Pattern Design Question

[Hardrada]

So, I need to make this Bible bag from 9 oz supple water buffalo leather. I have the inner dimensions, but I'm wondering if I need to add extra measures to the actual pattern to make allowances for leather thickness, &c. I already know I have to add ~1/4" for the stitches—that's accounted for; I was just wondering about other minutiae.

TIA for any useful input.

[DeeAnna]

Absolutely you need to allow for the leather thickness. Also you'll need to include a little extra ease to allow for the stiffness of the leather (I know it's supple, but it's leather, not silk!). You also need a bit of ease to allow the book to slip in and out of the bag easily. Sometimes a bag is even designed to be a little wider at the opening and a trim fit at the bottom.

If you aren't comfortable calculating the extra ease, make a mock-up of the book and use that as a guide, a lot like how you would design a gun holster. You can make the mock-up lots of ways. What works for me is to cut pieces of corrugated cardboard and tape them together to create a "pretend book". Wrap the leather around the mock-up and see what dimensions you get.

[Hardrada]

Thanks! The mock-up idea is useful.

[Dwight]

Be careful with it, . . . a lady who was trying to just be a nice lady, . . . did not know what she was doing, . . . ruined my 85 dollar Bible, . . . back when I was making maybe 6 bucks an hour, . . . or 7.

I forgave her, . . . but my Bible has never been the same.

Just be careful, . . . you can always cut leather away, . . . you cannot add it on (generally speaking),

May God bless,

Dwight

[DeeAnna]

I agree -- that's why I prefer to use a pretend book made of cardboard rather than the real book when doing things like this.