The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Access All Accessories => Current Projects => Topic started by: Bill on December 08, 2020, 11:45:30 AM
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Hellooooo!
I finished my first ever diy wallet last night.
It was done just to see if I could do it before having a go at a leather one.
Tara the doggy chewed a chunk out of my own when she was a puppy and I've been meaning to replace it as it's gradually deteriorated over the years.
The outer is old tent polyester type stuff and the pockets are cotton offcut.
Not as tidy as I'd hoped but not a complete disaster either.
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That looks very good! :thumbsup:
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That looks like a good use of your time and skill, the wallets in the shops are quite expensive and when you design and make your own you can choose the layout of note and card slots to suit. :thumbsup:
I've made wallets this Christmas for DH, DS and DD's partner. I used Kraftex, also known as Vegan Leather, it's interesting stuff which can be washed, embossed, painted and sewn easily and apparently wears like real leather too.
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Well done. It's lovely when you can make something so useful.
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Very nice, well done. :thumbsup:
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Nice job!
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Verrrry nice ... neat stitching ... Vintage machine ?
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Verrrry nice ... neat stitching ... Vintage machine ?
Nope...bargain basement Singer M2105 :)
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That is very nice and it's usable. Well done!
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Thanks all :)
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That's not bad at all.
I don't know if this will be helpful to you, but a it's well worth watching the wallet making videos from Bitchen on YouTube. He regularly makes his patterns free to download. It's all hand-stitched leather work.
https://youtu.be/wU6XIGDwgBw (https://youtu.be/wU6XIGDwgBw)
Another useful video for machine stitched leather wallets is from the How it's Made series.
https://youtu.be/htQ6dMY3RUY (https://youtu.be/htQ6dMY3RUY)
Looking forward to seeing your first leather wallet.
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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:
I believe the leather I have coming is quite soft but I am wondering if the puny 40w motor in my machine is going to be enough and if I'll need a leather machine needle if it is...
Interesting times ahead.
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That is rather good, it is what I call 'fiddly' things, I'm not good at, memories of my mask attempts.
I have bought some leather on Ebay, can't remember what for but it is quite good if you want to hold something tight and want a grip (don't ask). I did try sewing it though, just to see, a bit later and with my Pfaff Expression it sewed through fine, even I was surprised. I did put the teflon foot on though.
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Looks good, I like it. I've made lots of wallets over the years, my poor suffering family members generally get given them as gifts. Strangely enough I've never seen too many of them being actually used. Only mine and the OH :thinking: :laughing:
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It looks great! Hopefully the pattern/instructions you choose for the leather wallet is designed specifically for leather or PU as it will require a different type of pattern to cotton (especially in the card holder slots). Otherwise you will need to adapt the one you have to make sure there isn't bulk in the seam allowances etc
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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.
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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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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:
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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 :\
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@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:
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@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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@Mr Twingo the kind you don't need to feed. ;)
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... the kind you don't need to feed. ;)
In which case, may I recommend needles purchased directly from John James? jjneedles.com (https://www.jjneedles.com) I found it much cheaper than buying from a third party.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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@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.
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Amazon. :headbang:
2kg of various cuts for a fiver. Lesson learnt :laughing:
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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.
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I now realize why my Brooks leather saddle was so expensive :scream:
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Hallo-
Well done! :thumbsup:
mfG
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Right!
I've finished my nephews wallets!
I'd hoped to embroider their names onto little tags to personalize them a bit more but failed spectacularly and using iron on prints with their names was also doomed.
Each wallet has its own little flaws here and there which drives me nuts. I say I'm a perfectionist whereas Pam says I'm just picky and grumpy :P
Anyhoo, here they are...
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Each wallet has its own little flaws here and there which drives me nuts. I say I'm a perfectionist whereas Pam says I'm just picky and grumpy :P
That's what makes them unique, and shows that they are handmade.
They're brilliant. :thumbsup:
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Each wallet has its own little flaws here and there which drives me nuts. I say I'm a perfectionist whereas Pam says I'm just picky and grumpy :P
I hear you! But as Acorn says, that's what makes them unique. The tiniest imperfection in my work screams at me, and I have to keep telling myself that nobody is really going to notice unless they scrutinise the item and know what to look for.
What matters is not how perfect the wallets are, it's that they were made with love. You could simply have bought a couple of wallets on-line, but you chose to craft them yourself. That is something that will stay with them always. (I still remember the wooden wheelbarrow one of my uncles made me nearly 50 years ago. When I told my aunt, she was delighted.)
Your nephews are fortunate to have such a wonderful uncle.
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Thanks folks. Hope the boys see them that way too :laughing:
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Wonderful job. It’s not easy working with leather. I’m sure they’ll love them.
@Mr Twingo my dad made my son some wooden cars and I think he’s still got them. But I had forgotten the wooden wheelbarrow he made him too. Thanks for reminding me. Dad is no longer with us but I have things he made me too. And a while ago my son had to build a wooden storage rack for their laundry room. He said to me ‘ I think grandad would be proud of the way I’ve done this'. I know he would!
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They look great and I am sure they will love them and the fact you have gone to so much effort.