Today I'm going to show you how i made my leather wallet that I decided to make because my old wallet is broken and I couldn't find a new cheap one.

Step 1: 1. Tools and Materials

-leather (i used some thin leather the most of the times, I think it comes from old leather jacket ) and wider one for outter piece (no need to do that the thin leather would work as well)

-sewing needle with stronger threads

-a tool to make holes ( we will make one)

-a tool to burn the leather ( we will also make one)

-a stud to make coin pouch

Step 2: 2. Designing

First you have to decide how your wallet should look like. I used my father’s wallet to make the measurements right. Make it from paper to see how it looks and if it is comfortable to wear and so on. Glue these parts together and see if you need to change it somewhere.

Because i don’t like the rough edges of leather all ends are extended and folded over so there is always a fold and not the cut leather (if you don’t understand me you will see it in later pictures).

Step 3: 3. Cut the Leather to Shape

The parts are : (for my wallet of course, you can do whatever you want)

1. I used two big pieces of leather glued together to make the "base". On this part i added a pouch for coins and a slot for ID card. These parts are glued together first.

2. Then you need much larger piece to cover it all – this makes the space for bank notes. This part has two hard paper rectangles glued on and covered with leather as well.

Ok the thing you need to use the most is ... brain. You need to be always a step ahead to make sure not to make any mistakes (if you ask me I tried to do it but even though, I had to repair some parts because i was too quick).

First cut out all parts from article number 1. You need to make sure to leave about 0.5 cm to all sides you want to bend over. In pictures above you will see that i left some lines without bends because ....

We are getting to number 2. This part needs to be bigger than 0.5cm on all sides because you are going to fold it over several leather at once and you need some space for the whole wallet to bend so : the top part could be just 0.5 cm bigger since you will just fold it on its own. The bottom part needs to be about 1-1.5 cm big beacause you will hide there some leather edges. The left and right side shoul be about 2 cm wide because the wallet needs space to fold over and has no stress. (These are just assumed numbers you need to try it on your own to suite it according to your wallet).

This is the last part. As you can see i left just a little space around so later i needed to cut the „base“ to make it fit as i wanted. Also you want to make the middle part between the papers a bit bigger like 1cm. I did 0.5 cm and if it is stuffed with money (not as often as i would like to) it bends a bit so it’s better to make bigger space so the wallet is flat all the time.

Step 4: 4. First Stitches

Now fold all the folds and glue it with flexible glue i used something called Chemopren (my father uses this to glue boots. (Leather glue should be better but I used what we had at home).

Now secure it with stitches and if you want to be exact and nice looking you need to draw a line 0.25 cm from the edge so it’s in the middle. And to make the space between the holes same you need to make some punch tool. I made it from a piece of scrap metal.

First make all of your holes and then sew the folded parts. Then i marked out where the parts are supposed to be glued.

Than just glue all the pieces from article 1. together according to the instructions on the glue label. Now use some weight and let it dry overnight.

The next day sew all of the parts together. That day glue the outter part (article 2.) to the „base“ and cover all left out ends of the leather.Let it dry overnight and sew it the next day.

Now just add a little stud to hold coins in place.

Step 5: 5. Burned Logo

Now the only think that‘s left is to make it personalized.

I decided to burn my logo on it.

For this purpouse I used little grinding tool with little diamond ball at the end to grind out my logo. On first picture you see my first attempt. All i say is FAIL. Yeah I should have known that it needs to be „mirror flipped“

Attempt n.2 : Seemed fine so I tried it on a piece of wood while it was red hot from welding. It doesn’t need to be perfect because when you burn it there is not much of a detail.

I welded a small handle and my burning tool is finished. I used normal candle to heat it up for burning leather. I knew that it was ready when the end of the handle burned my fingers.

Now you should first try it at some spare leather to get it work .. trust me you will not do it on the first time. Just practise and when you are happy about the result do it on the wallet.

Step 6: 6. You Are Done!

And there you have it... Your very own leather wallet with customised logo burned on it. Enjoy and let me know in the comments if something is not clear and I will answer you for sure.

Just a little story to raise my ego. My grand-aunt used to work with leather so I have showed her this wallet and the thing she has told me, suprised me. She has told me that I should teach some of the workers in that firm how to make leather stuff and show them that nothing is „impossible“. That day I was really proud of that wallet I made.

It's almost a month I carry it anywhere I go and I cannot complain about it.

Hope you liked it.

(btw. It's in the leather contest. :)