(Click images to enlarge)
Needing a proper home for my LC Diamond Stitching Chisels
I sketched out a few ideas for a pouch before coming up with this tri-fold tool wallet which holds three different sized sets of four chisels.
The wallet takes a bit more effort to make than the previously described
moulded leather tool pouch,
but it is not overly complicated and, like with the tool pouch,
no pattern is required, just follow the steps below.
The first thing to do is to estimate the size of the pockets.
Using a ruler I determined that pockets 100mm wide by 130mm high would comfortably accommodate the four chisels in each set.
For each set of stitching chisels, I cut a backing piece 100mm wide and 130mm high from some fairly stiff 2.5mm thick veg-tanned leather.
For the second piece of leather used to form the pockets, I chose a 1.5mm thick piece of leather as
something thinner and more flexible is needed for this purpose, this was cut to 100mm wide by 80mm high.
After finishing the grain side of both pieces of leather with some homemade dubbin,
I burnished the top edge of the pocket piece
using Seiwa Tokonole before glueing the two side edges and the bottom edge of the pocket piece
to the backing piece to create an open pocket as shown in the photo above.
The individual chisel pockets are separated by vertical rows of stitching about 30mm long. Lay the stitching irons on the nascent pockets to estimate where
to place three vertical rows of stitches which will form the two pockets for the middle chisels.
After stitching the middle pockets for all three panels, the panels are laid out on a piece of cardboard to estimate the size of the wallet body. Make sure to leave sufficient space
between the panels to allow for folding. At this stage, the part that will form the flap is left over-sized
The piece of card is used as a template for cutting the wallet body.
After burnishing the inner edges of the left and right panels,
and both edges of the middle panel, the three panels are glued and stitched to the wallet body.
Don't forget to install the press stud socket behind the middle panel before glueing it in place, in this case, I used a "line 20" snap.
Once all three panels have been glued and stitched into place. Insert the chisels, this may take a bit of force to stretch the pockets into shape,
and then fold the wallet into its closed position in order to estimate the flap size.
The flap is cut on a slight taper with the top corners rounded in order to give a more finished look.
After installing the press stud cap in the flap and burnishing the remaining edges, the tool wallet is ready for use.