Beginner Leatherworking Guide
Like many crafts, leatherworking looks straightforward until you try to get started. Suddenly, there are dozens of tools, unfamiliar materials, and conflicting advice about what you actually need to learn first.
This page is designed to be a neutral, reliable starting point for answering your basic questions.
Rather than pushing a specific style, brand, or instructor, this leatherworking guide brings together the most useful beginner information in one place. It highlights what matters most early on, points you to beginner-appropriate products, and connects you with trusted resources across the leathercraft community.
If you are trying to figure out how to start leatherworking without feeling overwhelmed, you are in the right place.
What Beginners Should Know First
Most beginner leatherworking projects focus on a small set of fundamentals. You do not need a full workshop or expensive tools to begin.
At the beginner level, leatherworking basics usually include:
- Understanding basic leather types, especially vegetable-tanned leather
- Learning clean cutting and layout
- Practicing hand sewing leather
- Exploring simple leather tooling for beginners
- Dyeing and finishing leather, if you'd like more than just raw leather
These skills show up in almost every leather project, regardless of style or specialty. This page does not teach them in depth. Instead, it helps you understand where to focus and where to learn more.
Learning Resources for Beginner Leatherworkers
Leatherworking is best learned from multiple perspectives. The resources below are included because they are widely respected and helpful for beginners.
Industry and Educational Resources
- Tandy Leather - Tandy Leather's Leather Education page has a lot of great articles on understanding leathercraft basics, many of which come with a video and downloadable PDF instructions.
- 4-H offers a free digital download of their 4-H Leathercraft Manual, which can help with simple instructions for basic projects, particularly if working with youth.
- Elktracks Studio - This website has almost 200 different free patterns for carving leather, from basic Western flowers to masks to leaves. You generally have to purchase the instruction that explains how to do that pattern, but it gives you a good idea of what can be done with leather carving.
If you are interested in seeing if there are classes available in your area, check out our Leathercraft Classes page.
Community and Media Resources
- There are a number of beginner-friendly YouTube channels out there, however it can be hard to know where to start. Weaver Leather Supply has a good collection of videos covering a wide range of topics.
- r/Leathercraft on Reddit - An active and robust community of leatherworkers sharing techniques and offering feedback
- Jim Linnell has a good 9-part starter series that goes into each tool when making a traditional Western floral carving. If you are interested in tooling, this style of design is a common place to start when learning the basics.
These resources are external and included for their educational value, not endorsement.
Explore Related Learning Paths
Many beginners eventually branch into more specific areas of leathercraft. You may also be interested in:
Internal links to these pages will help you decide where to go next.
advice from the leatherworking community
“Tooling leather is especially hard at the beginning because you’re learning multiple things at the same time. You’re learning how to use the tools, how to work with the leather, and how to draw the design, all at once. Instead of trying to fix everything at once, focus on improving one single thing with each project. Keep all the parts in mind, but choose one main thing to work on so you don’t get overwhelmed or feel like you’re failing at everything.” - Sarah Garvey, Western Skies Handmade
“The real secret of getting good at leatherwork is to do more leatherwork. There really isn’t a shortcut around that, and that’s what actually makes the difference for people. Over time, you figure out what works better than what you used to do. That only comes from doing the work and paying attention to the results.” - Jim Linnell, Elktracks Studio
A few beginner resources to get you started
Frequently Asked Questions
Most beginners start with a small number of basic tools and expand over time. Start with the tools that you need for the projects you are interested in. For instance, if making a leather pouch, you may not need any tools and be able to get started with something that makes holes alongside some needles and thread.
If you are looking to purchase tools, sometimes you can find some on Facebook marketplace if you feel comfortable doing that. There are also a lot of starter kits out there, although be warned, usually the tools are more cheaply made to keep it inexpensive. Temu and Amazon have some starter kits for cheap, but plan to replace the tools you find yourself using.
Other places to get starter kits include Realeather for starter leather tools and leathercraft kits, Tandy Leather for kits and materials, 23+ for slightly upgraded beginner's kits, or Maker's Leather Supply for some of their Youth Kits.
A better question might be, what are you trying to make?
Vegetable-tanned leather is the most common starting point, especially for tooling and carving. You can find leather bellys on most leather retailers' websites, and it's typically an inexpensive piece of leather to practice with. It does stretch, so it's not perfect for something like a handle or your most important projects, but it's an inexpensive starting point.
That said, if you are not interested in tooling, you can often find chrome tan leather fairly inexpensively. Craft stores will carry various sizes of pre-cut leather for making jewelry, simple accessories, or other projects that might require a more flexible leather. Some people might even upcycle the back panel of an old couch that was about to be thrown away.
If buying leather isn't in your budget, but you still want to get started, get creative. Just... don't cut up grandpa's old bomber jacket or anything like that.
The basics can be fairly straightforward, particularly for someone artistically inclined, but it's important to manage expectations with yourself. Leather tooling for beginners is very approachable, however your first project won't look like the things you see online. Even with good instructions, there is a lot learned with trial and error. If your first project isn't perfect, that's okay, you got started and that's the important part. If you want feedback for improvement, try joining one of the leather communities online.
The biggest thing is to make sure that you start with a beginner-appropriate project to get started. If your goal is to make a suit of armor, try starting with a bracer first just to get the feel of how to work with leather. Trying too big of a project too fast is often where people get frustrated and give up. Choose a good starting point, be kind to yourself, and realize that even your worst project is going to be better than all of the leather projects from someone who never even got started.
A professional painter once said years ago, "Your best painting might be as good, if not better, than my best painting. The difference is, my worst painting will be infinitely better than your worst painting. That's where practice comes in."
Of course! Some of the most innovative practices in leathercraft today come from those who taught themselves.
That said, leather is not an inexpensive material for trial and error, so starting with some basic instruction can be helpful. In-person leathercraft classes can be a little bit pricy; however, they are often the best crash course because the instructor and other leatherworkers can give you feedback. Many people also learn through online courses, leathercraft videos, leathercraft books, YouTube channels, and with online communities.
Article Attribution
Written By: Michael Magnus
Contributions By: Sarah Garvey, Jim Linnell
Edited By: Annie Libertini
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Disclosure
This page is intended to be a neutral educational resource. Some product links on this site may point to items sold directly through our store. External links are included for educational value and are not endorsements.
In the future, some external links may include affiliate relationships. These relationships do not influence which resources are included or how they are described.