Jedi Pouch Tutorial

The main components for the pouch: main pouch piece, 2 side panels. Some people cut the leather in a one piece shape - it requires slightly less sewing, however, not very efficient - utilization wise.


The rest of the pieces: the back piece(to be sewed onto the back of the pouch to form a loop for belt), a belt for the pouch cover, and the buckle piece:


First, dye and varnish all the pieces; then use a chisel to punch holes where the stitches will go. I used a 4-prong chisel, because the spacing of the prongs are just about right - ⅟10". If the spacing is too small, it will take a lot more time. Do NOT punch poles too far ahead of time, as the leather will shrink slowly. Do not punch the hole too big or small. Obviously, too big will look bad; too small will make the stitching harder, some of the holes I punched are a lil too small, I had a hard time to put the needle through, I ended up using a pliers to pull the needle through. When the hole is just right size, it makes sewing much faster.


Plan the sewing priority properly, sew the little pieces first. I was so excited when I started, by the time I finished sewing, I realized I have no way of sewing the back piece to the pouch, and the buckle piece. So I had to remove the stitches and start over. Let me tell you, it's not fun...


The finished piece - almost...


The back piece for belt: I sewed it flat to the pouch, and later realized I need more room in order to put the belt through comfortably. So, make the back piece a bit longer, and when sewing it, don't sew it flat to the pouch - instead make a slight bow.


Sewing in action - shows sewing with 2 needles simultaneously(a technique I found on the web and adopted).


The stitching method I adopted is referred to as "hand stitch" in the image below, some also call it "saddle stitch".


Use the right stitch method along is not enough, I initially used to threads(1 each needle) to sew, and I ended up with 2 knots at beginning and end, even when I hide them inside the pouch and at the back, it's still unsightly. So, I decided to use a single thread, with needles at each end. This effectively reduced the need for knots to only one - at the end! Obviously, the thread needs to be twice as long, plus a lot more - as the leathers are thick. Try tie knots to extend the thread at the middle was not fun, I can attest to that..


Viola! The finished pouch - touched up the edges, so it look better, it fits my camera and cell phone perfectly. I used scrap materials left over from my Jedi Belt project, only things I bought new are some needles, a chisel, waxed thick thread, and a small buckle. So, I made this very cheaply. As I mentioned earlier, I had to sew this pouch twice. The second time, I started 10am, and finished 12-ish, including punching holes on the belt loop and buckle pieces, sewing - only 2 hours or so. I'm very pleased with the result. Use a chisel is very important, you can mark holes in a straight line that make the stitches look very professional.