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.

Second Prize in the
Tandy Leather Contest 2016

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21 Comments

ehsuz

2 years ago

Hey, Sorry a bit late. Did you have to make allowances for movement? As in make them a bit bigger than say a denim jacket. Has it stretched and softened over the years. I am going to make a kangaroo fur jacket for winter. Thanks
Ken

Alex in NZ

3 years ago

That is such an _amazing_ jacket. I am _so_ irritated that the site didn't let me find this until now.
Not to diminish your design, but this looks _so_ like "The Rocketeer" that if you ever wear this in public you have _so_ got to make a matching Art Deco helmet to go with it!
Thank you so much for sharing your work. This is truly a piece of art :-)
________
Edited to add:-
Just checked your profile. Pardon:-
C'est bien! Merci! :-)

celebsjacket

3 years ago

Perfect thing you made!

mjtrends

4 years ago on Step 9

This is incredible work. Looks as good or better than what you would buy at a store.

caracoda

6 years ago

Sorry, I can't find the other part of the tutorial. What should I do after I decided if I want a zipper or buttons? How do I go about installing the zipper? And what do I do next? The jacket in the photo is half way finished so I guess I am missing the other part of the tutorial and I can not see any "next page" or something that would indicate there is "to be continued". Thank you!