New Years' resolutions update 2018

Where did the time go? Those six months were gone before I knew! Although when I do think back to January a lot has happened since then… Let’s see how far I got on ticking off my new years’ resolutions. What were they again? Let’s refresh our memory and determine a goal for the upcoming 6 months.

Leathercraft New years’ resolutions of 2018:

Learn how to do piping – Those lovely piping along the edges of bags…
Re-try on the wallet – One of my very first projects was a wallet, let’s see how much I have improved in the mean-time
Learn to make a belt – finally!!
Work bag for LADIES – I’m still in my internships though they say “dress for the job you want not for the job you have… “
Integrate the blog posts more frequently on Pinterest – to find even more leather lovers
Create a new collection – a little recycling of new years resolutions ?
Cover 2 designers – Let’s not set the bar too high and start with two awesome designers as inspiration
Create workbench – I think I might have found a solution for current my workplace… (a.k.a. the kitchen table…)
Improve pattern design – with my latest addition to my book collection I should be able to figure it out. Right?
Round box stitch – Let’s step it up one more level.

Learn how to do piping:

Well, I actually can tick the first one off! I did some research on the internet and in the leathercraft books I have and made you a little summary on the theoretical part in this post! But it is one thing to read about and something else to actually make it! In one of my more recent posts, I gave it a first try, liked the look but also saw a lot of possibilities to improve. How to do this and what difficulties I ran into are all written in this post! If this is something you want to apply to your bags, I would strongly suggest to first try it on a scrap piece of leather. See, learn and repeat until you are satisfied.

Re-try on the wallet

I did not try this re-try yet so I am still looking forward to what I’ve learned in the meantime! By now, some points of improvement are the different thickness of leather you might need for stability and ease of use. Compared to back in the days, I tried to figure out how to design more properly (see one of the points below). And I think I can say about myself, my saddle stitch has improved. So let’s see what I can create in the near (upcoming 6 months) future.

Learn to make a belt

Officially I can not tick this one off… I did the preparational work to see what difficulties and what techniques are known for belt making but up to now I did not want to purchase a whole thick hide since I don’t have a splitting machine. So I would almost be impossible to use it for other projects. But with my next supply order, I think I will add just a leather strap with the correct measurements (Which I described in this post) to make myself a belt!

Work bag for LADIES

Yes, another I can tick off! I’ve been working on different projects for work bags, the envelop bag is intensively used for work meetings I heard from the customer. And the second bag is nearly done… Can you guess…? Oh yeah, the work tote! After those two projects, I am really looking forward to actually make a work bag for myself. Ofcourse this is the one from the Boston collection.

Integrate the blog posts more frequently on Pinterest

I know bad excuse… but I am quite busy with my internships, trying to sport, see my friends, leathercraft etc. Keeping Pinterest up-to-date is at the moment not very high on my priority list, but who knows… I still got six months to get used to a certain scheduling format.

Create a new collection

And that is three! When I think back to Boston, I actually can imagine it has been 6 months, since I was already 3 over there. I was so inspired by the people, the architecture, and the history of Boston, I decided to create a special Boston collection of 3 bags. The first one will become my newest project but would love to see them all together!

Cover 2 designers

In the post ‘learning from the masters’, I love to dig into the history of the designer or label and to see what can I learn from them? I did already cover two designers this year, Chloé and Michael Kors, so I can already tick off of the new years’ resolutions list. Although I am looking forward to adding more to this list!

Create Workbench

The inspiration is definitely there, the ideas are definitely there, the plans are definitely there… all I need is some more time. So I hope to say at the end of this year, I rolled up my sleeves, cleaned out our little garden house, sanded the current workbench and gave everything a little paint… And tick one off the new years’ resolutions list. I dream about this tiny little workbench for quite some time, so I will just have to make some time! Are you interested in the ‘making of’ of the workbench/workplace as well or only in leathercraft making of’s?

Improving pattern design

This one is accomplished! Or at least I did cover quite some ideas, techniques and shared some of my thoughts to improve your design. Designing is one of the most important parts of your complete workflow. So if you have the chance to improve, not only your designs will become better, your products will become better. Your product price overview will become better. Maybe even your company will become more successful!

Round box stitch

This is still one new years’ resolution that remains on the to-do list! Do you have any ideas to apply this technique on? I have a few in mind…

Overall for 6 months, not a bad score, but it definitely gives me a little reminder of the goals I have for the upcoming 6 months. Did you already check your new years’ resolutions? In my opinion, a little half-year update is definitely something everyone should do to make sure they will continue to make progress on their achievements!