand and stitched by hand with Fil au Chinois 332 blue. I started all my projects with Tiger thread and was pretty happy about it but since everyone talks about that French thread and common opinion is that this is the best thing to use, I gave it a shot. And...I hate it. I needed to wax it extra since without extra wax it was impossible to sew with and it created knots by itself all the time. Maybe someone has an advice for me, maybe I was totally doing it wrong but I breathed a sigh of relief when I was finished. Since I'm a total beginner I used Craft Sha 3mm stitching irons and a standard saddle stitch (as explained from Nigel Armitage in his videos and I watched Ian Atkinson as well). However I can't get that zig-zaggy look on both sides. My stitching is always ok on one side (I chose the outside of the wallet for that side) and straight on the inside (can be seen on the second picture). Maybe my material is too thin, but I stitched a lot (compared to the time I'm doing leather items) but I can't figure out how to get it right. I also tried the overhand knot Nigel is referring to but that isn't helping. MAybe some of you have an advice for me. C & C are appreciated. Thanks, Andy

Here's a couple of pics of recent projects. Enjoy and as always, comments are welcome. The wallet is what led me into making the skiving knife that I recently posted. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the wallet interior and rolled edges. all of the carving for the set was done with this . I'm sure some of you will recall it is one of my homemade swivel knives which has become my recent favorite .

Decided to take one of my old re-enactment pouch designs and shrink it down to a smaller 4-6 card wallet. It’s also the first time in a long time I’ve used fiebings oil dyes, so that’s taking some getting used to again! 1.2mm veg tan, stitched using 18/3 linen thread at 8spi. Any feedback/critique is very welcome!

Hello I was wondering if any of you had any tricks at photographing open wallets I've tried blue painters tape and it wasn't sticky enough I'm afraid to use something that may leave a mark on the leather. Any suggestions?

How's it goin' everyone! I'm a newbie here and just recently found this sight a couple weeks ago. I've always wanted to get into leather craft a few years back and just recently bought me some stamps! I'm mainly looking to make belts, knife sheaths and the occasional wallet. When it comes to sewing machines I am lost! What type of sewing machine do I need for these types of projects? anything that I can buy at the store and readily available? Or do the older/vintage machines do better for these types of projects? Any info is greatly appreciated!

Want to start making wallets. And would like to see what y'all do, in one post

Made my second wallet. Used 4-5 oz for the back and 2-3 oz for the pockets and ID window. I bought the Nigel Armiatge wallet pack plans and modified the design using his dimensions. On the next one I think that I will have to add a few MM (He is in the UK, so dimensions are metric) to the design to account for shrinkage from the dye step. This one came out a little tight, and I hope it stretches out a bit. It was made for a friend.

I want to make my first wallet. I need to know what optimal size veg tan to use as well as what kind of lining. I would prefer to do a slot style bifold, not interested in doing a t-style slot at this time. Open for many and all suggestions!

I got some alligator scraps on eBay with the intent of making a few small items. I also got some alligator printed leather from Tandy and took a crack at that. Can you guess which one is the real gator? I think they came out pretty nice for a newbie. I can't decide what friend i'm going to gift these to.

Well my wallet that I had for years fell apart, and I have been wanting to try one for a while, so here it is. This is a 5 pocket bifold made from 3-4oz Hermann Oak craftsman grade veg tanned leather, in ecoflo Bison Brown with a coat of Aussie. My edges could have been better, but I'm happy with the color and the stitching.