Introduction: Leather Hot Pad

By Weaver Leather Supply
About: With over 40 years in the supply business, Weaver Leather has developed a reputation for bringing you top quality leather, hand tools, hardware, machines and more.

Learn how to make a hot pad out of leather! This is a great project for beginners, and leather hot pads make beautiful decorations or serve as functional pieces! The hot pads feature our Crazy Horse water buffalo leather in 4-5 ounce weight. We would recommend using leather that is close to this weight or heavier. Other than that, the creative possibilities are endless! Download this free pattern or draw your own!

What You'll Need:

Attachments

Step 1: Draw Your Pattern

For this project, you can either create your own hot pad pattern, or use this free printable pattern from Weaver Leather Supply.

If you're not able to print the pattern, here are the dimensions:

Main Body: 8" x 8"

Inset Panel: 6-1/2" x 6-1/2"

Stitch Guide: 5" x 5"

Strap: 6" x 5/8" with ends clipped at an angle (so the ends will form a corner when brought together and attached to your inset panel)

Step 2: Trace Pattern

Using your Scratch Awl, trace the patterns for your main body, your inset panel, and your strap onto your leather.

(Note: Set aside your 5" x 5" pattern for now. This piece will only serve as a stitch guide, so you don't need to cut any leather for it.)

Step 3: Cut Your Leather

Using a straight edge/ruler and a Snap Off Knife with a sharp blade, cut out your pieces.

You'll notice that the main body and inset patterns both have rounded corners. The easiest way to cut these pieces is to cut simple straight lines first, so that you have the correct size panels with squared corners. Then, come back in with your knife and carefully round the corners, following the scribe line you traced.

If you aren't comfortable cutting on a curve, you can make a series of small, straight cuts, angling them around the corner of your pad. This won't be perfect, but still gives you a pretty good rounded corner.

Step 4: Lay Out Pieces

It's helpful to lay out your pieces to get an idea of how your project will look before assembling it.

Lay your larger main body panel so that the flesh side is facing up. Place your inset panel on top of that, but flipped the opposite way; The top grain of the inset should be facing up, and the flesh side down. The flesh sides of both pieces should be touching.

Step 5: Make a Loop

Take your inset panel and flip it over so that the flesh side is up and the top grain is laying on your work station.

Next, take your 6" strap piece and bend it so that the ends come together, edges touching. You should now have a loop, with the clipped ends laying flat and forming a nice point.

Step 6: Glue Loop

Hold your loop so that the ends are top grain up. Using your finger, apply Fiebing's Leathercrafter's Cement to the two end points.

Flip your loop over and press the glued ends onto the corner of your inset. Apply pressure for about a minute, then allow the glue to set for another 4-5 minutes.

Both the strap ends and the inset should be flesh side up at this point.

Step 7: Glue Squares Together

Apply glue carefully around the inside of your inset panel, keeping it away from the actual edge. You don't want any excess glue to squeeze out and get on your main body.

Spread the glue out a bit with your finger.

Flip your inset over and apply the glued side to your main body piece. The main body should still be flesh up, so now the flesh sides of both pieces are glued together. Make sure your inset is centered on your main body.

Apply pressure to the glued areas and then give your project a few minutes to set.

Step 8: Groove Leather

Once your glue has set, move on to grooving your leather.

Run your Stitch Groover along the edges of your inset panel. This creates a groove 1/8" in from the edge of your inset. You'll follow this line when stitching later on, but the groove also looks good as decoration if you don't want to sew your hot pad.

If you don't have a stitch groover, you can use your awl to trace around the inside of your inset panel, 1/8" in from the edge.

Step 9: Trace Stitch Guide

Take your 5" x 5" pattern that you sat aside earlier, and center it on your inset panel. Lightly trace around the pattern with your scratch awl.

Step 10: Chisel Stitch Holes

Move your hot pad over to your tooling slab to punch your stitch holes. Using a 1/8" Flat Chisel set and a Rawhide Mallet, chisel holes all the way around your groove line and the inner stitch line.

Tips:

  • Try to keep your chisels straight up and down when punching your holes.
  • Gently rock the chisel back and forth to ease it out of the leather.
  • Use your 2- tine and single tine chisels to keep your stitch line consistent around the corners.
  • Keep your stitch holes evenly spaced by placing the first tine of your chisel in the last hole you made as you move around the pad.

Step 11: Hand Stitch Your Hot Pad

You can use a stitching pony to clamp onto your hot pad and keep it comfortably in front of you while sewing.

For this project, you're going to use a Saddle Stitch. Cut your thread to be about 4 times the length of your groove line. (If you feel this length is too hard to work with, you can use a shorter length to stitch a few inches at a time, then tie off and repeat.)

Thread each end through one of your Saddler's Needles. You should have a needle in each hand, with your length of thread in between. Thread one needle through your first hole in your groove line. Pull it through so that the thread length is even on the front and back of your pad. On the second hole, push your front needle in, but don't pull it completely through the leather yet. Then insert the needle on the back side of your project into the SAME hole. Now, in your second hole you should have two needles threading in opposite directions. Go ahead and pull them completely through, so that they end up on opposite sides from where they started. Once again, you should have one needle on each side of your pad, with the thread pulled evenly between them. Repeat this stitch on the third hole, and so on. Stop when you reach the last hole.

Step 12: Tie a Square Knot

When you reach your last open hole, come through with your needle and thread from the front only. Now you should have both needles and thread ends on the back of your pad. With your thread ends, tie a simple square knot (right over left, then left over right) on the back of your pad.

Step 13: Hide Thread Ends

Thread your loose ends through the holes on either side of your square knot, so they're on the front of your hot pad. Hold your knife close to the surface of your leather, and trim your thread by pulling each end (one at a time) across the blade. Make sure to hold the knife still, and only move the thread to avoid cutting yourself or your leather.

Repeat Steps 11-13 on your inner stitch line to finish sewing your hot pad.

Step 14: Hammer Stitch Line

Using either a Tack Hammer or a Rawhide Mallet, lightly hammer along your stitch lines. Be careful not to tap so hard that you ding the leather. You just want to close up your chisel holes a bit, and help spread out your stitch line and make it more prominent.

Once you've done this on both stitch lines, your hot pad is complete!