Tutorial with pattern to make a leather purse
This leather wallet is small enough to fit in a small handbag, your trouser pocket or the storage compartment of your car for example, while being large enough to slip in 2-3 cards with coins and notes.
It is an essential accessory when you want to leave home light and take only the essentials.
In addition to being practical and pretty, this origami purse is easy to make at home, it can be an opportunity to spend a pleasant moment with family or to offer personalized gifts to those around you.
Find the complete video tutorial available on YouTube:
List of materials used to make the origami purse
- Goat "liégé" leather
- Ruler
- Craft knife
- Round punch hole 3.6mm
- Button hole punch - 4mm
- Wood burnisher
- Maul
- Punching board
- Edge beveler 0.8 mm
- Toko cream
- Button stud - 6mm
The steps to follow to make your leather coin purse
Step 1: Print the pattern
We have made available to you a free pattern to reproduce the purse to scale. Just click on the link below to download and print it. It is actual size, make sure that the measuring square is 1cm on each side.
Free leather coin purse pattern dowload
Step 2: Cut the pattern
After printing it and checking that the scale is correct, you need to cut out the pattern following the lines so that you can then transfer it to your piece of leather.
Step 3: Transfer the pattern onto the leather and cut out
Place the pattern on your leather so as to limit waste (on a whole skin, choose one side rather than the center or use a scrap). Trace the outlines with a marking pen or a silver pencil.
Tip: use the anvil to hold your sheet while you trace the outlines, this will leave you with one hand free and prevent the pattern from moving.
Once the pattern is transferred to your leather, you can start cutting it using a cutter, a precision knife or leather scissors.
It is important to use a sharp blade, otherwise the result will not be clean. Position the ruler on your lines, hold it on the leather, the blade pressed (lightly) on the ruler and cut cleanly to avoid repeated passes of the blade which could make the result less clean.
Step 4: Punch the hole
Place the pattern on your previously cut piece of leather (which you can hold with the anvil as during marking), take the corresponding round punch. Place it on the circles on the pattern and using a mallet or maul, strike the punch.
For the hole that will be used to close the purse, you can use a button punch with the right shape already or use a round punch and after piercing the leather, make a slight cut at the top of the circle to allow the stud button to pass through and keep the purse closed
Step 5: Edge beveling and brunishings
For the aesthetics of the wallet, we will break the edge of the leather in order to round off the corners and thus obtain a more neat finish.
To do this, you need a edge beveler. Place the sharp part on the edge of the leather, then slide it along the entire edge. Repeat the operation on the grain side and the flesh side to have nicely rounded edges..
Then to finish your edges and have a shiny but natural look, you can, like us, apply TOKO finishing cream. (NB: It is also possible to color your edge with dye.)
Take a few drops of TOKO on your finger or on a round awl, place it directly on the edge (no need to put large quantities), remove the excess with your finger or a cloth. Take your burnisher and rub vigorously to polish and shine.
Step 6: Final assembly
After you have finished polishing all the edges, you can assemble your purse. Take a stud button, place the screw inside the purse, then go through each hole, starting with the sides and then the center.
Once the three parts are assembled, screw the head of the button to the outside of the purse and you're done!