Sizing A Piece Of Leather Slightly Bigger To Fit Something Inside

[mtrain17]

Hi all,

This question is a bit confusing so I will do my best.

I am very new to leatherwork, I've done a few kits and am trying my hand at making my own projects.

I'm working on a (sorta) cellphone case. So I made the backing and I am trying to figure out how I should size the front piece of leather that I want to lace onto the back so that I could fit my cellphone in between those two layers.

How do I do that? Is there a particular formula for figuring out how much bigger I should make the front piece so that there is some room for the cellphone to fit inside between the two layers (the front and the back pieces of leather)?

Again, sorry my wording is so confusing.

Thanks,

Michael

[Dwight]

The kinda sorta simple way is to simply lay the cell phone down on the back piece, . . . lay a piece of heavy paper on it, . . . form the paper down around the cell phone the way you want the leather to fit, . . . mark the paper, . . . cut the paper, . . . and you then have THE pattern for your cell phone case.

You may goof up on trying to transfer measurements, . . . we all have, . . . but if you outline a pattern, . . . cut that, . . . it should fit.

The arch rule, . . . rule numero uno, . . . never cut a piece of leather without first having a pattern. Make the pattern first.

I buy legal size manila file folders from the office supply store expressly for this purpose, . . . it is my pattern material, . . . and it works great. A master holster maker, John Bianchi, taught me that trick, . . . using manila file folders, . . . a razor knife, . . . and 1 inch wide masking tape. If you cut a pattern and you cut it too small, . . . tape the piece back on with the masking tape, . . . re-cut it, . . . and go on with life.

You will probably not like your first cell phone case, . . . you will be in great company, . . . many of us did the same thing with our first project. Keep it though, . . . it will be a constant reminder to try and do better.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Tree Reaper]

Michael;

Another method would be to wet form your leather over a piece of wood and then trim the edges and then add the back .

That's what was done in this picture

[mtrain17]

Hey Dwight and Tree Reaper,

Thanks a lot for your help. I will try those out and see what happens.

Merry Christmas,

Michael

[Cyberthrasher]

A formula for sizing: Width item + thickness of item + thickness of leather = width of pattern. You HAVE to count for the thickness of the leather. If you just go off of a paper template, things will end up too small because the thickness of the leather will throw off your measurement. There's a long lesson here in regards to linear inches and stuff. I'll save it though.

Actually, there's a good tutorial from Nigel Armitage on making a cell phone slip case that explains a lot of it for this purpose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktbbT9-EpVo

[tiggertlee]

Cyberthrasher I love a good formula. Especially since I have a request from a friend to make her a device slip and I don't have one to make a pattern off of.

So would it be safe to say:

Device Width = 4 inches (making up numbers here)

Device Depth = 1/2 inch

Device Length = 7 inches

Leather used = 4 oz

Slip Pattern Width = 4 + 1/2 + 4/64 inches? Or double up (since total leather weight is double) to 4 + 1/2 + 8/64 inches?