I thought it would be nice to show each other the very first items we made and have a good ol' laugh at our own expenses!
I'll start by sharing with you the very first wallet I ever made (which was also the first item I ever made). And I have to say, it is awful!!!
Now I am not saying that I am not proud of myself for having made it, but here are all the things i did wrong:
- I free hand cut everything, no template no nothing, because why not?
- I used 7 oz hard temper Vegtan for the main body
- I used 4 oz goat skin for the pockets
- I used a 2.7 mm diamond chisel for the stitching paired with an 0.8mm stitching awl thread, (whatttttt???)
- I pressed down so hard when burnishing that the edge of the goat skin actually folded bakcwards and hid the stitching lines (which could be considered a blessing given the look of the stitching)
Next to the famous wallet is my revision of the same design, 6 months later. Needless to say, I had made some progress. I am also sure I don't need to tell you which is the old, and which is the new...
So, I made you laugh at myself, now make me laught at you :D
Thought I'd add my first efforts and show some of the stages of improvement. To say these aren't the only attempts in the progression is an understatement. I don't know how many different iterations of a "strap" I've fumbled through. Still a long way to go.
You can see how rough it started. That was maybe a year ago. It was my first effort at anything other than stitching a simple line. I had no idea about leather thickness, thread selection, pricking, skiving, glue...literally anything...I didn't event work off a pattern or own a hole punch! It was just a free-hand cut to play around and see what happened. The thought of finishing edges didn't even occur to me. At that point, the only real information I was coming across was in the western genre and it wasn't really the direction I wanted to head.
The second one was about 6 months ago. It was functional. I felt so proud when I finished it. It is laughable now but I couldn't believe I had made it. I was still trying to piece the process together from trial and error, youtube and books. I worked from a pattern I made which was, undoubtedly, not symmetrical. I used decent pricking irons but you can see my stitches wandering all over! Had no idea how to turn the corners. I didn't know to hammer the threads to flatten them so they frayed almost immediately.
The next two are more recent efforts. Wild improvements in the grand scheme but still a long way to go. I'm struggling with getting the filler shape consistent and I still have fraying on my threads as I can't seem to get them flat enough. Also, still struggling to get clean backstitching and appropriately spaced stitches at the lugs.
Great thread Fadi! It is good to document where it all started.