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SIRENco

Suggestions on what to make with donated leather

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Hey there y’all, I currently have a business making durable gear from waxed canvas. I’ve wanted to try some leather work for a while now. A friend gave me about 30 26x14 sheets of 1/8” thick leather. His place of work used them to make stools. I’m curious if anyone has any idea of a good project for a beginner, I’d like to start experimenting with them. Im including some pics TYIA

332DF87C-0F74-4532-8647-CED973F88CDE.jpeg

D82032B0-C075-4B5E-8E95-619D124241C6.jpeg

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a wallet would be a good thing to try. Do you know what kind of leather it is? Chrome tanned or veg tanned?

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That looks pretty thick to be using for a wallet!  A simple item to make would be a valet tray.  With that many sheets of that size, you could easily make some satchels/briefcases, especially if you kept the design simple.  Several good Youtube videos out there of how to construct one.

Just some ideas.  That is an awesome gift, that much leather can be pretty pricey!  

YinTx

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Knife sheaths, holsters, any number of items that require good stout leather.

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Another approach is to simply use the leather to replace some of the canvas in your project.  As you know, many makers use a combination of the two.  So just use the leather to accent some of your projects.

Waxed Canvas Leather Messenger Bag, Men's Shoulder Bag FX8806 |  MoshiLeatherBag - Handmade Leather Bag Manufacturer

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Thank you guys for replying, apologies for slow response, my life is crazy right now, running/building my business,  while my husband and I design and plan our house build (that we are doing ourselves :wacko:) on 40 wooded mountain acres we finally acquired. All very fun stuff, just all consuming. 

I do like the look of waxed canvas and leather, very timeless, classic, and beefy.

Id really like to make a gardeners belt as gardening/landscaping is one of my passions. Something like this:
external-content.duckduckgo_com.jpg.7208df8c5a1f99c8a4dfe513cb60ab1f.jpg

I have a juki lu 563 walking foot machine, Do you think I can use that to sew this? Or will it need to be hand sewn? I have some size 138 thread for my machine, will this be sufficient, and if I need to hand sew, what thread/needle?
I may be wrong but it seems this leather is a bit thinner?
I have a  quite a bit more questions, but let me first express....I have so much to learn and I really appreciate y'alls time and knowledge.
Looks like I will need to invest in some rivets, Do you have suggestions on a certain kind/sources?
I have hole punches and all kinds of hardware.
I also have both kam snap and goldstar heavy duty presses, it would be great if one of those could work for rivets, but Im willing to get some hand rivet setters.
Is there a certain tool you would recommend for cutting? I have electric cutters that I use to cut through 10ish layers of waxed canvas.
:blush:ONE LAST ONE: What kind of finishing would I need to do for the edges?

SO many questions. lol. Once more I SINCERELY appreciate any info and time you are willing to give

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That belt reminded me that hair stylists sometimes use similar belts for scissors and other things they need close-by.  That's another possibility.

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Hi

Sounds like your going to busy this year just on the house

The simple answer to most of your questions is to search YouTube for they have a great selection of videos on what you require

As your in the states then Tandy leather, Springfield leather and a few others are a good place to start for buying online

regarding needles you need leather point needles to sew leather, though if sewing to canvas you might get away with ball point as long as the leather is reasonably soft

Here is a guide for needle v thread size

Needle and Thread Size Chart - Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines (tolindsewmach.com)

(1) leatherwork - YouTube

Edited by chrisash

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On 2/24/2021 at 4:11 PM, YinTx said:

That looks pretty thick to be using for a wallet!  A simple item to make would be a valet tray.  With that many sheets of that size, you could easily make some satchels/briefcases, especially if you kept the design simple.  Several good Youtube videos out there of how to construct one.

Just some ideas.  That is an awesome gift, that much leather can be pretty pricey!  

YinTx

Doh yup your right it may be kinda stiff. She could always make a stool lol.

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8OZ ?   3 legged folding camp stool , using hand hewn legs 

basically a triangle with pockets in each corner for the legs

it would make a nice portable fishing stool  

 

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On 2/27/2021 at 1:28 PM, SIRENco said:

Thank you guys for replying, apologies for slow response, my life is crazy right now, running/building my business,  while my husband and I design and plan our house build (that we are doing ourselves :wacko:) on 40 wooded mountain acres we finally acquired. All very fun stuff, just all consuming. 

I do like the look of waxed canvas and leather, very timeless, classic, and beefy.

Id really like to make a gardeners belt as gardening/landscaping is one of my passions. Something like this:
external-content.duckduckgo_com.jpg.7208df8c5a1f99c8a4dfe513cb60ab1f.jpg

I have a juki lu 563 walking foot machine, Do you think I can use that to sew this? Or will it need to be hand sewn? I have some size 138 thread for my machine, will this be sufficient, and if I need to hand sew, what thread/needle?
I may be wrong but it seems this leather is a bit thinner?
I have a  quite a bit more questions, but let me first express....I have so much to learn and I really appreciate y'alls time and knowledge.
Looks like I will need to invest in some rivets, Do you have suggestions on a certain kind/sources?
I have hole punches and all kinds of hardware.
I also have both kam snap and goldstar heavy duty presses, it would be great if one of those could work for rivets, but Im willing to get some hand rivet setters.
Is there a certain tool you would recommend for cutting? I have electric cutters that I use to cut through 10ish layers of waxed canvas.
:blush:ONE LAST ONE: What kind of finishing would I need to do for the edges?

SO many questions. lol. Once more I SINCERELY appreciate any info and time you are willing to give

Here ya go!  https://dieselpunkro.patternbyetsy.com/listing/758563941/hip-bag-pattern-printed-paper-patterns

Plenty of ideas here, mostly for hand sewing but you can machine some.

https://dieselpunkro.patternbyetsy.com/?page=1

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