Leather is one of the most resilient materials in the world, and makes for an excellent medium for creating a range of different EDC accessories, such as wallets or pocketknife holders. Leather wallets are popular among both men and women but can also carry a heavy price tag at the shops.
For those that want a genuine, high quality leather wallet for everyday use, it’s the perfect do-it-yourself project that can be done for much cheaper than what it would cost to buy it pre-made. It should be noted that some tools and materials will be required that might be expensive to buy at first but can ultimately pay off in the long term.
The Tools
These are the tools needed to make a wallet:
- Scissors
- Straight Ruler
- Razor Blade
- Awl
- Ball point stitching needles
- Pushpins
Step 1
Acquire a sheet of leather, usually higher grade is easily obtainable and won’t cost too much. It’s advised to try and avoid leather that is too low of a grade, as it won’t last as long or be quite as pliable.
Next, a design needs to be downloaded and printed, after which it needs to be traced onto the sheet of leather.
Step 2
Once the two leather pieces have the trace, use the straight ruler to make sure that the cut is as straight as possible. Next, take the razor blade – although a rotary blade does a much better job of cutting leather – and slowly and carefully cut along the straight ruler and over the trace. Once the leather has been cut out, use the pushpins to hold the paper pattern in place as the wallet is prepared for the awling stage, where the stitching is placed into the leather.
This is a good time to take a break and have some tea or play bingo Australia games. The holes that are punched in with the awl need to be big enough that a needle and thread can go through, but small enough that they don’t easily split. Caution and patience are advised here. This is also where the paper is handy, as it allows you to measure how far you would prefer the punched holes to be from one another.
Step 3
Now it’s time to put the leather pieces together. First, take the pieces of cut wallet and match them up together, making sure that they are well-aligned, allowing for the thread to go through the punch holes with ease.
Once they are together, it’s time to start stitching. Stitching leather is an entire skill of its own and takes a fair amount of practice before it’s neat and practical. It’s advised to practice beforehand on off-cut pieces of leather before trying to make the wallet.
Step 4
By the time the stitching is complete, the wallet should be tightly closed together to form a single unit. The next step is to clean and oil the leather, which can also low you to colour it if you prefer. After a day of drying, the leather will be good to use for years to come.
