In my town, straight down the road from our house, there’s a small shoemaker’s shop still in business. It has a charmingly decorated store front with huge Monstera plants and a bit of the shoemaker’s equipment on display.
It’s just like a time capsule – a man still making a living from creating custom shoes by hand. I know, I might be romanticising this a fair bit but I like to think of it that way.
Last week he put a sign out: ‘leather scrap and tool sale tomorrow. We’re moving shop.’ I’m sad to see the shop leave our street, but leather scraps? I’m taking them all!
Even better, it turned out to be a ‘fill your bag for 3€’ arrangement. Must have been my lucky day! At this point you might or might not wonder why this got me so excited? 1. I love leather, and I love it even more combined with fabric 2. It’s really difficult to source some unless you want to buy it by the bulk or spend a small fortune on a few bits.
I filled up a bag, but left a little room. The restraint! so proud of myself! I tried to pick pieces that are fairly thin. My little Pfaff Passport is a powerhouse, but I don’t think it would manage with some of the thick, thick sheets of leather they use in their shoes.
When I posted my haul on Instagram a couple of friends were interested to see what I would make with all these scraps. I actually put the first piece to use last week when I sewed myself a clutch to carry to a wedding that weekend. Everything went smoothly, almost as if the leather was just a really thick piece of canvas.
I went into sewing this with little to no experience with sewing leather. So I can only encourage you to just try. And maybe ask your local shoemaker for a good deal on a bag of leather scraps? ;-)
This post is linked up with Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles.
veni vidi vicky 
I love an experience laced with nostalgia. What a sweet story. I always wonder if scraps can be sourced at apolstery shops. Seems like they would toss some large pieces by our standards.
Ohh yes! That’s a great idea, too Gayle! The shopowner also asked me what I was planning to use all these tiny (by their standards) bits for. Us quilters, we’re the drifty sewers ;-)
Hi Vicky! I’m so happy to hear you were able to sew the leather and of course that you got the scraps! When I was a kid, in my town was a fabric for leather clothes, bags etc. and my mom bought scrap bags and made to us many things. I had red leather trousers (no one had then leather pants and red – I was ashamed to use them). I’m looking for to see what other great ideas you have for the scraps! x Teje
Teje, I was thinking of you when I wrote this blog post, since you inquired about my plans for the scraps on Instagram. Glad you caught it here! And now I totally want for you to sew yourself a pair of read leather pants, how cool would that be!!
Wowee ! Super ! The clutch is spot on !
Thank you Carla. I finished it last minute (literally). Once the idea formed in my head I HAD to make it, even with time pressing ;-)
Close to Bonn is a leather fabric and I had the chance to get some scraps a few years ago. This was also a good opportunity to make some nice projects with leather. So I do understand why you got excited. Even the smallest scraps can be used for some tags on bags.
Best Mareike
Love the tag idea! Good reminder to keep even the scraps left over from a scrap project ;-) And I wonder whether this is the same vendor as the one coming along to the Stoffmarkt Holland events? I know a lot of sellers there are from that area. Thank you for your lovely comment!
That’s a great deal, I’ve seen bags of scrap leather for way more than that so while tempted thought it way too much to spend. However we have a local scrapstore which I rarely go to but the other week they had leather scraps and their policy is £7.50 for a bin liner full of anything! I have leather needles for my machine which I’ve never used but will soon. What thread did you use? Anything special?
To be honest I feel like they could have sold the scraps for a little more and people would still have bought them. But for the shoemaker it’s basically just pretty waste ;-) I used a regular needle and 50 WT cotton thread because this is what my machine was loaded with. I think I will try a leather needle and a heavier thread for added sturdyness next time, but it worked just fine like this. Thank you for stopping by Mary!
I hope the shoemaker is just moving shop and not closing down entirely. What a fun grouping of leather – I love seeing how it was cut before for the shoes. The clutch looks fantastic. :)
They are just moving locations, fortunately! And yes, I’ve been having fun figuring out which shoe part he cut out of the various bits. Thank you for your lovely comment Yvonne. I love your blog!
Love your use of these yummy bits of leather!! They don’t look much like scraps though, so I would say you got a great deal!
This was definitely an awesome deal. The bits are pretty large to a quilter’s eye, but probably pretty unusable to make an entire shoe out of it. And now I’m wondering what a scrappy show would look like =D
What a classy clutch!! I love the rich softness that leather provides and combined with fabric, such a winning duet !!
Thank you Preeti! I had kind of a hard time finding a fabric that both worked with my dress and that looked elegant enough to give the pouch a dressed up feeling. I would have loved to use some metallic print, but I didn’t seem to have any in my stash.
Our company works in the sector of scraps of leather, leather and synthetic, stock of components and soles for footwear we sell in all world.. we can have all type of scraps that you want!
I can offer 1×20 container every 5-6 weeks of cow leather scraps and components from shoes
Leather scrap cuttings full grain leather cuttings cow, goat mixed in different sizes.
All color mixed or manufacturing various leather products, consist mainly of raw sliced flower bouquets colored liners calves means.
PACKAGING 500 kg pallet assorted
THICKNESS: 0.8 to 1.5 variable
PRICE: 3,00 EURO/KG. EXW FIRENZE
In stock for immediate delivery.