Leather Jacket

My very first leather jacket, entirely hand made.

A lot of work, a lot of lessons learnt and more to come :)

Step 1: Choosing

Step One: buy amazing leather from Tandy!

Step 2: Patterning

Cut pieces according to your pattern.

I got my pattern cutting a denim jacket into pieces and adapted them. I would have loved to have created the pattern myself but it was my very first jacket so I didn't feel up to the challenge, I was more focused on the piece itself.

Step 3: Stitching

Start the never ending stitching process!

The leather is pretty thick so I punched each hole with a hole punch and then stitched with waxed thread.

Step 4: Piecing Together

Step by step, start seeing progress...

For the side parts that you can see on this picture, I decided to hide the stitching on the inside.

Step 5: Fitting

If the arm works, you're on the right track!

Again the arms are stitched on the inside which is very scary: I had no idea if I was on the right track while sawing and only knew I did it right when I was done and turned it around!

Step 6: Brainstorming

What you pictured first might not look like would have hoped... change it

Step 7: Deciding

You'll end up with something that fits your vision better.

I stitched each side of the zipper to the leather with waxed thread.

I made sure to hide the metal part of the zipper so that only the brown piece shows.

Step 8: Bottom Band

I then added 3 piece at the bottom:

Two from the front to the sides and one for the back.

Step 9: Almost There!

I decided to go with a simple collar: it's just a strap folded on itself and sawn on.

I the added buttons on the collar and on the bottom strap and finished by folding and stitching the wrists and bottom strap.