Best leather craft book for beginners and projects I made

Interested in adding leather crafting into your hobby but not sure where to start? In this blog post,  I’m recommending my favorite leather craft book for beginners, as well as a showcase of some of my favorite projects.

Diving into the world of leather crafting has not only been a fulfilling journey for me, but I’ve also finished working through the book with many leather goods that I use daily. The book is Making Leather Bags, Wallets, and Cases: 20+ Projects with Contemporary Style by Yasue Tsuchihira. 

In my opinion, this book has proven to be a great leatherwork starter book for beginners, with a well rounded collection of projects you can follow and make, along with an easy to understand introduction.

Overview of the Book:

Yasue Tsuchihira’s leather making book is a great resource for anyone looking to get started at leather crafting. The book covers fundamental techniques, tools, materials, and projects ranging from simple to complex, making it possible for anyone to start leather crafting no matter your skill level.

Why It’s Perfect for Beginners

This book offers clear and concise instructions, which I personally found very easy to understand. When starting a new craft, I often feel intimidated with purchasing all the tools needed. I like that this book doesn’t use fancy tools making it easy for beginners who have minimal tools to begin with. 

The visuals of this book are simple but aesthetically appealing, making it an ideal companion for beginners. The images and projects have a minimalistic vibe while staying classic.

Leather craft projects featured in the book

My favorite part of <Making Leather Bags, Wallets, and Cases> is the diverse and inspiring leatherwork projects. As a beginner, I was pleasantly surprised by the range of creative leather craft projects the book offered. 

From simple wallet designs to more intricate bag patterns, each project serves as a building block, gradually expanding the readers’ skill set.

This is a huge plus for beginner leather crafters, as it is easier and more economical to start with smaller projects such as card cases or coin purses. Not only those projects are easier to accomplish, but they also use a lot less leather material compared to bigger projects like bags. 

All the projects are well designed and very aesthetically pleasing compared to some other leather craft books on the market(which I found the style a bit too rustic for me). For example, I was also reading Leather Crafts and Leather Crafting Starter Book, but I found the projects less attractive than Yasue Tsuchihira’s book.

As a result of obsessing with most of the book projects, I ended up making several of them following the book instructions. By the end of the book, I felt pretty confident at making simple leather products, as well as creating some simple patterns.

Leather crafts I made from this book

While reading this book, I’ve made a simple wallet, eyeglass case, small travel pouch, and two bifold wallets with one modified by me from the original pattern they provided.

With the knowledge I gained from reading this book, I created my own patterns and made a leather napkin holder and a passport case.

One category of projects I never make is the bags, as it requires a lot more leather materials and I didn’t have any immediate need for more bags.

The various wallets

Here are a couple examples from what I’ve made in leather wallet category .

The first wallet is a slightly larger coin purse, which is the perfect size for credit card. Nowadays people just use credit card or their phone to pay, there’s less need for storing cash. So I’ve used this wallet as my everyday wallet.

I love how compact and lightweight it is. Although being very small, this design offers two compartments inside, enabling me to store the most used credit card on the front, and my ID and other cards on the back.

Here’s a bifold wallet I made. I followed the bifold wallet project in the book and made one that is exactly like the book. Then I simplified the pattern and made a more light weight version as you can see below.

It provides space to store cash, and also comes with a removable coin pocket to store coins and changes which is quite cute.

Improvised projects

After getting familiar with following leather work patterns, I started to feel more comfortable designing and creating my own patterns. I mostly search the internet to get inspirations, and try to design the pattern from that while customizing it to my needs.

So here’s a passport sleeve I designed and made myself. I used machine stitching for the outside parameter of the passport cover to save time – hand sewing leather can be a lot!

In the end I’m very happy with the outcome, and I proudly carry it with me when I travel internationally.

Here’s another project I improvised – a tissue box. I partially copied the design of another tissue box I have which is made of PU, and create my own pattern from there.

I’m very thrilled with how it turned out, and I just like how it is made of natural material.

Summary

<Making Leather Bags, Wallets, and Cases> by Yasue Tsuchihira is not just a book, but a rich and fun course you can devour for a long period of time and acquire all the essential leather making skills.

 For beginners seeking an easy start into the world of leather crafting, this book is a great starting point, offering guidance, inspiration, and the joy of creating tangible, beautiful pieces. Whether you’re dreaming of crafting stylish bags, timeless wallets, or versatile cases, this book opens the door to a world of possibilities.

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