| Time required | Complexity | Tools & Supplies |
|---|---|---|
| 2 hours | Intermediate | Common for leathercraft |
This project is a two part tutorial. This is the tutorial explaining how to make the coasters.
Requirements
Skills
- Leather dyeing
- Saddle stitching
- Box stitching
- Cross stitching
- Edge burnishing
Tools
- 2.5, 3, 3.5mm hole punches
- Compass
- Scissors or X-Acto knife
- Awl
- Applicator for the dye
- Edge slicker
Bill of Materials
- 4 oz veg tanned leather
- Leather dyes
- Leather cement
- Leather finishing product
- Oil
- Thread
I am using two different kind of leathers here: 3oz calfskin for the lining inside the base and 4oz second grade cowhide for the exterior that will be punched through and the bottom of the base. This is what I had available and I thought that the calfskin would make a nice lining for the base. You can of course forgo the use of lining altogether – in which case 5oz might be more suitable.
Pattern
The free pattern can be downloaded here.
Walk-through
Printing and cutting the pattern
The PDF for the pattern can be found here.
Print it on A4 paper and cut-out the pieces of the project.
Make sure that the pattern is not resized by checking your print settings. You can check if it was printed properly by measuring the test box on the pattern to ensure that its sides are 5cm long.
Print on thick paper to make it easier to trace the shape on the leather. 200g/cm2 and above is ideal (as long as your printer can handle it)
Tracing the outline of the pattern onto the leather
Use a compass to trace a circle of radius=51.25mm (diameter=102.5mm).
Use an awl to trace the outline of the pattern of the panel onto the leather.
Don’t forget to mark the positions of the holes that we will punch through later on.
Dyeing the leather
Dye the top grain with your choice of colors.
I am using a diluted mix of hazelnut, ebony with a touch of blue.
When the dye has dried, condition the leather by applying oil.
Punching-in the pattern
Punch the holes of the pattern on the panel. The hole punch sizes used in this pattern are 2, 2.5 and 3mm.
Cut-out the two shapes with an X-Acto knife or a pair of scissors.
Preparing the liner
Roughly mark a circle and a rectangle big enough to encompass the two pieces that we prepared earlier.
Dye the smooth side and cut out your two pieces.
Gluing the liner to the exterior
Apply leather cement to the rough side of each piece.
Position the matching pieces on top of each other and press. I used a kitchen roller to apply pressure and ensure a good bound.
Finally cut-out the excess around the edges.
Burnishing the edges
Sand down the edges to smooth out any irregularity and burnish with your choice of tool and conditioning.
I am using Tokonole and a wood slicker but water and a cotton rag works as well.
Stitching the pieces together
Use a compass to mark the stitching line around your two pieces.
Then use an awl to prepare your stitching holes. Remember that since this is a box stitch, the holes pierced in the circular base have to be angled.
I decided to use a single line of thread to stitch the project.
Start at one of the corners of the stitch line at the bottom of the panel.
Stitch the base of the panel to the side of the circle using a box stitch. When you reach the other corner of the panel, start stitching up with a regular saddle stitch. Continue until you have stitched the remaining sides of the panels.
When you reach back to the remaining portion of the circle, use a cross stitch to complete it.
Final touches
Finally apply the leather care product of your choice and give it a good rub with a cotton cloth.
Final result
I hope you enjoyed following along this tutorial.
As always, please feel free to share any feedback about this tutorial or any project idea you’d like to see posted here.
Footnotes
The following online content provided some assistance and/or inspiration during the making of this project:
