How to Make Leather Billfolds
A leather wallet is easy to make. It takes a couple of hours to work the leather with stamping tools, and no time at all to sew the wallet. The skills you learn will allow you to work on other leather pieces with greater confidence. You may find yourself making several of these stylish wallets.
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Things You'll Need
- 9 inch by 7 inch piece of leather
- 9 inch by 6 inch piece of leather
- Zippered plastic bag
- Leather stamping tool
- Leather hammer
- Leather dye
- Spray bottle
- Buffing pad
- Leather wax
- 9 inch by 7 inch faux crocodile leather liner
- Urethane-based glue
- Disposable foam paintbrush
- Brayer
- Sewing machine with heavy leather needle
- Nylon reinforced thread
- 9 inch zipper - optional
Instructions
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1
Fill a zipper-closed plastic bag with water, and place the 9 by 7 strip of leather inside. Soak it overnight, making sure the leather is immersed in water. This softens the leather enough to allow it to be permanently dented by the stamping tool.
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2
Remove the leather strip from the water and blot it dry. On a scrap of leather, hammer the stamping tool with the leather mallet to see how much pressure you need to make an indentation. Make a design that pleases you on dressmaker's transfer paper and use a stylus to trace the design on the leather. Hammer the design onto the leather.
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3
Dampen the leather by spritzing it with water and spread on leather dye to color all of the leather pieces for the wallet. It will take an hour or two for the dye to dry thoroughly. Apply a thin coat of leather wax and buff with a soft cloth pad.
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4
Brush urethane glue onto the back side of the 9 by 7 piece. Place the faux leather liner (wrong sides together) over the glue and roll it in place with the brayer. It will dry quickly. Trim if necessary.
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5
Set the sewing machine on a medium stitch. Attach the zipper foot and use the nylon thread to stitch close to the edge of the top and bottom of both of the leather pieces. Attach the inside 9 inch by 6 inch card pocket piece to the outside leather piece, wrong sides together, by stitching together the outside edges. Fold the leather in half and stitch the inside pocket to the outside down the fold line.
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Tips & Warnings
You can apply a 9 inch zipper to the top of the wallet if you wish. Instead of gluing the faux leather liner to the outside, use a long running stitch along the top, right sides together, and insert a 9 inch zipper along the seam line according to package instructions. Snip open the zipper seam and trim excess material. Open the zipper and proceed to glue just the edges of the faux liner along the outside edges. You will not stitch on the top edge of the zipper, but you will catch the sides and bottom with top stitching to secure the material. Doing this will give your wallet two money slots and two card holders.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit wallet and banck notes image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
