Help, Leather Shrinks After I Stain It

[cicftaiwan]

After staining my some tanned calf leather that I using for the interior pockets of a bikers wallet, the leather shruck and is now outside the specs of my pattern. When staining pettite leather what must I do to ensure it doesn't shrink or wrinkle up after it dries? Thanks!

[NVLeatherWorx]

If you are using thin leathers you should have it affixed to some sort of material so that it doesn't stretch during the tooling process, cardboard is a great example of a solid base to affix your leather to and there are several threads within these forum as exactly how to do it. You should also allow your leather to dry completely before removing it from the cardboard; if you stain/dye then you should oil it first to keep it supple and then apply your dye/stain; leave it on the cardboard base to do this and again allow it to dry completely. Rule of thumb is to let it dry at least 24 hours to ensure that it is truly dry. Following the method of attaching your leather to a solid base to work with it should and always allowing it to dry completely should keep your leather parts right in spec, if not, then you may want to cut the interior parts a little bigger to allow for the shrinkage.