Make Your Own Leather and Wood Pouch

*Editing

Hello fellow makers,

This is a project I had on the back burner for quite some time and when this year's Leather challenge popped up it gave me a good excuse to finally make it!

In this Instructable I will be showing you how to make a really simple no stitch leather pouch with wooden side panels.

It is a really easy to make project that is perfect for your first leather creation or to make with the kiddo's and you'll be left with a beautiful usable pouch.

Let's get started...

To make this Instructable you will need:

- Leather

I used 10cm by 40cm of offcut leather

Amazon - Offcut leather

- Fabric for lining

Slightly larger as your leather

- Wood

Approximately 120mm X 130mm X 9mm needed

- A sharp hobby knife

- Leather/shoe contact adhesive

Amazon - Leather glue

Optional:

- Access to the CNC machine

- Access to a 3D printer

Amazon - Ender 3

*As an Amazon Associate I receive a small percentage from sales made through provided links at no cost to you, this helps fund future projects.

First we will need to cut the two wooden side panels for the pouch.

I designed the panel in Aspire and it is simply a 55mm X 110mm rectangle with two circles at each end.

I added a protea flower vector to the panel for a decorative touch.

To cut the design I use a V-bit and a 3.175mm two flute bit for cutting through the board.

Tip: To hold the wood to the machines work table I use painters tape on the back of the work piece as well as on the machines table then I can stick the piece to the table using some 2 part CA glue, this way it is ultra secure but can be peeled off the table with no damage.

If you don't have access to a CNC machine you can also print out the outline of the panel and stick it onto the wooden board and cut it out using a wood saw.

After cutting our side panels we need to seal the wood.

I started by sanding the two pieces with some 220 grit sandpaper to get rid of any rough edges left by the CNC then using a sponge I applied a coat of linseed oil.

I like to use boiled linseed oil with all of my projects as it brings out all the natural beauty of the wood and gives a beautiful matt finish.

But you can also use a clear lacquer for a tougher finish.

Now it's time to cut our leather.

The width you choose will determine how long your pouch will be, I made mine 100mm wide and 400mm long.

Note that with wider pieces you will need to stiffen the leather or else the pouch will be floppy.

With a very sharp hobby knife I first cut out a perfect 100mmx400mm rectangle, then on the one side I cut away about 40mmx100mm on each side to be left with a 20mm flap.

This will be used to close the pouch.

I then cut the last 30-40mm of the flap into several smaller strips to create a little tassel

With the leather cut to size we now need to make the inner fabric lining.

The fabric lining is not only there for aesthetics but also gives some extra stiffness to the leather.

I used a beautiful local South African shweshwe fabric cut about 20mm larger than the leather panel.

Next using a clothing iron I folded the edges over so that it is exactly the same size as the leather panel and ironed it well.

Now using the clear contact adhesive we can stick the fabric panel onto the back of the leather, make sure that the edges are stuck down well.

Now we can attach the wooden side panels to the leather.

How I did this is to apply a nice thick bead of the clear leather adhesive to the side of the wood panel where the leather will be adhered to, remember to not glue the top ~1/4 as this will be the flap.

Then take the wooden panel and roll it along the edge of the the leather/fabric to transfer the glue to the fabric.

Set the pieces aside and wait for the glue to become less tacky.

Next it's time to stick the pieces together, take care as you will probably only get one shot at this so align everything properly before pressing them together.

Time for the finishing touches.

I used the sharp hobby knife to make two slits into the leather where the tassel meets the pouch when closed, this will create a little loop for the tassel to go through to keep the pouch closed.

And finally I used some cotton thread and wrapped it around the top of the tassel to finish it off.

And that's it, your pouch is done!

I hope you guys enjoyed this Instructable and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment bellow.

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Happy making!