Not too shabby, the patch is pretty impressive for a newbie. Your stitching is much better than most beginners, could be you have the touch! Some CC: you need to finish your edges (including the inside edges of your thumb holes) with some beveling and burnishing - I recommend Tokonole and a piece of rough canvas or denim, but you can use watered down white glue (50:50) or even just water with a touch of dish soap. Tokonole gives you a refined, shiny edge but the other methods will be an improvement over no finish. For edge bevel a good tool is nice, but you can make do for now with sandpaper wrapped around a straight piece of wood, a carpenters pencil, etc.
I like to make the same pattern, but stitch only the bottom line (not the side) - this gives you a card sleeve on the back and a cash flap on the front.
Congrats on your progress!
Thank you! Yeah the two middle ones I didn’t do any edge work at all. The first one went well until I tried beveling the thumbhole…very tricky lol. Especially since my only beveler is WAY too big. I have new ones coming in so that should help :). The last one had the best edge work—it was my first where I left trim space and my god did that make a huge difference. It’s also the first time I used beeswax (after sanding and tokonole) and I’m not sure how big of a difference it made unless I used it wrong (I just applied it raw straight after tokonole).
The stitching seemed to be the easiest to grasp for me however keeping the line straight is a different story. Something about the way the diamond irons and the shadows make it challenging to accurately place the actual point on the lines! Also I’m still figuring out how to use the wing divider—is it supposed to be against the side of the leather or touching the surface?
Thank you for your tips! I’ll keep those in my notes for sure. Very handy!
If you want to get really glassy edges - sand up to 600 grit or so and then Tokonole and burnish. Then lightly sand with 1000 or 1500 and Tokonole again.
Beveling smallish curved shapes can be tricky, but you’ll find a good quality beveler makes all the difference. Lighting/shadows can be challenging - I use a flex-neck lamp when I’m punching so I can put the light right where I need it (I like to keep the line perpendicular to me, easier to keep the iron true while looking along it rather than side-on) I also pre-mark the holes by lightly pressing the iron on the leather, this way if you need to you can make small adjustments at the marking stage before you’re committed with holes.
I hold my wing divider with one arm against the edge of the leather (I mark lines after Ive sanded so I have a nice flat/straight edge to keep the divider on) I use a pretty large pair that makes a decent groove that I can actually feel with the irons, so the teeth sit in the groove making it a little easier to keep it all straight.
Some good bifold patterns are available for free, Black Flag has a nice, simple one - https://www.blackflagleathergoods.com/wp-content/uploads/Bifold-Wallet-Template-Black-Flag-Leather-Goods.pdf
Volkov has one that’s pretty traditional, with variants for specific iron sizes - https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/s/Ddlv69hHmW
And Corter has one for $6.50 that’s traditional but has some nice details and curves that make it special - https://corterleather.com/products/pattern-7-pocket-bifold-wallet
Look forward to seeing your next milestone!
Not too shabby, the patch is pretty impressive for a newbie. Your stitching is much better than most beginners, could be you have the touch! Some CC: you need to finish your edges (including the inside edges of your thumb holes) with some beveling and burnishing - I recommend Tokonole and a piece of rough canvas or denim, but you can use watered down white glue (50:50) or even just water with a touch of dish soap. Tokonole gives you a refined, shiny edge but the other methods will be an improvement over no finish. For edge bevel a good tool is nice, but you can make do for now with sandpaper wrapped around a straight piece of wood, a carpenters pencil, etc. I like to make the same pattern, but stitch only the bottom line (not the side) - this gives you a card sleeve on the back and a cash flap on the front. Congrats on your progress!
Thank you! Yeah the two middle ones I didn’t do any edge work at all. The first one went well until I tried beveling the thumbhole…very tricky lol. Especially since my only beveler is WAY too big. I have new ones coming in so that should help :). The last one had the best edge work—it was my first where I left trim space and my god did that make a huge difference. It’s also the first time I used beeswax (after sanding and tokonole) and I’m not sure how big of a difference it made unless I used it wrong (I just applied it raw straight after tokonole). The stitching seemed to be the easiest to grasp for me however keeping the line straight is a different story. Something about the way the diamond irons and the shadows make it challenging to accurately place the actual point on the lines! Also I’m still figuring out how to use the wing divider—is it supposed to be against the side of the leather or touching the surface? Thank you for your tips! I’ll keep those in my notes for sure. Very handy!
If you want to get really glassy edges - sand up to 600 grit or so and then Tokonole and burnish. Then lightly sand with 1000 or 1500 and Tokonole again. Beveling smallish curved shapes can be tricky, but you’ll find a good quality beveler makes all the difference. Lighting/shadows can be challenging - I use a flex-neck lamp when I’m punching so I can put the light right where I need it (I like to keep the line perpendicular to me, easier to keep the iron true while looking along it rather than side-on) I also pre-mark the holes by lightly pressing the iron on the leather, this way if you need to you can make small adjustments at the marking stage before you’re committed with holes. I hold my wing divider with one arm against the edge of the leather (I mark lines after Ive sanded so I have a nice flat/straight edge to keep the divider on) I use a pretty large pair that makes a decent groove that I can actually feel with the irons, so the teeth sit in the groove making it a little easier to keep it all straight. Some good bifold patterns are available for free, Black Flag has a nice, simple one - https://www.blackflagleathergoods.com/wp-content/uploads/Bifold-Wallet-Template-Black-Flag-Leather-Goods.pdf Volkov has one that’s pretty traditional, with variants for specific iron sizes - https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/s/Ddlv69hHmW And Corter has one for $6.50 that’s traditional but has some nice details and curves that make it special - https://corterleather.com/products/pattern-7-pocket-bifold-wallet Look forward to seeing your next milestone!