Leather Card Holder: Trial & Error

After receiving my new blog cards (see previous post HERE) I wanted to make a leather card holder. I’ve never sewn with leather, so here’s a little trial & error show for you!
You can click on any image to enlarge.

The leather comes from furniture swatches that I picked up at the thrift store. My materials list also includes thin cotton fabric, a vintage button and a black hair band.

No. 1 I used a stack of cards to measure the size of the case. Using only one card to size may not allow for the bulk needed in the end.

No. 2 The suede underside of this leather is pretty sticky, not like adhesive, but not smooth enough for cards to easily slide against. So lining the card holder was important. I used a small amount of spray adhesive to attach the gingham fabric to the leather and then trimmed the excess fabric off.
No. 3 I sewed the flap area to the back piece first, leaving the end open to add the elastic loop. For the loop, I tied a knot in the hair band and cut off the remaining piece. No. 4 I also stitched along the edge of the front piece at the top/opening of the pocket to give it a finished edge and laid it into place.
No. 5 Then the final top-stitching around the entire outer edges. Here’s where things got rough. Sewing the leather was very smooth. Sewing over the bulk of the hair band was not. So my white stitching came out very inconsistent. I decided to cut the corners into an envelope-style flap and to mask my ugly stitching, I colored the thread with a permanent marker. (I wouldn’t recommend a Sharpie, only because it tends to be too shiny and blue-tinted.) At this point I trimmed the edges of the leather around the outside seams and I gave one more seam to the area just above the inside pocket to help create a fold for the back of the flap. No. 6 Then on with the button.