I have a worn black leather coat, very outdated. Rather than donate, I would love to make a bag with it. Anyone done something like this?
1 Like
I haven’t, but my only suggestion might be that you probably need to figure out what kind of leather the coat is made of. There are limited types of leather that are recommended.
1 Like
1 Like
As long as the leather is not brittle & still supple, you can use it to repurpose to whatever you want… I’ve used leather from coats (usually nice lambskins) for bags & other items. The limiting factor is if you can sew the weight of the leather you want to use…
Just cut out pieces from between the seams, if there’s any interfacing on the leather, it might just pull off without damaging the leather. A light pressing may be good to help the piece flatten out for cutting to its new shape.
1 Like
Yes. Old coats and furniture finds are one of my main sources of leather for projects 
This article will give a good idea of the types of leather you run into: https://saddlebackleather.com/craftsmanship-intro-the-quality-story
The thing with chrome tanned vs veg tanned and a laser is that the chromium salts release bad gases when heated - with proper venting you might be ok, but it’s not worth your health!
TLDR: if the core of the leather is blue, don’t use it
1 Like