The Sewing Place

Wallet Attempt

Mr Twingo

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2020, 23:15:05 PM »
Thanks @Mr Twingo
Watching that machined video and seeing your hand stitched wallets it seems I have very high standards to live up to. I think I'll quit now  :laughing:

What you don't see are the dozen or so wallets I made whilst learning to saddle stitch.

Most domestic sewing machine can cope with sewing though thinner, softer leathers, so yours should be fine. Sew slowly. If necessary, turn the balance wheel manually.

Let me know if you want to try sewing with thicker, bonded nylon thread. It would be no trouble to send you a few metres of the different weights I have.

Bill

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #16 on: December 12, 2020, 18:37:44 PM »
Thank you for the kind offer @Mr Twingo
I may take you up on that.

Leather bits arrived but it's mostly all black  :(
I've decided to make a wallet for each of my 2 nephews. I'm going with contrasting threads (I've made this mistake before  :[ ) in their favorite colors and may even attempt embroiding their names on a small bit of cotton (kinda like a label).
The first leather attempts ended up being so thick that they were the equivalent of house bricks so I've decided to slim these ones down a bit. It's slow going but so far they're not too bad.
The eagle eyed among you might notice the dumba55 mistake I made with this bit before I fixed it. Doh!

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Bernina 570QE (Bernie)     1937 Singer 201k (sally)
The best advice I can give you, is don't take advice from me
Don't follow me, I do stupid things

Mr Twingo

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #17 on: December 12, 2020, 18:58:36 PM »
Not bad at all for your first (?) attempt at working with leather.

How are you thinning the leather you have (aka skiving)? I've tried a few methods, and for me a Japanese skiving knife worked best, though it takes practice to master not skiving off too much. And goodness knows how many times a sliced my fingers whilst learning.  :facepalm:


Bill

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #18 on: December 12, 2020, 23:28:18 PM »
Yep, first time working leather...however, I am cheating sort of.
The leather I'm using is offcuts from a sofa making company so it's quite thin already and very very soft. The little bit of thinning I've done was by basically shaving away the fluffy side until I thought it was thin enough. Using a chisel edge craft knife. It's very high tech here  :\
Bernina 570QE (Bernie)     1937 Singer 201k (sally)
The best advice I can give you, is don't take advice from me
Don't follow me, I do stupid things

Renegade Sewist

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #19 on: December 13, 2020, 03:11:27 AM »
@Mr Twingo and @Wayfarer , I forget, have we established a leather working section here? If not I think we should. I have a little project planned, cough, cough, and will need to do a bit of brain picking.

Let's just say I want a pony for Christmas.  :laughing:
Hey Bill! Read the manual!  Hehehe.

Mr Twingo

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #20 on: December 13, 2020, 08:29:08 AM »
@Mr Twingo and @Wayfarer , I forget, have we established a leather working section here? If not I think we should. I have a little project planned, cough, cough, and will need to do a bit of brain picking.

Let's just say I want a pony for Christmas.  :laughing:

No, there's not a dedicated leather section here. Any serious leather workers would most likely head over to https://leatherworker.net/

I'm no expert – a long way from it – but I'll gladly pass on my experiences so that you can avoid making the mistakes I made.

As for that pony*… do you mean a clamp for holding leather whilst you saddle stitch, or a domesticated small horse that lives in a stable?

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Renegade Sewist

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #21 on: December 13, 2020, 08:59:59 AM »
@Mr Twingo the kind you don't need to feed.  ;)
Hey Bill! Read the manual!  Hehehe.

Mr Twingo

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #22 on: December 13, 2020, 09:27:31 AM »
Quote
... the kind you don't need to feed.  ;)

In which case, may I recommend needles purchased directly from John James? jjneedles.com I found it much cheaper than buying from a third party.

Bill

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #23 on: December 13, 2020, 13:46:51 PM »
Well here's the first one.
I snipped a few threads when trimming the edges  -< and the card pockets are a little very tight. They'll hopefully loosen over time.
My biggest crime is not making the outer sufficiently longer than the inner...so it bunches up when closed  :scream:

Ah well, I'll try to fix those issues on the next wallet.

Bernina 570QE (Bernie)     1937 Singer 201k (sally)
The best advice I can give you, is don't take advice from me
Don't follow me, I do stupid things

Mr Twingo

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #24 on: December 13, 2020, 17:27:36 PM »
That's pretty darn good! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I love the design, especially the central 'flute'. It gives the wallet a unique look. You are certainly inspiring me to try something similar. Where can I find the pattern?

I made my own wallet, and I can assure you that the card pockets do stretch over time.  :rolleyes:






Bill

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #25 on: December 13, 2020, 19:00:52 PM »
Thank you :)

Aah, the pattern... I made it up as I went along.
The size and shape was based on my own wallet which has a leather bit in the middle.
The plan was to copy that but the leather layers were getting a bit too thick. I figured cutting the flute to sit between the opposite card holders rather than over them would thin it out a bit.
Bernina 570QE (Bernie)     1937 Singer 201k (sally)
The best advice I can give you, is don't take advice from me
Don't follow me, I do stupid things

Renegade Sewist

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #26 on: December 13, 2020, 19:51:28 PM »
@Wayfarer I think it's quite good, for a first go in actual leather really good. It's a learning curve with an unforgiving material.

Where had you gotten the leather from? You mentioned it was mostly black?  How many pounds was it?

I just received an order of leather. My upholstery scrap was 10 pounds!  It was a deal I couldn't refuse. Mostly one to two square foot pieces, lots big enough for journal covers. There was very little black, only one or two pieces.
Hey Bill! Read the manual!  Hehehe.

Bill

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #27 on: December 13, 2020, 20:14:31 PM »
Amazon.  :headbang:
2kg of various cuts for a fiver. Lesson learnt  :laughing:
Bernina 570QE (Bernie)     1937 Singer 201k (sally)
The best advice I can give you, is don't take advice from me
Don't follow me, I do stupid things

Mr Twingo

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #28 on: December 13, 2020, 22:14:38 PM »
www.metropolitanleather.com is where I usually go, though I have also used leprevo.co.uk. Metropolitan is more beginner friendly, though leprevo has a huge range of fasteners.

To practise, the shoulder splits from Metropolitan are superb value.




Bill

Re: Wallet Attempt
« Reply #29 on: December 14, 2020, 07:30:35 AM »
I now realize why my Brooks leather saddle was so expensive  :scream:
Bernina 570QE (Bernie)     1937 Singer 201k (sally)
The best advice I can give you, is don't take advice from me
Don't follow me, I do stupid things