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23rd September, This was a 45 minute group task to create a Folk costume with just newspaper and cardboard.

My group, (Me, Milo, Izzy and Blessing) went for recreating The Green Man.

And I think it worked really well!

We put my Hoodie on a dress form, so I could also help out while we made the costume. Izzy and Blessing we're ripping strips of newspaper, and sticking them to the hoodie, and using Cardboard to make a back piece.

And me and Milo were cutting out leaves.

We drew the shape on the top sheet of a newspaper and then used that to cut through multiple sheets at a time so we could make as many leaves as we could in as little time as possible. Then we took the leaves and stuck them to strips of sellotape to that Izzy and Blessing could drape them down the hoodie.

When everyone was adding the last bits to the hoodie, I started taking the last few leaves we cut out and sticking them to my face, because in all the pictures we saw, The Green Man's face has also been covered. At first I just stuck them in random places on my face, then Milo suggested we turn it into a beard, mustache, and eyebrows, and I think that worked better.

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I used a black cape I already owned as a pattern piece to draw around to make the cape and used paint pots to weight it down and used charcoal to draw round the cape.

Then I cut it out and hemmed the edges.

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https://pin.it/22Bh5W4m6

Seasonal Monarch ideas board

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1st Week Research Task,

Folk Costumes Pinterest Board

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Explore a hand-picked collection of Pins about Folk Costumes on Pinterest.

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Cardboard and Newspaper Green Man, Finished!

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Cardboard and Newspaper Green Man, Finished!

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A short video of the Finished cardboard and newspaper Green Man!

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I made a paper pattern for the skirt, this is only half of the skirt, so I would have to have to cut 2 of these and sew them together.

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7th October Form drawings,

Starting with 9 points equallly spaced on a line. (Continue explaining)

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14th October, Making an Dragon from recycled materials.

Made from takeaway pots, bottle lids, corrugated cardboard, foam and various fabrics. (Dark green matte, green shiny, and green glittery fabric. Pink felt for the inside of the mouth and red fabric for the tongue.)

And the 'Fire' stick from orange netting and light and dark orange fabric strips tied and glued to a short wooden pole.

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A short video of the finished Dragon out of recycled materials.

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My face cast wasn't sitting evenly on the table so I used clay to add a lump to the back to it would sit evenly and it would be easier to make my mask on.

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I started this by covering my face cast in vaseline so it would be easy to take the mask off the face cast when it was done. I used the mix of wall paper paste, PVA glue and water to add layers. I added 8 layers alternating brown paper and newspaper.

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Initial idea for the Autumn cape for my Seasonal Monarch, drawn digitally

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Flood skirt idea with reference image

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2nd Flood skirt idea with reference image

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2nd Flood skirt idea with reference image

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8 layered skirt in different shades of blue and purple.

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waterfall flood skirt idea with reference

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Extreme Weather Events design with sand storm vest, hurricane scarf and flood skirt.

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Seasonal Monarch design with the autumn cape, winter armour, and summer skirt.

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I wanted the cape to be in a gradient from yellow to orange to red. So I started by dying it all yellow.

I had to wash the fabric before I dyed it.

Then I filled the bucket with warm water and added the dye powder, left it for a little bit, then added salt to help the dye stick. Then left it to sit for 20 minutes

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I started by dying most of the cape yellow, but leaving the top section green.

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I then dipped half of the cape in the bucket with orange dye and just covering up parts of the yellow and left it for another 20 minutes.

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I then dipped the bottom of the cape in the bucket with red dye and left them for another 20 minutes.

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I made a rough paper version of my face using the plaster cast and clear tape, sticking small paper leaves on the way i would want to stick the actual leaves on for the project, So i could see how it looked.

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I used the mix of wall paper paste, PVA glue and water to stick the leaves on the mask, making sure to cover all of the white paper.

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I used an embroidery needle to poke holes in the sides of my mask so I could thread some elastic through the sides to make sure the mask stays on my head.

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My finished seasonal mask, with spring in the middle with the small flowers/ flower buds, Summer flowers on the sides, Autumn leaves around the edges and icicles along the bottom for Winter.

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I took this yellow dress and cut the top off to I could turn it into a skirt.

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I cut the top off the dress and used a seam ripper to take the zip out, then I sewed the seam back up and turned the top over around the elastic and pinned it down, then took the elastic out to sew it up, leaving a hole to thread the elastic back in. Then I used a safety pin to thread the elastic in, sewed the elastic together and hand sewed the hole closed.

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summer skirt cut zip removed and ready to add the waistband

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I used my hot glue gun and glued lots of different sized flowers and leaves all over it.

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I saved half of my large flowers for the back.

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I crocheted a single chain in grey that was long enough to wrap around my body 4 times.

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I layed the fabric over the pattern and used a light blue sharpie to trace over the pattern.

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Research into making a dress with ruffles

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These are all of the leaves I had to attach to the autumn cape.

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I did 3 rows of double crochet on my chain and rounded off the edges. I then finished the scarf by adding short tassels every 5 stitches.

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I had to wash the fabric before I dyed it.

Then I filled the bucket with warm water and added the dye powder, left it for a little bit, then added salt to help the dye stick. Then left it to sit for 20 minutes

The blue dye didn't take very well the first time I tried it.

So I took the base skirt and 1 of the ruffles out and kept them as the lightest blue. Then I put some of the ruffles back in the same blue dye, put a couple in a different bucket with some brighter blue dye, and some in another bucket with some purple dye and swapped them around to try and get as many different shades of blue as I could.

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I took all of my different ruffles and zigzaged over one end of the raw edges and hemmed the other.

I only hemmed one edge because the zigzaged edge will be hidden by the layer sewn above it.

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I took one of the spare pieces of lightly dyed fabric and cut a strip of to match the top of the base skirt. Then I pinned them together.

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Then I sewed the them together, trimmed the seam allowance and zigzaged over the raw edges.

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I took a dark brown thread, because that would be easy to see against any of the blues, and hand sewed a long running stitch along the zigzaged edge to help me gather it.

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Because I don't own a dress mannequin, I asked my mum to put the skirt on. Then one by one starting from the bottom, I arranged the gather of the ruffles to look how I wanted it to and pinned it on.

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Since the top ruffle was only hemmed on one edge, I sewed it on upside down. I did this so it would hang down like the rest and you wouldn't see the edge.

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I started by arranging the leaves and pinning them on, because I wanted to sew the leaves to the cape, but this was extremely fiddly and irritating, so I decided to use my hot glue gun instead.

I started with the brown leaves with red tips for the bottom, I placed them and glues them on 1 by 1 so I could make sure I got the spacing I wanted.

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Next I added the dark red leaves, spacing them apart a littlw bit to make sure I would have enough leaves to cover the cape.

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Then I added the leaves that were a mostly orange with red on the edges, then the slightly more yellow ones.

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Then I added the completely yellow leaves and moved on to the light green ones.

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Then I moved to the brighter green leaves with brown on the edges,

And finished it with a lot smaller darker green leaves along the top.

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After looking up how to work with leather and getting a beginners leather sewing kit for Christmas, I moved onto the straps for the cape.

I used the awl to poke holes in the leather so it would be easier to sew, then used waxed thread to sew my leather to the top corners of the cape and the two ends of the belt together.

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I finished the cape by crossing the 2 straps diagonally at the front and around my back so the cape with sit nicely on my shoulders.

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The snowflake or snow crystal, is a charge in heraldry.

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When I designed the Extreme weather events costume, I wanted to used this sand coloured material on the top. But when I started to look for shirt patterns in my pattern collection I realised I wouldn't have enough material to easily make the shirt I wanted. So I had to change my idea, and I decided to go with a wild fire instead because that was another suitable extreme weather event.

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I found this red shirt from a previous project in my fabric box when I was looking for red fabric, so I decided to use this rather than making a shirt from scratch.

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I had this red tule skirt in my craft box and I thought the tule over the top of the shirt base I had, would add a nice tough to it.

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I carefully cut the red satin material off of the skirt, then I folded the hem of the skirt over the neckline of the shirt and pinned then top stitched them together.

Then I put the shirt on over the flood skirt base and put a line of pins where the skirt sat, so I would know what the highest point of the short I could cut was.

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I used a cutting mat and my roller cutter to cut some jagged edges on the top to look like flickering flames of a wild fire.

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The finished Wild Fire shirt on top of the base of the flood skirt.

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The finished Wild Fire shirt on top of the base of the flood skirt, from the back.

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The front view of the full seasonal monarch costume.

The Mask has all 4 seasons on it. The small white roses/ buds are for Spring, the flowers at the sides are for Summer, the leaves around the edges are for Autumn and the icicles at the bottom are for Winter.

The Antlers with flowers on (I sourced, rather than made), are for Spring.

The Chest plate is for Winter.

The Cape mostly for Autumn but has some bright green leaves at the top for the end of Summer.

And the Skirt is for Summer in full bloom.

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The back of the Seasonal Monarch costume.

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Seasonal Monarch Costume without the Chestplate

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Seasonal Monarch Costume without the Chestplate

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The Seasonal Monarch costume without the chest plate so you can see the straps for the cape and the glittery silver sequined top, (which I sourced rather than made), to look like snow under the chest plate.

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Seasonal Monarch Costume Back without the Cape

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Seasonal Monarch Costume Back without the Cape

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The back of the Seasonal Monarch costume so you can see the back of the Summer skirt and chest plate.

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Leather Working Beginner’s Guide | Instructions & Videos

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This leatherworking guide by Jim Linnell provides step-by-step tutorials and videos on how to be successful with the seven basic leathercraft stamping tools. You’ll also find references to additional resources and free patterns to help get you started!

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The Art of Leatherwork: A Guide for Beginners | PS Leather Craft

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A comprehensive guide for beginners with information to get started in leatherworking.

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The full Extreme Weather Events costume with the Wild Fire shirt, the Hurricane scarf and the Flood skirt.

I put a petticoat under the flood skirt to give it a bit more volume and shape.

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Extreme Weather Events Full Costume Back

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Extreme Weather Events Full Costume Back

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The back view of the Extreme Weather Events costume

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A closer view of the top half of the Extreme Weather Events costume

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Extreme Weather Events Full Costume Back

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Extreme Weather Events Full Costume Back

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A closer view of the back of the top half of the Extreme Weather Events costume

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I took some firm wire and weaved it through the top row of stitches of the scarf.

Then I single crocheted over the wire to completely hide it.

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Leather working is on the rise as an exciting, fruitful hobby. Of course, like most hobbies, leather working can become a bona fide, profit-generating business. Whether a leather novice or a seasoned pro, it's essential to have high-quality tools in your arsenal. There are some basic instruments a leatherworker can't live without, while countless specific tools can help craft highly individualized work.

So, without further ado, let's dive into the 11 best leather working tools, how they work, and what types perform best for different leather crafts.

Things to Consider Before Choosing Leather Working Tools

One crucial thing to consider when hunting for the best leather tools is to keep "quality" at the forefront of your mind. You don't have to empty your bank account, but carefully consider the features of each tool and how they're built. In addition, think about the type of leather work you'll do, as there are general and specialized tools on the market.

The Best Leather Working Tools

1. Swivel Knife

Swivel Knife

This tool is excellent for creating intricate details and outlining in leather work. You'll find the indented finger rest allows you control over your cutting. If you're hunting for that perfect swivel knife, look no further than the . The indented finger rest is built for maximum comfort, so you can work for long periods without experiencing discomfort.

Additionally, the zirconium oxide blade never needs sharpening, nor does it rust. The ergonomic design and cross-hatched grip give you complete control over your work. It's a durable, sturdy tool that can weather the elements.

2. Leather Working Tool: Awls

Image credit: libertyleathergoods.com

Awls are utilized for poking holes in leather. Doing this allows you to string lacing or thread through the holes and create designs. There are a handful of different awls on the market, and each performs a different function.

For example, a collar awl is excellent for making saddles, while a curved awl has a curved hook that can undo stitches and create tighter stitches. A lacing awl pulls lacing through leather, a diamond tip awl makes smaller holes than your average awl, and a needle awl is a more durable version of a needle.

3. Burnisher and Slicker Tools

Image credit: wutaleather.com

Burnisher and slicker tools are a package deal - you use them to finish leather edges. You can smooth out or "burnish" leather through friction. This heat strengthens and hardens the leather and ensures no hanging fibers. There are different kinds of burnishers on the market: wood, glass, brass, exotic wood, and plastic.

4. Stitch Groover

Image credit: artisanleathersupply.com

Here's another best leather working tool that is invaluable for your workbench. A stitch groover cuts a groove in your leather, allowing the stitches to sink below the surface. This prevents snags and thread abrasion. The grooving tip and the adjustable edge guide ensure that multiple grooves can be cut, opening the doors to design possibilities.

5. Mallets

Image credit: libertyleathergoods.com

Much like regular mallets, leather working tools, the mallets are used for striking other tools. Composed of either rawhide or plastic, these instruments are great to have as additional assets. The rawhide mallets, in particular, boast a dense rawhide top perfect for shock absorption and protecting metal tools when struck.

6. Leather Conditioner

Image credit: tuckersaddlery.com

Even leather needs some good ole-fashioned hydration. Leather conditioner is pretty self-explanatory - after cleaning, it restores moisture and oils that are stripped during the cleaning process. Some conditioners leave a protective finish over the leather, which helps it maintain resistance to debris and water.

7. Edgers and Bevelers

Image credit: libertyleathergoods.com

If you prefer softer, rounder edges on your leather work, edgers and bevelers are where it's at. These tools shave off the square edges of your leather creations. You'll find softer edges on leather accessories such as wallets and belts. There are a few different kinds of bevelers, including the Bissonnette edge beveler, which has a circular blade that can soften edges from all angles.

The common edge beveler's prong-shaped blade edges away the sharp corners of leather, while the French edge beveler boasts a rectangular edge that skives and gouges leather. Lastly, the wheel beveler has a circular, pizza cutter-like blade that creates decorative markings in leather.

8. Leather Tools: Needles

Image credit: libertyleathergoods.com

Leather needles are similar to sewing needles, except they come in a range of sizes, thicknesses, lengths, different-sized points, and different-sized eyelets. It all depends on what type of leather you're sewing and what you're creating.

The types of best leather tools needles include glovers needles (named primarily because glove makers use them), leather lacing needles (they use lace instead of thread), harness needles (most commonly used when stitching with thread), and curved leather needles (used for sewing leather sections from different planes).

9. Punching Tool

Image credit: etsy.com

One of the essential skills in leathercraft is the art of punching (no, not that kind). Punching produces holes and shapes, sets hardware, and cuts edges and patterns in leather. You can find punching tools in varying sizes and shapes. Typically, you'll strike your punching tool with a mallet or hammer.

Commonly used punching tools to punch leather pre-stitching include stitching punches, which create round holes. Pricking irons leave slits at a 45-degree angle. Lastly, round dent punches leave a small, rounded impression without removing material.

10. Leather Scissors

Image credit: libertyleathergoods.com

Leather scissors may resemble regular, fabric-centric scissors, but there's one significant difference: leather scissors are more durable. You won't have to worry about them breaking while tackling leather, nor will you struggle on the cutting front.

There are multiple brands of leather scissors, so it's crucial to figure out the appropriate type for your particular leatherwork. For example, Fiskars offers sturdy leather scissors. Pro-Master and Kai Scissors also sell quality tools. You can also look into left-handed leather scissors if you're a leftie and leather shears for more heavy-duty projects.

11. Strap Cutters

Image credit: etsy.com

Strap cutters cut leather straps from large leather hunks and hide. They're hand-held wooden devices equipped with a mounted blade. You can usually adjust the thickness before you cut my way of marking measurements on the device.

Some leatherworkers utilize strap cutters to make belts, as it's easy to cut a thin, long strap from a sizeable piece of leather. Additionally, you can make leather laces. Occasionally, strap cutters are also called "ploughs."

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11 Leather Working Tools for Professional & DIY Projects | Slice

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Discover the best leather working tools for both professional and DIY projects. From leather cutting to stitching tools, find the top tools on the market.