Handmade oxblood leather mini cross body bag made from the Leather Needle Thread stitchless mini bag pattern

Stitchless Mini Bag Pattern and Tutorial

£15.00

Stitchless Mini Bag Pattern and Tutorial

Name: Stitchless Mini Bag Pattern and Tutorial
Brand: Leather Needle Thread
SKU: MINIBAGPATTERN
Price: 15.00 GBP
Availability: InStock

£15.00

metric and imperial measurements

easy to follow illustrated instructions

print on A4 / US Letter /A0

access to lifetime updates

Download and print the pattern to make yourself a Stitchless Mini Bag.

The little bag you reach for without thinking — keys, phone, a card, done. This is the pattern to make that bag yourself, in a leather you've chosen, with no sewing machine anywhere in sight.

The mini bag is put together the stitchless way: the whole thing is woven together by hand, so there's no machine sewing and no fiddly hand stitching to wrestle with. If you've never made a bag before, this is the one to start with. It's the gentlest way in to working with leather, and you end up with a proper little cross body or satchel-style bag you'll actually wear — not a practice piece that quietly ends up in a drawer.

Where do I get the leather? What tools do I really need? Will I manage if I've never touched a piece of leather in my life? All of that is covered. Let me hold your hand through it.

Have a look at the tutorial preview, and if it's for you, the download lands in your inbox straight after checkout.

Once you've got the hang of the weave, the stitchless bucket bag pattern is the natural next make — same technique, a roomier bag.
Prefer something you wear cross body and forget about? Have a look at the stitchless saddle bag pattern.
New to all this? My full guide on how to make a leather bag walks you through the whole idea before you start.

An instant PDF download of the full pattern, in A4, US Letter and A0 formats

A full step-by-step video tutorial — every technique and every tool, demonstrated

A supplier guide for buying leather and tools (UK, Europe and the US)

Both metric and imperial measurements

Lifetime access to any updates to the pattern

HELP ON LEATHER AND TOOLS SOURCING

You get a helpful guide on suppliers (UK, Europe and the US) for buying leather and tools.

LEATHER REQUIREMENTS

This is designed to be a fairly structured bag. You will need medium thick and fairly stiff leather (about 1.2mm to 1.6mm thickness or 3 to 3.5 oz weight) for the back, front and flap of the bag. As a rough guide, you'll need a piece of leather about 25cm by 70cm for these sections of the bag. In the US, sometimes the flexibility of the leather is described as "temper" - you want this leather to be semi-stiff. In the UK, the term used to describe the pliability of the leather is handle - you want to have leather with a firm handle.

For the straps you will need slightly thicker and stiffer leather (about 2 to 3mm or 5 to 6 oz). Although you could use the same leather as you used for the body of the bag if it's a stiff leather. I'd recommend using veg tan shoulder leather for the straps. You will need about 5cm by 130cm piece of leather for the straps. The temper of the strap leather will need to be semi-stiff to stiff, whilst the handle will need to be firm.

HARDWARE

1 metal buckle - 15mm width

1 metal Sam Browne - 5mm diameter

5 metal rivets - screw in Chicago screws or hammer in rivets

TOOLS

The bag has been designed to only require the very basic tools and materials (with the novice leatherworker and budget in mind). Some tools are essential whereas others are 'nice to have'. As with all tools, the more you spend, the better quality and nicer to use, but you can get away with cheaper tools if you are just wanting to try out bag making! The exact sizes of the tools are in the downloads but if you already have some of the tools, I will show you how you can adapt the widths of the straps.

Essential tools

round leather awl
scalpel, craft knife or Stanley knife with fresh blades
metal ruler - 30cm or 60cm
rotary punch tool
oblong hole punch
cutting mat
deadblow hammer, mallet or maul

Nice to have tools

punch board
circular hole punches
rivet setting tool - hand press or hand held
strap end punch

The finished bag measures 20cm (10”) wide by 20cm (10”) high by 4cm (1.5”) deep.

The strap is adjustable and measures 95cm (37”) at shortest/120cm (47”) at longest.

Long enough for cross body, short enough for over the shoulder. It's a beginner project, built with a handful of basic tools, and there's no sewing at any point.

Following purchase, you will be emailed the PDF digital patterns in A4, US Letter and A0 format.

A4 and US Letter can be printed on a home printer, whereas the larger A0 and A1 formats can be printed at a print shop.

Print at 100% scale - there is a scale measurement on the patterns so you can double check it's at the correct scale.