South Carolina Leather Patch

Today we are going to make a leather South Carolina patch! There are a lot of options with this project a different state, a different color, different designs on your patch. I am going to tool a palmetto tree and moon that I designed myself on some of them and others I am going to leave plain, also sewing velcro on the back is a great option that makes this easier to put on things.

MATERIALS
leather

TOOLS
razor knife
Xacto knife
Pen
Card board or sheet of plastic for pattern
Leather punch, ice pick or small strait screwdriver
Edger (optional)

STAMPS ( if you tool palmetto tree and moon)
D 435
F 902
P 975
V 707

Ok so to get started I downloaded a out line of my state and glue it on to a sheet of plastic. The reason I used plastic is I plan on making a bunch of these and plastic won't wear out like card board.

I use a razor knife to cut the pattern out of the sheet then use a xacto knife to cut out the rest

Then I take a good pen and trace out the pattern of South Carolina onto my leather. I am making three at the same time on different thicknesses of leather

Now we do the same thing we did to make the pattern using the razor knife for cutting off the edges then use a xacto knife to cut the actual shape out. Then this part is optional but to refine it a little more I use a leather edger to bevel the edges.

You can skip this step and leave it plain or make your own design.
First wet the leather in warm water.
Then take crafttool P 975 and make a row of them up the state off centered to the right. Be sure and look at the pictures for reference. Next use crafttool V 707 to make a base for the palmetto tree. The hardest part of the tree is the branches so to make them use crafttool F 902 and keep the back of it in the center and use the thin part to go all the way around then go in between your previous branches until it looks right ( it may take some trial and error) Last is the moon and for that use craft tool D 435 it is not the best tool probably to use, there might be a better one out there but it was the best I had on hand and I think it looks good. Just be sure to lean it to the left side so you don't get much of the design on the right side of the tool.

Alright now that we have out palmetto and moon tooled out we need to punch holes around the patch so we can see it on ether velcro or what ever you want this patch on. I am going to use a small strait screwdriver to punch my holes and would definitely recommend it because it makes a very nice looking slot hole that adds to the look and is lot easier to sew through.

The only thing left to do now is finish the leather I used a acrylic clear coat you can buy this at Hobby Lobby it works great to protect the leather from moisture and it also gives the leather a really nice color. It also helps your tree and moon stand out

And your done! This is a great project and looks great on bags,hats,coats and anything else that you can think of! So thank you for reading my instructable and hopfully you can try this project if you do please let me know!
If you would like to watch a video of me making this here is the link- https://youtu.be/4CrW2jIIIwc