Tools used:
- Strap End Punch
- Straight Edge Ruler
- Scalpel
- head knife
- heavy mallet
- stitching groover
- overstitch wheel
- wool dauber
- edge slicker or bone folder
Step One: cutting the parts
You will need a total of 4 pieces of leather in 2 different thicknesses (these measurements fit iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S):The large outside piece: 285mm by 87mm at around 2.5-3mm thickness. The inside piece that holds the phone: 130mm by 87mm at around 2.5-3mm thickness. The two credit card slots made from thinner leather: 97mm by 87mm and 77mm by 87mm at around 1.5mm thickness.You can use a scalpel or a head knife for cutting. Make sure you use the sharpest tools for nice & clean cuts.
Cutout
You need to cut out a part of the inside piece (the one that holds your phone in place) to allow you to take out the phone easier. I used a Strap End Punch but you can also just trace a half-circle and cut it out with a scalpel. This is what it looks like after punching out the top cutout.
Cutout
These are our pieces loosely put where they'll end up
Smooth flesh side
You can use gum tragacanth to make the flesh side of the leather smoother.
Smoother flesh side of the leather
Stamping the inside piece
Moisten the leather piece to prepare it for stamping
Stamping
Once it’s almost dry you can place the stamp on the leather and give it a good whack with a heavy mallet. If your leather is too wet, the impression won’t be as crisp. Generally it’s a good idea to wait for the leather to almost return to its original colour before you stamp it.
Stamped leather
Cut rounded corners
Use a scalpel to cut a rounded corner. I used a 1cm square as reference so that’s the corner radius.
Glue parts in place
It’s a good idea to glue the parts in place before sewing. Proper alignment is very important if you want the wallet to look good.
This is what the assembled parts look like
Add stitching groove
Use a stitching groover to add a grove as a guide along both sides.
Add stitching groove
Be careful! The other side won’t need a groove all the way along the edge. You can stop where the bottom piece of leather ends on the other side.
Add stitching groove
Add stitching spaces
Use an overstitch wheel on one side as a guide for your stitches. I use them as guides when hand sewing as well as machine sewing.
Sew the parts together
Once you’re done sewing (if you need instructions, check out my tutorial on this site), use a lighter to burn the ends of the thread to keep them from fraying.
Cleaning up
Cleaning up the stitches afterwards using the same overstitch wheel helps to give the stitches a good & even appearance.
Fitting & shaping
I use a Belkin plastic iPhone case to stretch the leather into shape. I find that it works better than using the phone because I don’t have to worry about ruining it with moisture and having it slightly bigger than the phone also makes the shape more ideal (the phone will slide in and out a bit easier). You could also use the phone itself or just stretch the leather into shape with your hands.
Cutting the edges
You want to have the edges align perfectly so cut or sand down the edges to make them as even as possible
Cutting the edges
Dyeing the edges
Use a wool dauber and dark dye around the edges of the wallet
Dyeing the edges
Refining the edges
Use a edge slicker or bone folder and move it back and forth along the edges to make them smooth.
Before
After
Seal & finish
Use your leather finish of choice to seal and waterproof the leather. You can use an oil or one of the other available finishing products.
Finished Flip Wallet
Finished wallet: closed.
Finished Flip Wallet
Red stitching, natural veg-tanned leather and black edges.
Finished Flip Wallet
The inside of the wallet
Finished Flip Wallet
Inside: close-up
Finished Flip Wallet
edges
Finished Flip Wallet
Finished Flip Wallet
stitching and hand-cut corners
Hope this post will help some of you to make one of these wallets. If you tried it, please let me know in the comments! If you want to show off your work, feel free to add a link to a photo, too.
Where do you buy your leather pieces at? It looks like you are starting with nice, clean-cut thick leather strips, and I haven’t been able to find them. Could you please share where you can purchase these sheets?
Hi John,
You can get vegetable tanned tooling leather from places like http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com
However, they usually don’t come in neatly cut strips.
To get the clean cuts you can use either a really sharp head knife (round knife) or to make it even easier, you could use a Craftool Strap Cutter and set it to the required width. Either way, you’ll have to cut the pieces yourself and even with the Strap Cutter you’ll need to at least have one straight edge to guide the cutter along.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you need more info
Gorgeous!
Yikes! Thats $171.46 without tax just for the tools. Not to mention the leather and any other additional tools you might need. I’m definitely interested in doing this because i’m sure i would try my hand at other things, but it seems like a hefty investment to get started.
Kind of a bummer ):
Hey Brad,
Yes, that is a lot if you just want to make this and nothing else. But you could do this with less tools and leave out some of the steps if you just want to try to make this.
That’s why I posted another tutorial here where I used less tools and leather from an old bag. That can get you going before you start spending a lot of money on tools and materials….
At the end of the day, like most hobbies, it’s not easy to do it all for free unless you inherit the tools from relatives or friends
I was thinking after I commented earlier, and I definitely forgot to thank you for sharing! I’m sure it’s taken a lot of time and effort to make these things and acquire the tools and materials as well as the skill it takes to create things like this.
The quality of work here is actually very high given the kind of leather and the attention to detail like the stitching. Comparing to a company like Ettinger, buying the tools and materials almost seems worth it since you’ll be making something you’d be paying almost double for anyway. I guess it makes you appreciate it more too.
BTW- I think it would be cool to make some videos. I’m not sure if it’s your thing, but i’d really be interested to see your process. Thanks again!
Great tutorial! Love seeing others process, the only thing I would have done differently was sand the edges for a more uniform look instead of using the knife which leaves the edges a bit jagged. Otherwise great product.
Thanks Quenten. Yes, that’s a good idea!
Hey, what glue do you use to stick the leather together before you go ahead and stitch?
Is it just a regular PVA or a specific leather glue
Thank You
You can use regular PVA glue or pretty much anything that will hold the pieces together for long enough. There are plenty of craft glues that can be used for leather, too.
Hi! Love the tutorial! I have been looking for something that has finishing edges like this!
I was wondering though, do you think this edging technique would possibly work on vinyl?
Thanks Katy,
I haven’t tried it with vinyl so I don’t know. The way it works with leather is that the heat is creating the smoother edge. So I assume that it would work but it would depend on whether you can get enough heat into the vinyl…