~Jennifer Nack Designs: DIY Handmade Leather Passport Holder

Hello! Here is my DIY Handmade Leather Passport Holder I made for my boyfriend for valentines day

I love how it turned out!....Now here's how I did it.......

What you need:

- Print out this passport holder PDF pattern. Make sure you un-check the print option to scale to the paper.
- one square foot of leather (NOTE- if you want to stamp the initials in the leather, then you need vegetable tanned leather-- I just bought bags of scrap leather that had pieces large enough for the project. You can buy them at Michaels or Tandy leather factory and I lucked out that one of the pieces was veg tanned leather so I could stamp it)
- Waxed thread
- scissors
- cutting board
- stitching awl (I didn't use this-- I used the sharp part of a compass -- yes that tool from elementary school math! I just hammered that through the leather-- I dont recommend that technique though. Tandy leather factory sells tools for punching the holes I'm going to try that for the next project)
- Ruler/ tape measure
- old t-shirt/soft cloth
- leather conditioner and protectant
- 2 leather sewing needles (you need ones with big eyes for threading the thick waxed thread)

Tutorial:

I saw a few tutorials online and some youtube videos on leather making, but Jepsen Leather Goods Blog has the full tutorial for this project.

Advice:

I followed that tutorial but decided I wanted to personalize mine with initials and the studs.

I bought a leather craft stamp set at Michael's for around $10. You just dampen the leather in water, then hammer the stamp on the leather and it makes a permanent mark. Mine weren't that straight. Next time I will probably use a ruler to help me keep the lettering straight.

After I Stamped the initials, I used a staining technique called SHARPIE MARKER to color the stamped initials darker. Then I added studs by placing small holes in the leather and folding the metal clasps around on the back.

Now time for sewing. The sewing part was much harder than I expected. For sewing leather you are supposed to use a saddle stitching technique. This is difficult to explain without showing it, so I would suggest watching videos of it on youtube if you decide to try this project.

I sewed the personalization plate first.

Then I began sewing the inside pockets:

Note: the eyelashes you are seeing are the back of a magazine. You can punch holes better if you work on a porous surface like a telephone book or a magazine. I had to use pliers to pull my needles through the leather, I think if you punch good holes you shouldn't have to do that, but I need to try this project again with a slightly different technique.