Start leathercraft
Cut, stitch and finish real leather by hand into wallets, belts and bags that darken and soften as you use them. Here's the video that hooks everyone, and everything you need for your first card wallet.
Space neededA kitchen table
First projectA card wallet in an afternoon
Skill levelBeginner-friendly
Good forQuiet evenings, any age
The video that hooks everyone
A leather wallet with no real tools
A kitchen fork marks out the stitch line on a plain piece of leather, and the question is whether everyday things can stand in for real leather tools. Press play and see why it hooks people.
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Tool list
What you need to start
Everything you need for your first project, and nothing you don't. It all fits in a shoebox.
Starter kit
01Vegetable-tanned leatherFirm leather that cuts clean and holds a shape. 2 to 3 oz (about 1 mm) suits a card wallet.
02Utility knife + steel rulerCuts every straight line. Snap off a fresh blade often.
03Cutting matSaves your table and keeps your blades sharp longer.
04Wing dividerScribes a stitch line an even distance from the edge.
05Stitching chiselsPunch a row of evenly spaced, slanted stitch holes. A 4-prong and a 2-prong.
06Mallet + punch boardA poly mallet drives the chisels. The board takes the hits, not your table.
07Harness needles + waxed threadBlunt needles, two per thread, and waxed polyester thread.
08Leather glueHolds the two layers together while you punch and stitch.
09Edge beveler + burnisherRounds off sharp edges, then rubs them smooth and shiny.
The manual tells you what to look for when you buy each one.
- 1Cutting in one hard passScore the line lightly first, then make two or three more passes. Pressing hard to cut in one go is how the knife slips.
- 2Pulling stitches unevenlyPull every stitch with the same tension, the same way. Uneven pulls show up as a wobbly line.
- 3Skipping the edgesRaw, fuzzy edges make a good wallet look unfinished. Bevel, sand and burnish them. It takes about ten minutes.
