Summer School – August 3rd to 9th 2024

*To book your place you must pay the deposit of £840. The remaining balance of £840 will be charged 6 weeks before the course starts*

Course Details:

This 6 day course  is divided into two 3 day sessions with a rest day in between ( Tuesday). The course is open to both complete beginners and those with experience. Students who have been on courses with us in the past can ‘fill the gaps’ and explore techniques they have missed or need to revisit. The focus of this course is for students to acquire skills to enable them to design and make hand stitched leathergoods using vegetable tanned leathers. There will be only 4 students on this course.

For beginners, the key areas to be covered include:

1. How to identify different leathers
2. How to hand-stitch with confidence
3. Techniques for cut edge finishing including bevelling, burnishing and creasing.
4. Mastering paring/skiving
5. Sharpening and maintaining hand tools – very important !
6. Pattern making

Additional areas to explore could be:

1. Perfecting hand-stitching, fine tuning techniques
2. Perfecting paring/skiving – an essential skill
3. Box & butt stitching for making leather boxes, containers or bags
4. Wet moulding  bags, purses, pouches and slim cases
5. Bound, turned and piped seams as construction options
6. Making handles eg ‘fish tail’, trunk, attache,  and round handles
7. Attaching locks, straps, bag fasteners, ‘D’ rings
8. Zips and pockets
9. Linings, both leather and fabric

A range of patterns will be available to use or students can develop their own ideas and work on personal projects including bags, belts, dog collars/leads, boxes, tablet /phone cases, computer cases, wallets etc. A range of leathers and fittings will be available for students to buy and use.

A set of tools is provided for each student to use. Course notes are provided along with a Suppliers List. A range of tools and supplies are available for students to purchase, if they wish.

Materials are not included in the course fee. (Lunch, morning and afternoon refreshments are included within the course fee)

Course Dates: August 3rd – 9th

Course Fee: £1680

Book here