WomensStuff

That's me! Thank you, im actually quite proud of that one! I actually attended a taster course which was about 4 hours at a local leatherworking supply place where we made a card holder. If you can find one I'd recommend it, it is very hand holdy and you get a nice item at the end of it.

They supplied the tools and after gave us a big deal on buying the stuff we used, which i used for quite a few little projects before looking into other tools and hardware like rivets and fasteners.

So what I would suggest as a mimimum:

• Stitching chisels for making holes - I like the slanted french style but diamond is also good
• Craft knife or scalpel and plenty of spare blades
• Metal ruler
• Scratch awl - for marking on the leather directly
• Leather needles - i.e blunt tipped
• Thread - 0.6-1mm waxed polyester, cheap chinese ones on aliexpress or ebay is all I use
• Mallet for hitting the chisels - i use a nylon round headed one with a short handle but any is good so long as it isnt metal
• Self healing cutting mat
• Poundo board - a thick rubber mat that wont damage your chisels
• Edge burnisher
• Glue - you can get some fancy stuff but I started with a big tin of standard contact adhesive from my local diy store
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Card - for tracing patterns onto, stuff from a parcel will do
• A pattern - i found a load on 'Makesupply' such as this simple card holder - https://projects.makesupply.co/templates/make-a-folded-leather-card-holder-free-template-build-along-video-tutorial/

You dont need to spend much money at all, most can be found super cheap. The chisels should be a bit more, avoid the mega cheap chinese cast things and get a set around the £15-20 ($20-25) mark and they will do a good job.

As for the leather, look around for suppliers that do offcut boxes (even better if you can visit in person). All of my stuff so far has been made exclusively from offcuts.

On my phone atm but i can send a few links later. I would recommend watching corter leather on youtube as his stuff is easy to follow and isnt on the full old style cordwaining and saddlers type work which, as a beginner, is too much. His saddle stitch tutorial is particularly good.