Leather iPod Touch Case using Water!

Step 4 Finish the edges

Now we need to trim and finish the edges.

Firstly, carefully go around your case, and trim off the leather, i left about 5mm from the stitch to the cut.

Trim the top clean off so its flush with the edge of your iPod, Then cut a semi-circle for 'finger' holes to allow you to get it out easily.

An extra addition is to cut a small gap at the bottom where the headphone jack is. I did this near the end, so i had to tie off the ends of the thread again.

Once your happy with the shape, you then need to get your hands on some show wax, I applied a small amount of show wax the the edge, then buffed it along using my dremel. Another option is to soak the edges of the case again, then buff it.

Comments

[mahyongg]

Hiding the seam would be hard to do, you could either hide one side by sewing with a curved needle and not penetrating fully, skipping the awl step as well, of course, or you could glue the leather which I would recommend.

Apply a pressure-sensitive glue that stays flexible and use a solid leather that does not fray easily, mask the area to be glued off after shaping the leather and drying, apply the glue, remove the masking tape (no glue inside the case, of course!) and press onto the other half (also glued) when glue is dried. You can apply heat from a heat gun to the glue after dry to the touch, try this out, it makes some glues stick better.

Now when you stick the two halves together, two things are critical:
- Alignment (you cant slide the two sticky sides around on each other, so once you get it wrong, you 'll have to start over again, probably with a new piece of leather) which you can achieve by using a guide (eg, two blocks of wood, one on either side if you pre-cut the shape, or holes (outside the cutaway area) to push the leather over a piece of dowel or round metal (cut holes with a hole iron first, then drill through the holes in the leather into a wooden board to get it aligned well)
- Even pressure without applying forces sideways - press from above, don't use rollers because they will push the leather in a direction or stretch the top layer and thus warp the whole thing, so just take a piece of wood with a minimum width as the glued seam, depending on the guides used, and press from above. Press as hard as possible, remember the time of pressing is not as important here as the amount of pressure used.

You can feather the inside (rough side, if you want the rough inside.. aah) towards the edges to create an even thickness of edge, similar to that of the entry edges, which will make it look even more sophisticated ;D

Of course, if you use a thinner leather, you might also just sew it, turn it over, and have a hidden seam as in every piece of clothing, that would work with fairly thick leather if the leather is still wet when sewing and turning over, if you can manage to sew it, wet it, turn it over and then stretch it tight over a mold, this might work well. I have not done this to a shape this flat and wide, but it is worth a try ,D

Btw. great instructable, totally got me interested in doing one from leather as well.. I have used all sorts of things up to now, neoprene, gripper, other textiles.. somehow leather never came into my mind for my iTouch.. strange, eh?

[doctorbigdaddy]

I made a similar case and , to make it easier to retrieve the IPOD when I was sewing the two halves together I sewed a piece of stout ribbon to the front piece (on the inside) this is draped down into the cavity and the end brought out and left about an inch and a half long.Then sew the two halves together and ,when finished, sew and glue a small tab of leather to the other end of the ribbon. When you want to retrieve the IPOD or Iphone simply pull on the tab and the device rises effortlessly from the pouch.You can avoid the notch in the top which offers more protection for the device.To further titivate the construction you could cut a small slit in the back of the case and thread the ribbon through this slot. This would make the ribbon center on the devise and keep the ribbon from twisting.Your idea is great and your illustrations supurb!!

[LisaPolyester]

Excellent Instructable.  Thanks, you've encouraged me to build a custom case for my Kindle.  I may even dye the leather.  I will also add that a better source of "some nice thick thread" is your local bead shop - ask for "Nymo."  It's cheap, comes in lots of colors and thicknesses and it's original use was for sewing shoes.  Now it's commonly used in jewelry-making.

[jesse.r]

any ideas on how to hide the seam for a more streamlined look?

[gmjhowe]

 You could try waxing the thread, and also using a colour that matches the leather closely.