I made this shop apron for a friend as part of a gift exchange. The apron consisted of a piece of 2-3 oz. leather some edging material, nylon webbing, a couple of nylon belt fasteners, and a piece of 6 oz. veg-tanned leather (for carving); the final version included a formed fit pocket and a personalized hand plane I made to fit the pocket. Hey everyone who wears a shop apron carries a hand plane for those quick touch up jobs.
The process started with making a pattern and then tracing it on the back of the leather. I used a soap stick, but chalk would also work.
With the pattern traced on the leather I cut it out using a combination of a roller cutter and leather knife. Both of these tools allow you to cut around curves with ease, however the traditional leather knife takes a little more skill to properly use.
With the main piece of the leather cut, I next cut out pieces for the pockets and tooling emblem pieces. With all the parts cut it was time to attach the edge binding.
I use a Nev-a-Clog stapler to do that as it will staple through about anything and the staples are easy to remove after the stitching is completed.
I used a couple of different sewing machines to attach all the parts and sew around the banding. I have a couple of leather sewing machines a commercial Singer model #16-188 and a Singer 29-4 patcher, which has a long arm capable of sewing into tight places if needed; the 29-4 is a foot powered treadle machine. They used to be common as dirt in shoe repair shops, now they appear to be almost extinct.
Since the apron was for a fellow Galoot, for our GalootaClause gift exchange I hand stamped the Galoot logo with his name in the tooling leather then sewed it onto the apron.
I handmade the plane with the method explained in another section, took it to the post office and everyone was happy.
Hope you enjoyed the post.
