Leathercraft Techniques

I have some 1.5mm veg tan that I'm hoping to dye and use for the Zip Wallet. I have a couple questions about the process: - I was planning on cutting the rough pieces, then dyeing, then cutting exactly to the templates. I worry that the dye could shrink/warp the leather, I just want to confirm that this the best order of operations.

- I'm using Fiebings Leather Dye in Yellow, which is an alcohol based dye. The manufacturer recommends using their Resolene product as a finish, but I think the acrylic might have a poorer hand feel than a wax/oil. I tried using Fiebings Atom Wax, but it significantly darkened the colour to more of a brown. I'm thinking of either trying a Carnauba wax, the Resolene acrylic, or just ordering a different pre-coloured leather (like the Alran Sully I'm using for the interior). What would you recommend?

I am just learning how to stitch and would love some feedback. I have done about 45 of these strips and am staring to feel like I am get the hang of it. The stitching on the flesh side lacks the uniformity I would like. Is there anything I can do when adding the cast to the saddle stitch to get a more consistent angle on the back side?

Hello  I would be really grateful for some help from anyone on here who makes watch strap please. I am trying to design my own templates for watch straps and I am struggling as how get an accurate sizing guide.

I have looked at a few other makers sites to view their sizing guides and to see how they have come up with the sizes of the straps from that of a wrist measurement but I cant quite seem to work out how this is done.

For this example I am going to use a wrist measurement 17.5 cm which in the extract of one particular makers size guide would indicate that the wrist measure is comfortably in the size range for a 115/75 strap and a lug to lug measurement of 40 mm.

Wrist Size Strap Size

(16.5 - 18.5 cm)  Regular length (115 - 75) when suitable with watch…

Hello leather masters, I have two questions about better edge finishing. The first issue is making an edge on soft leather where two layers that are not perfectly aligned come together. As an example, you can see in the picture below that a piece of soft leather was cut using a cardboard template.

The leather is supposed to be folded and sewn along the edges, with a zipper in the middle. Since the rounded edges were made with a round knife, they are not completely straight (picture below).

How do you best approach such details? Since the leather is too thin, sandpaper cannot be used. Is it best to cut the edge after the layers are sewn, or is there a better trick?

For example, how do you suggest finishing an edge like this where the leather is very thin, is it best to leave it raw, paint it, or is it…