First DIY Sporran

**meinfs** · 3rd August 08, 06:14 PM

That's fantastic! It looks very handsome. Good job 12stones!

**12stones** · 3rd August 08, 08:36 PM

Thanks again all for the praise. I must say that much credit goes to A_hay! for his initial guidance on leatherworking. I had read as much as I could find without spending some serious money on books and still had questions and he was kind enough to answer all of them. And if you haven't seen his sporrans, well, they're amazing...

Okay, so here's how I did it.

First, the tools. Here's what I used for this whole project:

Utility knife
Swivel knife
Beveling tool
Backgrounding tool
Polyester mallet
4-prong 1/8" punch
Stitching awl
Leather dye
Leather finisher
Leather lace
Leather cement
Something to hold the sporran closed (I used a piece of horn from Joann's Fabric)

Okay, so first thing I did was go to my local Leather Factory (Tandy) and got a small piece of leather large enough to fit my pattern. The leather for the front and back is about 3/16" thick and stiff. I used some dark brown upholstery leather for the gusset. I traced my pattern on the leather and then used the utility knife to cut it out.

Once I had my pattern cut, it was time for the tooling of the celtic circle. I printed the one I wanted (okay, the one I thought would be the easiest) on a piece of paper to the size I thought I wanted.

Note: Jaime, I know you think smaller, but smaller is harder and until I get some better skills...they're just gonna have to go to the edge.

I then cased the leather. Once I had the leather cased, I transferred the celtic circle onto the leather where I wanted it by tracing the lines with a pencil. After the lines were traced, I removed the paper and cut the design in using the swivel knife. Learn from me: practice on scrap before you attempt this on your project. It's not as easy as it might look.

From there, I beveled the edges of the lines I cut using the mallet and beveling tool, and then to hide the mistakes I could hide, I used the background tool and mallet to do the shading on the inside of the circle and made the lines more prominent.

With the celtic circle finished, I then used the 4-prong punch to make my stitching holes. I went over the leather first making light marks with the punch just to gauge how I would do it. I then went back once I had the spacing marked and punch the holes with the mallet and the punch. I tried to make the holes in the front and back line up as much as possible but with this type of gusset, it wasn't really necessary. I also marked and punched the holes for the arrowhead shaped piece that you run the belt through. I did not punch holes in the gusset leather. Trying to get it to line up was a pain and the leather was thin enough that there isn't too much trouble trying to get the awl through it when stitching.

With all of the holes punched, it was time to dye the leather (after letting it sufficiently dry of course). I had picked up some dark brown dye on sale from Tandy, so dark brown it was going to be. I used a regular sponge to apply the dye evenly on the front and back of each piece. I did not dye the upholstery leather as it's already dyed. I had to apply about 3 coats to get it the shade I wanted. Then I had to wait over 24 hours for it to dry.

Once the dye was dry, then I had to go over it with the leather finisher. This helps seal the dye so it won't rub off on your stuff. The kind I got also gives it a little satin sheen too. Then it's back to waiting for it to dry.

Once everything was dry, I then put a hole in the front piece so that I could use the lace to attach the piece of horn that the loop would go over.

Now, I was ready to stitch it together. I have the stitching awl that comes with a spool of thread attached. It's quite easy to do, though it just takes a little time. First, I stitched the arrowhead piece on the back. I then stitched the gusset to the front piece. Since I was doing it so the stitching would be hidden, I had to make sure to line the gusset the right way so that when I folded it over, the outside of the leather was smooth. I cemented the edges of the leather together so that it wouldn't move while I was stitching.

I started at one edge, followed the instructions on the package, and made it all the way to the other edge with no problems. Then I folded the leather over and lined it up with the back piece. This was a little trickier since you can't move everything the way you'd like. I didn't cement it this time because I knew I'd end up with cement everywhere and would ruin the sporran, so I lined up one edge, and just began to stitch. It didn't turn out too badly, though be careful not to stretch your leather while you stitch or it will turn out a little crooked... believe me.

Then I put the holes in the top of the sporran for the loop to be made. I would only have one hole if I didn't mess up and NOT get it perfectly in the center. So, I fudged it and made too. I tied a little piece of lace through the holes, made sure I could get it over the horn, and VOILA! Done.