Getting frustrated

[Vikti]

I'm trying to make carrying cases for my kids mp3 players and whenever I make up a pattern and transfer it to leather it always seems to be too small. In this case I added 3/4" to 3 of the sides that are going to be sewn up (top will be open). I cut everything out, punch my holes for sewing and wrap it around the player to see how it will fit and if I continue with what I got then it would seem that if it fits then it would be just barely.

How do I figure out how much to add to my dimensions for stitching based on the weight of leather I'm using?

Damon

[Greybeard]

You could always wet mold it. Use the one that just barely fits. After tooling / Dying, Sew it up and bag the MP3 Player Then Soak the leather, then insert the mp3 player massaging the leather as u do, to "Fit it".

I'm not an Expert but this is how I molded my gun holsters and the strap on my wife's Cellphone case.

[CitizenKate]

Couple of thoughts here, Damon...

Whenever I am creating a pattern, I first test the pattern by making a quick "prototype" out of posterboard or heavy paper. The parts are stapled together, rather than sewn, and then I check to see if the pattern is going to serve its purpose. This way, you don't invest a lot of leather and time before finding out your pattern doesn't quite fit.

As for how much to allow, it depends on how much of a seam allowance you use, the size and shape of the item you are making a case for. But the "rule of thumb" I follow generally falls along the lines of:

Actual size of the piece that is to be covered

plus 1/4" - 3/8" on all sewn sides (depending on how thick the item and the leather is)

plus the seam allowance

That usually gets me pretty well into the ball park on the first try in most cases. That's if you're just cutting and sewing.

As Greybeard suggested, wet-molding is also a good option. The only thing I would suggest if you chose that approach, since what you're covering is fairly cubic-shaped, would be to consider using a piece of material with the exact same dimensions as the item to be covered, rather than the item itself. You can cut wood or plastic into a shape to form the leather over. Plexiglas or wood can be cut to size fairly easily. Covering the block with some kind of releasing agent (such as wax) will help when extracting the item from the finished case, since the leather is bound to shrink when it dries, and it may be difficult to remove otherwise. The books Al Stohlman wrote on making cases has great info on how to do this.

Kate

[hidepounder]

To expand on what Kate said Victi, when you design your pattern you must account for the thickness of the leather and the amount of room it takes for the leather to make the turn. In other words if your leather is 1/8" thick, you need to account for that measurement. Hope this makes sense!

Bob

[CitizenKate]

Well said, Sir Cowboy!

Kate

[$$hobby]

Take a breath and slow down.

You really dont say how youre making the holder and it can make a dif. Is it 1 piece around or 2 peice with front/back? are you grooving the inside corners or just bending it around the MP3? is it lined or unlined?

Since youve got the leather it really helps. I would cut a strip or use some scrap ~ 3/8~1/2 wide that has the proper/same thickness and then slightly damp/wet it if youre going to try and mold it. Then wrap the peice around the MP3 and mark where they meet. but again it will depend on how your making it.

then all you have to do is to measure the length or just use it as your guide. you can also mark your corners.

[yaklady]

Please ignore this one, it's not supposed to be here and I don't know how to delete it!

Edited December 27, 2008 by yaklady

[yaklady]

Hi Damon,

There are indeed a lot of different ways you can make a small case. Recently, I made two small cases for a police officer, one for his cell phone and one for his Leatherman. Another officer, who used to be a Tandy's manager, made a nice wooden form for me (see the picture below) cut exactly the same size as the cell phone. You can easily make a form the size of your mp3 like Kate mentioned out of wood or layers of leather.

Here's how I did it.

These three pictures show the wooden form and the leather which was stretched over it.

This is how I stretched the leather over the Leatherman.

Here the back piece is attatched, but not yet sewn. Notice how the leather is much larger than it needs to be in the end. Insert the form and make your stitch line close ot it, but not so close that you are pinching it too tight.

Here is the finished cell phone case.

I hope this helps.

Kathy

[Vikti]

Take a breath and slow down.

You really dont say how youre making the holder and it can make a dif. Is it 1 piece around or 2 peice with front/back? are you grooving the inside corners or just bending it around the MP3? is it lined or unlined?

Since youve got the leather it really helps. I would cut a strip or use some scrap ~ 3/8~1/2 wide that has the proper/same thickness and then slightly damp/wet it if youre going to try and mold it. Then wrap the peice around the MP3 and mark where they meet. but again it will depend on how your making it.

then all you have to do is to measure the length or just use it as your guide. you can also mark your corners.

The way I'm trying to make it is with 1 piece wrapped around 3 sides with a gusset taking care of the 4th side and bottom. An pic of what I'm working with can be found here. What I've done so far is cut out a piece big enough to wrap around the front and back of the player using the natural curve (or the top of the image on the web site) of the player itself and sew the gusset onto the flat sides.

Probably what I'll do is try the wet form like Kathy shows. I can always put the player in my wife's seal a meal to get all the air out of the bag and get the bag to a small enough size too.

Thanks for the help all.

Damon

[MADMAX22]

For me the best three books Ive gotten are Al stohlmans series on case making. THey are on sale right now I think but they give examples for just about every style of case making from small to large.