Pipster

So I've just become an aunt for the first time and I want to get something for the little man that is something meaningful to actually keep.

Normal presents are covered, I've got them a little keepsake box, practical every day stuff sorted etc. This is something which doesn't have to be now - think of it more like a christening gift but for a child that won't actually be christened.

Now obviously I can think of buying something or commissioning something (handmade blankets etc.) but it seems somewhat a waste to have a skill (or at least be learning one) and not putting it to good use for this kind of occasion.

Is there an item anyone can think of that would make a good gift? Doesn't need to be "useful" necessarily, just something that could be appreciated down the line. My mother thought I could make a something like a passport holder? Open to ideas!

More pics:

So this was the product of a mistake. I had already taken my previous project (https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/24039237), measured it and replicated it in LibreCAD for a reproducible pattern and this was my attempt to use that pattern. Problem is that the full length of the strap is longer than a piece of A4 paper so the pattern was split over two pages. Plan was to scratch each half onto my leather and cut it out in one go.

However I got a bit too enthusiastic and accidentally traced and cut the entire thicker section of it out... So rather than abandon it I made the best of the situation and found a contrasting but similar thickness leather and tried my first join! A bit of glue, some accurate stitching chisel placement and they were attached! I was genuinely shocked as to how well it worked, I thought much more material would be needed for that to work that easily, or that I would end up with it looking a mess seeing as the strap holds a lot of tension in it when worn. I'm aware this isn't necessarily the right way of doing the join, I was in a bit of a hurry and just kind of skimmed the instructions (and not very well), I want to try a better, stronger and more decorative stitch next time.

Either way, this is my second iteration of the same design, its fascinating how just changing the material and colour a little changes the vibe of the entire thing. I'm going to keep iterating on the same design, get some snaps in rather than the SB closure, skive down the edges of those retaining bands to reduce the profile of the edge, get some edge bevelling or edge paint involved, try to do some lining etc.

For most of my detailed cutting I've been using generic #11 craft knife blades and it seems the "wear curve" on them is rather aggressive to start with then kind of goes flat.

Like, a new blade goes through leather like butter but that lasts for maybe 4-5 decently sized cuts before it starts needing multiple swipes and then at some point it almost feels like the leather is bumpy or grainy where the blade isn't cutting through denser sections.

I don't want to be too wasteful nor do I want to be forever changing blades - how long do you tend to go between changes?

I had a lot of fun with this one, just made it on the fly. Was originally planning to just make a relatively simple one that I could use to try lining an item but it seemed a waste as the suede side was so soft. Ended up creating this, its a really simple shape and not too difficult to make. Once I start doing some skiving to reduce the thickness where the retaining bands attach and some other embellishments I think this could look really good. I want to make this exact one again but this time in a much darker leather and with a really heavily contrasting thread.

I also made this keyring the other day, lets just say it was a learning exercise... The rivet was my first one and it went wonky, cutting a tiny slot with a knife through two layers was not a fun thing and I made a bit of a pigs ear of the stitching placement. I did however enjoy making a little geometric design with my awl.

British and family owned producer of rawhide and other non-marring and sparking hammers. I've got a bunch of their stuff that I like to use for leatherworking - a big heavy rawhide hammer and a couple of lighter replaceable-face mallets.

Really good quality, very reasonably priced and quick shipment (although shipping is a bit pricey to mainland Europe, there might be local stockists however). Never had an issue with any of their products.

https://www.thorhammer.com/thor-history/

British and family owned producer of rawhide and other non-marring and sparking hammers. I've got a bunch of their stuff that I like to use for leatherworking - a big heavy rawhide hammer and a couple of lighter replaceable-face mallets.

Really good quality, very reasonably priced and quick shipment. Never had an issue with any of their products.

https://www.thorhammer.com/thor-history/

I had a lot of fun today. I had the day off so went down to the leather shop where my crafting journey began and bought a bunch of new tools, supplies and more leather offcuts to have more fun. I ended up getting around 8kg of leather, some black Tokonole, Sam Brown studs and punches, double cap rivets and setter, water based glue and some wing dividers.

When I got back I made this little wrist cuff thing, its rather comfortable, really just made it to see what an adjustable item using the stud could look like to have a go at using it.

I also made a little clutch I had been wanting to make for a while, it was actually one of the first patterns I downloaded, printed and stuck to card but I just didn't have any leather of the right thickness and size. I think the leather I ended up using was a little on the thin side but this was otherwise a very simple little project.

In my ongoing obsession to make little leather holders and pouches for the tools I need to make other holders and pouches in a weird cycle, I decided a nice and quick little project was to replace the little plastic holder for my awl with a leather one.

So I quickly sketched it, measured it and drafted it then made it. I think it came out ok, I really, really don't like this leather though, I don't know exactly what it is but its the only one I've got that's really thin enough and its got this weird stretchy texture where the top layer seems to move around when cutting and it burnishes really weirdly and not very nicely. It also gets all kinds of weird stretch marks and things around the stitches, I'm interested to find out what it actually is.

Just came back from a week away for work which has torn me away from my learning. Getting back into the flow of things with a simple little project and free pattern from J. H. Leather which is a little pouch for holding needles.

I made a few mistakes on this, had to unpick some thread and the pattern seemingly was designed for stitching chisels of a different pitch so I've got some uneveness (yes I probably could have accounted for it but I just kind of went in head first on it). I'm not overly keen on the pattern itself so I'd like to draft my own at some point instead to make it more how I prefer.

I do feel I'm coming to a point where I need some new tools to play with, an edge beveller and some simple hardware setting tools (and hardware) in particular.

This one isn't even slightly complicated but I was able to knock the entire thing out in about 2.5 hours from the start of taking measurements to it being finished.

I needed something to hold or at least cover the ends of my thread snippers so I just quickly took some measurements, made a very simple pattern in LibreCAD, printed it, glued it to cardboard and cut out and constructed the thing. From the first leather cut to it being completed it took about 90 minutes. Its nice being significant more confident in each step and having saddle stitching down now meaning this kind of project was completed with basically no drama or significant effort.

Well, I say no drama. My cheap Aliexpress diamond stitching chisels have some bent prongs, which is no loss, I knew they would only be of limited use and just wanted to see if I should invest in some decent ones. I didn't notice until i spotted the wonky stitching holes on the reverse side. The other stuff I bought there like the burnishing tool bit for a dremel has been far more useful.

This was quite a fun one. Lots of curvy lines to cut out freehand, used a hole punch rather than chisels and had some rather difficult sewing to close it up. Fun and cute though!

Pattern I downloaded (with video) is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YAPf-X10ZI