Danne Report post Posted April 20, 2019 (edited) I'm far from an expert, I'm probably somewhere in between beginner and intermediate. But I have improved a lot since I started this craft around three years ago. I have three things to share (I think more people here have some things to share) 1. When I do a project, let's take a watch strap as an example. When finished, I look for things to improve for the next strap. It could be the distance between crease and stitching, edge paint, maybe the shape of the padding or construction in general. Okay, let's just try to improve those things when I do my next strap? No, this is not a good solution from my experience. Why? because with a changed technique you tend to do mistakes. Instead, I do small test pieces where I refine the technique for different tasks until I'm satisfied with the result. When I make my next strap I feel confident in what I do. 2. Plan your work before you start. Sounds obvious, but an example what I see very often is card pockets where the distance between pockets doesn't match up with pricking irons spi. If you are going to spend five hours on a wallet, why not put that extra hour on planning the construction? (Of course, you can't plan everything, some things require a test prototype to figure out things.) 3. Learn from experienced crafters. Instagram is a gold mine for learning techniques and especially construction. Follow ALL good crafters who do similar work to what you want to do. There is so much free information out there. No, you rarely find a tutorial on how they make something, but they show pictures of half-finished products, after a while, you can "connect the dots" and you know how it's made. Edited April 20, 2019 by Danne Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
