Giving Space for Your Creativity
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
4d ago
Giving yourself adequate time is important when exploring your leathercraft style and design. People regularly practice sketching and forming roughs in other arts like drawing and sculpting. In leatherworking, we often try to make a finished product without giving ourselves time to improve our craft and explore our style. As a busy person, I fight the instinct to ‘just go for it’ and start a project, figuring it out as I go. The reverse of this, planning every single step, can sometimes lead to inertia, so I try to capture the momentum of wanting to get started. I balance out rushing forward w ..read more
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How to Store Leather
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
1w ago
A while back, I wrote about how setting up your workspace is important to improving your leatherworking projects. Setting up purposefully for your work, your mise en place, leads to faster, easier, and more accurate work. One subject I didn’t cover was how to store leather. As a leathercrafter, you might have accumulated a lot of leather. In our studio, I have rolls and rolls of leather and bins for every size scrap imaginable. A tiny bit of alligator won’t make a purse or wallet, but it will make a fine watch strap.  So, what do you do with all of this leather? What if you have a tiny sp ..read more
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How To Choose The Best Thread For Finer Leather Work
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
1M ago
A while back, a Reddit user asked, “[what is the] best thread for finer work?” Many people wrote in to say that our linen thread was at the top of their list. The original question. Update: Since originally publishing this post, I’ve extensively written about sewing and thread. I recently updated this post to reflect those articles and added more insight to help you choose the best thread for finer leatherworking. Stitching Consistency is the Most Important Thing No matter what thread you choose, sewing consistently uniform stitches will make your work look ‘finer.’ The thread can be beautiful ..read more
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What Do The Different Sewing Thread Sizes Mean For Leatherworking?
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
1M ago
There are many articles, YouTube videos, and blog posts about sewing leather, but there are a few about one subject many people find confusing: thread size. When originally writing the content for this topic, even I found it to be a bit difficult, so I thoroughly revised my first version and tried to simplify everything as much as possible. The fine people at the Leathercrafter’s Journal liked it so much that they posted it in their January 2024 issue under “So Many Thread Sizes.” In This Article Fixed Weight Thread Measuring System Fixed Length Thread Measuring System Ticket Numbers While ..read more
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How to Use a Glue Pot for Leatherworking
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
2M ago
Today’s short post on using a glue pot will help you complete your leatherworking projects a little faster. This is the kind of tip you’d never hear if you are self-taught and work alone. Many leatherworkers are a hot mess when it comes to using glue, and one of my biggest pet peeves in our studio is glue on the table …and your work, the rulers, your fingers, the tub, the chair, etc., etc. The culprit is the glue pot; if I can fix your usage of the glue pot, you will work much cleaner. Leatherworkers use two main types of adhesives: contact cement and rubber cement, which I discussed in this a ..read more
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Cutting a Leather Belt End by Hand
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
2M ago
Sometimes, you need to cut a leather belt end or a strap end but don’t have an end punch. Or you might have a few end punches but none that will fit the strap width you need. Today’s leatherworking technique post is about how to cut the end of your strap by hand. This is a great technique to learn because you can use it to cut other parts like bag corners, handles, and hardware attachment pieces. I like to make my shapes because it further customizes our straps and makes our styles and designs more unique and stand out. I can also make a strap of any width and quickly cut the end to fit that w ..read more
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Leather Needle Sizes
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
2M ago
Picking the right needle for hand-sewing leather can be the difference between a 30-minute job and an hour. If your sewing needles are ill-suited to your work, you will fight through every stitch on your project. If you pick the right combination of needle and thread, sewing can be the most relaxing part of your work. Many articles talk about the types of sewing needles like glovers, lacing, and curved needles, but 95% of the time, you’ll be using harness needles. Today, I’ll go over what makes these needles ideal, how to use them, and when to use different needles. To clarify, I’ll be discuss ..read more
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Learn How Your Leather Projects Age
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
2M ago
When I teach students how to make leather goods, I teach techniques and skills to help their leather projects last. Whether that is picking the most effective way to glue or selecting the right part of the leather, every little bit counts. Even if you get these right, your pieces will still age and wear down. So, how do you know what to improve? How do you know whether that stitch you were sure you set correctly actually stayed together? If you want to improve how your pieces age and wear, you must look at them again. This might seem like a ‘duh’ point, but when I ask leatherworkers how your p ..read more
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Contact Cement vs. Rubber Cement for Leather
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
2M ago
Today is a short article, but a question I always get in class: “Is contact cement the same as rubber cement?” In short, no. Both are the predominant adhesives used in making leather goods, and each has its distinct use. An easy way to remember the two is “forever on contact, flexible with rubber.” Contact cement is an impact glue that makes a permanent bond between two pieces. It can be used on various materials, including rubber, wood, felt, and, of course, you can use contact cement on leather. You should apply it to both pieces you’re adhering to. If you let contact cement dry (and you sho ..read more
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How to Use Gum Tragacanth on Leather
Fine Leatherworking | Premium Tools and Waxed Linen Thread
by Fine Leatherworking
2M ago
Using gum tragacanth to burnish makes getting smooth, consistent leather edges easy. People use different edge-finishing products like CMC, Tokonole, Magic Edge, etc. I like it because it is readily available, simple, and gives nice-looking, fast results. In online discussions, people will abbreviate it to ‘gum trac,’ they are the same thing.  If you need help or are thinking of trying out gum tragacanth, I’ll go over how to use it so you can get the best results. What is Gum Tragacanth? Gum tragacanth is a natural gum that comes from the dried sap of plants in the genus Astragalus. The n ..read more
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