I recently celebrated another birthday (yipee!), and part of the birthday gift I received from my guy was a personal lesson from the talented creator of Limehouse Leather on how to make my own handmade leather goods — and boy was I excited! But, with this new hobby came a new set of tools….and much like many of you, I needed a way to transport them (you may have makeup brushes or crafting supplies of your own that need a home). So, my introductory lesson was to start this tool roll, and while I wasn’t able to finish it that night, I did take it home — much to the dismay of my neighbors who had to put up with my rivet hammering on the floor — and with a little extra work and some supplies from Mood Fabrics (they have a nice selection of leather) I came up with a master piece I’m quite proud of. Any new skills you’d like to learn….feel free to tell me below?
SUPPLIES: ruler, wire cutters, rotary cutter, shotgun shell rivet setter, leather rotary punch, rubber mallet, leather, rivets (I used #9), pen, and an awl
HOW-TO:
1. Take your rotary cutter and ruler to cut out two rectangles in your desired length….one for the outer casing of your tool roll, and one for the pockets.
2. Start by hemming the pocket leather in its desired position. Once you decide where you’d like it to go, start marking out the positions for the rivets an inch apart.
3. Use your leather rotary punch to make holes in both pieces of leather, where you indicated in Step #2. (Note: Once I made the first hole in my pocket leather, I used the pen to mark my position on the second piece…and you may need to use the awl depending on how thick it is).
4. Place your rivets through the holes.
5. Place the rings over the rivets (Note: the Rivet Setter has both a hole and an indentation on the bottom of it…for this step use the empty hole).
HOW-TO CONT’D:
6. Now use the rivet setter and mallet to set them in place.
7. I wanted to figure out how much space I would need for each pocket….so I put my tools in to give me an idea.
8. Put a rivet in the top, middle, and bottom of each pocket slot.
9. Once the rivets are set, cut the excess off with your wire cutters.
10. Remember the indentation on the bottom of rivet setter? Here’s the time to use that….so grab your mallet and hammer those down.
11. You’re almost done…..cut two pieces of leather for your closure.
12. Lastly, take a few rivets and secure those, and you’re all done.
Brandhyze Stanley is the chief voice of the award winning blog, Frugal-nomics.com; a platform designed to share with women how to live and look fabulous on a dime. A DIY girl at heart—Brandhyze has been featured on The View, The Early Show, The Today Show, InStyle Magazine, Essence Magazine, and MTVStyle. A Wilhelmina Model for over a decade, with a Business Degree from Loyola University Chicago, Brandhyze provides DIY content to the popular How-To Site, eHow; and has been a contributor for the Huffington Post, Yahoo Finance, Super Money, Good Housekeeping, and Newsday Westchester, to name a few. Brandhyze is a huge thrifter and a lover of all good deals, follow her on Twitter @MyFrugalnomics and on Facebook at Facebook.com/Frugalnomics.
6 comments
Great idea and love the look. This would be a great little idea for jewelry making tools as well!
Yes Rebecca, it’s great for all sorts of tools (i.e. sewing, sculpting, etc).
Excellent leather tool .I am very excited to see this.Perhaps I would like to collect special leather tool for my home.
Yes…great way to keep all your supplies Fabric Collection
You did an amazing job Brandhyze!!!! Love it!!!
Thanks Jennifer, I appreciate it! Thanks for commenting