Sourcing Leather For An Attempt At Making My Own Midori Style Notebook

[gamingoodz]

A while back I had seen the journals folks were making on here so I decided to make my own and that turned out pretty well.

 

However now I see the Midori style notebooks that people are making and now I can't resist having one. I want to attempt to make my own though as I always like to try to learn new things and make anything i can on my own as it is more rewarding and feels more personal.

 

I have spent the majority of the day looking up places to get leather for this project but there are so many places and so many types of leather that I figured it might be easier to ask advice from someone that has already made their own.

 

From what I found the Midori Travelers Notebook uses 2.5mm thick leather or 5/6oz. That is all I really have to go of though, so I am hoping someone could let me know where they bought their leather if they made one and what leather to buy. I am on a budget since I went back to school for an IT degree and it doesn't let me work many hours, which is another reason I am trying to make my own as a Midoris notebook cost $40+ and that just is not justifiable to me on my budget.

 

Thanks!

[bogiesan]

Do you some tools? You have seen all of the videos that explain layout, cutting patterns, and the many improvements and variations? Buy inexpensive leather for your first two or three prototypes. You can give these away as your skills improve and your modifications take shape. Are you going to want to use more easily acquired notebook blanks, a fancy closure, pen loops, or a reinforced spine? Figure it all out. Then invest in some fabulous 2.5mm and knock yourself out. Try to have fun and let s know how things work for you.

[Octo]

Look in thrift stores for old leather jackets that have few seams. Clothing leather is usually good quality, but sometimes thin for midori style. Remember to check.

[stonezebra]

I bought the leather I used to make my faux-dori from the local Tandy Leather store and was quite pleased with how mine turned out (I have made 3 altogether) and I still have enough leather to make more. Very reasonably priced. There are Tandy stores all over the US so maybe there's one near you.

[Ted A]

Tandy is great. I purchased a shoulder piece. I'm not sure if it's the "correct" thickness and weight, but it seems perfect. Tandy also has good leather dies to give is some color.

[jimhughes]

I too am a big Tandy Leather fan. They have an online store, but you may have to buy bigger pieces. The B & M stores usually have leftovers, scraps and other pieces to buy that will be big enough to meet your needs with a wallet friendly price. Bogiesan is a leather crafter, IIRC, and as some one who's done that in the past I'd agree with his suggestions 100%.

 

etsy, is a crafter web site. I've bought thin leather pieces from them in the past at reasonable prices for minor projects, you might look there under Leather Scraps or leather fabric. For some reason I can't cut and paste my search there on this reply. It came up with 11 rows of 4 items a page and 115 pages of choices. Look forward to seeing your finished product.

They do show multiple thicker leather as you wished on etsy.