I’ve been experimenting with marbling natural veg-tan leather and turning the results into wallets.
No two patterns come out the same, and that’s honestly my favorite part.
Which one would you pick?

Estás son algunas de mis últimas creaciones, queria preguntarles sus opiniones y que podria mejorar?

Soy el unico artesano de cuero en mi pueblo y no tengo un referente o maestro, todo lo he aprendido investigando

Hi all, my grandma has a leather cow hide (pictured) that I want to attach to a soft fabric/blanket on the back so that it makes a nice throw blanket.

The cowhide is the size of a queen size bed.

I have sewing experience, but no leather working experience and I can’t find anyone local to do it for me. So I have decided to do it myself.

Question - how would you go about attaching the soft fabric to the cow hide? should i attach directly, or should there be some kind of middle fabric between the hide and the soft fabric, kind of like what you do with quilting?

I understand this is a big project, but I imagine it should be fairly straight forward, as the leatherwork itself isn’t the star of the show… i just need to be able to attach the hide to a blanket.

Any advice?

I'm practicing my new craft, and I just can't seem to cut my leather the way I see in some YouTube videos. I know most of the people I started following have been doing it longer, but they seem to cut the leather like a knife through butter.

I have an X-Acto knife, and I bought a box cutter from Home Depot. I also have a T-square and a ruler. The pieces still don't come out even when I use them. Should I get one of those rotary cutters too?

Any advice is appreciated.

This piece is truly outstanding. The Maryam Horsebutt Toscanello Overdyed Black Cherry leather gives it a rich, deep tone with incredible character and patina potential. The texture is rugged yet refined, showing the premium quality of Maryam’s tanning process. The Japanese‑style buckle adds a unique touch, blending traditional craftsmanship with modern elegance. Overall, the combination of rare horsebutt leather and thoughtful design details makes this item not only durable but also visually striking. It’s a perfect balance of exclusivity, heritage, and functionality.

My friend has given me an old but bright white leather jacket, and the garment tag says the shell is 100% leather, but white's not really my color and I'd love to turn it into a dark cool toned purple.

I've dyed other garments before but never dealt with leather, so I figured I should come and ask just to double check methods.

I read about deglazing the leather so the dye can penetrate and sealing it after, but Google was giving me mixed opinions on leather dye vs leather paint to get the job done so I'd love some advice from anyone with actual experience doing anything similar 🙏 thanks

It seems like I'd have to remove a section from the middle, but how would I join the two pieces together again in the best way? Or any other ideas?

What kind of needles do you use most often? What size are those needles? Who sells good needles for hand stitching? It's been years since I hand stitched, so I'm out of practice. Thanks for any info.

Edit: I'll be stitching non punched leather.

Just made a cut to make a strip for belt. The probpem its too wide by 2-5 milimeters. What would be the easiest way to make it less wide? Using the strip cutter? Or there is an easier way to solve this?

Hello this is my first time making a dopp kit. I used some "leather" I harvested from a couch. This is my first time making a bag or doing a zipper! Let me know what you guys think and how I could improve.

Also I messed up during it and had to restitch some of it so if you guys have some good suggestion on how to get glue off please share your secrets. (Please ignore my dirty workspace)

Wicket & Craig Harness, hand stitched, I need more patience when finishing edges but I’m pretty happy!

So on here, and esp on YouTube, the general consensus is that Hermann Oak is the best leather for tooling.

As a new leather worker…. Why? What is it about that makes it somehow different than a different veg tan of an equal weight?

I’m assuming it’s because of the tanning process, but what qualities does it have that make it somehow unique or noteworthy?

I have a friend who has offered to get me a leather sewing machine, and purchase needed leather if I make new couch cushions for his couch.

Im curious of the difficulty level of this project, also on what the cost for a machine that will work well, and the cost of leather for the cushions.

I only have experience hand sewing things so far

Any help is much appreciated

Hello leather workers of Reddit! Forgive me if this is absolutely stupid or uninformed of me to even be asking, but I recently purchased a new leather wallet from Oldis (specifically the Oldis one). I left it in my car for a day or two in the glovebox not realizing how bad that could be for leather. Did I ruin it? I was thinking it might have a few new marks or lines on it, but I honestly can’t tell. What do yall think? I’ll take the opinion of those familiar with leather more seriously than mine lol.

Looking to fix up some of the damage on my work boots, I took the pressure washer to them to get some paint off but someone left a powerful tip on the end, non of the damage is through the leather just want to restore them there nice boots

Hey, I just wanted to share my first project made with vegetan, I already worked a bit with chrome tan but I was amazed how those materials are so different.

It's a simple knife pouch my father asked me to make for his birthday and he's really happy about it.

I had some trouble with the dyeing because the leather I bought actually had a water repellent finish so I did what I could with some chemicals I had to remove it. Also my measures were a bit off so the flap is barely closing the pouch but I hope with time it will stretch and be a bit less tight, it just doesn't go as low as I would like.

It might not be perfect but I'm still proud of it.

If anyone has some advice linked to what they can see on this project for future ones I'll be happy to hear them.

What else do you guys think I should improve?

I bought this tooling pattern from Gabor Fine Art. Has anyone tooled flower buds like this before?

i really like the design on the outside of the bag but i think with 3 different zipper openings it can be hard to hold a lot of stuff so i was wondering if it would be possible to turn it into one big zipper opening instead of 3 different ones? if it’s possible would anyone know where to get it done?

Wondering if there is any hope of restoring this bag? I came across it secondhand and snatched it up as I have been looking for this bag for a while. It’s the Longchamp Roseau Sling, incase that matters in terms of the type of leather. I know next to nothing about leather restoration but willing to try anything to help bring this back to life. It feels very dry and rough, and looks to be cracking in many places.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I started leatherworking a few weeks ago and decided to make a bifold wallet. To learn as much as possible, I started by making a pattern in Leathercraft CAD, which I then printed and used as the base for my wallet.

I then decided to make a first version with cheap leather so I could check that my pattern actually worked, and also practice the different techniques needed before moving on to better quality leather.

While making the prototype I ran into a few problems and I could use your help figuring out how to handle them.

1) Cutting

I glued my pattern onto a piece of cardstock and used that to cut my pieces. No real issues except for the corners and maybe to always cut in the same angle/position to avoid margin from pattern. I went with rounded corners and I'm using a rotary cutter, but I'm really struggling to get them 100% identical across all the pieces. Is there a technique for this, or does it just come with experience?

2) Stitching

I learned a lot from Armitage's YouTube videos on this. The outer part is veg-tan and the inner part is chrome-tan. The inner leather is very soft and fuzzy, so I had some trouble managing the tension properly without crushing the leather in the stitch. There's one spot where I go from stitching through all the layers to stitching through fewer layers. How do you handle that? Do you start with a new thread, or is there a specific stitch for it?

3) Edges

I had a lot of trouble with the edges and I'm not happy with the result. Veg-tan wasn't too bad, but chrome-tan gave me a hard time. The fuzzy side of the leather frays when sanded. I started at 240 grit and finished at 1000. How do you deal with that? Is there a fix, or do you just need better, more suitable leather? For the finish I used an alcohol-based leather dye rather than an edge paint, but in a few places I slipped and got dye on the outside face. Is there a technique to avoid that, other than just getting better? Can dye stains be removed from the grain side? Also is it a good idea to use edge beveler on soft leather?

If you see anything else I could improve in the photos, feel free to say so. I deliberately left a few edges unfinished so I can try out your suggestions this wallet is a crash test, so I can experiment with several things.

Thank you !

I would like to make a shotshell holder with an enclosed bottom for a belt and suspenders, but I have not done anything like this before. These are some examples of what I am trying g to accomplish. If anyone has any tricks for timing the stitches or cutting the leather please let me know.