Hand Sew a simple Leather pouch

leather pouch sewing tutorial

Hand sewing leather is no small feat for a beginner in sewing. But this leather pouch is not in that category. It is a simple pouch and very easy to sew. A good piece of leather, 2 needles, leather sewing thread along with some elbow grease and you are in business. 

How to make a leather pouch by hand sewing

Step 1 Cut out leather pieces for your pouch

Take a piece of leather in the dimension 15.5 inches by 4 1/4 inches – you can use any size you want depending on what you intend to carry in it – your phone, or just some cash and a card or two, your car keys or simply your sunglass or your lipgloss, whatever. 

You may want to use a piece of lining fabric in the same dimension. 

DIY leather pouch

Keep these, one on top of the other. I cut the lining piece a tad smaller than the leather piece – do not trim at the top edge. 

DIY leather pouch

Step 2 Fold the leather

Fold it so that the top flap measures 2 1/2 inch in height.

DIY leather pouch

I curved the top edge slightly. You may want to fold the lining piece to the inside, at the top. Instead of this, you can finish the edge of the lining piece with a zig zag stitch. 

Step 3 Start stitching

Mark your seam allowance and start stitching. You can use a saddle stitch for this.

Read how to make a Saddle stitch here.

Related post : Tips for Handsewing leather. 

You have to make holes to sew through thick leather layers; you will need to make these holes as you sew. 

DIY leather pouch

Make consistent even stitches. I believe in preaching rather than practicing. You can obviously do better.

DIY leather pouch

When you end, bring the thread to the middle of the 2 leather layers (as in the picture below) and tie in place. Cut off the extra thread.

DIY leather pouch

Step 4 Make button loop and attach button

You can braid the leather sewing thread to form the loop you need as a fastener.

sewing leather pouch

how to sew leather pouch

Fix the thread loop on the back of the flap with glue. (use the strongest glue you have) . I prefer this to stitching it to the flap.

how to sew leather pouch

Attach the button. You need a button with a shank. Take one or two stitches in the place where you want the button to be attached and then tie the thread twice in these stitches and then attach the button to this tie – this is easier than sewing the button totally to leather. 

Step 5 Finish edges

As it is, this leather pouch is good enough for me. 

 

sewing tutorial leather pouch

It fits my phone. 

 

sewing tutorial - leather pouch

But you may want to finish the edges, rather than leave the leather edges as it is. You can make simple blanket stitches along the edges to finish the leather edge.

leather pouch sewing

Start the stitch from the middle of the two leather layers. Take the needle to the back. Now come to the front and insert the needle through the hole to the back.

leather pouch sewing

Twist the thread around the needle. Pull up the needle and get the thread tight.

DIY leather pouch

Now bring the needle to the front, insert through the next hole. Pull it up.

DIY leather pouch

Bring the needle to the front again and insert the needle through the stitch you just made.

DIY leather pouch

Pull it up. Tighten the stitch. Your first blanket stitch enveloping the edge is made. Keep doing it, till the whole edge is covered.

how to sew a leather pouch

DIY leather pouch

Related posts : How to sew phone pouches ; Different types of leather ; How to buy leather. 

How to sew a pencil case : 4 ways ; How to sew cosmetic pouches ; How to sew and sell bags ; Best bag making supplies; Best bag making fabrics

 

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Author: Sarina Tariq

Hi, I love sewing, fabric, fashion, embroidery, doing easy DIY projects and then writing about them. Hope you have fun learning from sewguide as much as I do. If you find any mistakes here, please point it out in the comments.