New And Excited To Start Working

[Seaphoenix]

Hello!

A while back I had made a post about looking for leather in Japan/Tokyo. Unfortunately, finding good veg-tan leather is incredibly difficult. Most of what I've found is incredibly thin and tools like butter. Since then, though, I'd made a trip back to the states, purchased a few good sides of leather while I was there, and shipped them back to myself (several hundred dollars and 3 months in shipping later!)

Most of what I see in Japan are wallets and bags, and so most of the leather and tools I find here reflects that - so almost all of my shopping is online.

Once I got the leather here, though - I realized. I just don' tknow where to begin! I'm not fond of premade kit items, and while I can tool leather, I want to get more familiar with the pattern-making and hand stitching process.

I really want to make items for historical/medieval re-enactment, though there is definitely a value in making more modern items as well.

I guess my biggest question is, then - where do you get started? What sort of items do you start out making, to learn the proper stitches and getting that process down? How do you even learn how to design your own patterns? I'm going to have to rely largely on self-study and youtube videos, since finding a class out here that I could understand is a little difficult.

I'm really excited to actually put all the sides of leather I've hoarded to good use. Would love to be able to sell some stuff, too, once I get the mechanics down.

I really do want to become more active on this forum, although there may be some up-and-down moments due to my current job.

Thanks so much in advance!

[TwinOaks]

By and large, the best way to learn to make patterns is just to start making things. A lot of things can be mocked up using stiff file folders or cereal boxes, but you should be prepared to use a good portion of your leather in 'trial and error'...hopefully not too many errors, though. Youtube and this forum are two resources that a lot of us didn't have, even a decade ago, let alone those who've been making things longer. Here on the forum, do a search for "tboyce", a member that has posted a LOT of patterns in .pdf format. A lot of the T&E has been removed by having Tom's patterns available, and from them you can extrapolate how to wrap things. Sorry to say, but very few people pick up this craft and just start turning out masterpieces (yes, there are a few).

There is a sub-forum called "getting started", which addresses many of the questions you might be asking.

Other things to look at here on the forum are the 'pinned' topics at the top of the sections here, and many of the "how do I do that" topics...which are just chock full of great info. There are several 'monthly challenges' already posted, so those might be a good place to start. They use some of Tom's template/patterns but the details are up to the makers.

We also have a chat room feature, which is a terrific way to get live interaction with other members. A note, however....the chat room is where a lot of us go to be silly, so while you'll likely get some good info, you may think we're all stark raving lunatics.