project design

It won't take long before you run it to the fact that a Tandy kit just won't cut the mustard.  So you search high and low for a pattern pack with no good results.  Now is the time to break out the paper and pencil and draw your self a pattern.
  It's a little unnerving with the cost of leather and all but with a few guide line it can be done with little disappointing screw ups.  I do like to make drawing of what the end result will look like and maybe some layout drawing. Lets look at a simple phone case.  The drawings can give you the styles or the look that your after.  and then when your good with that I go to the pattern paper.  I like to start with shipping paper that my leather is wrapped in.  Then after I'm done and I like what I made I will use poster board for a hard copy name and date it then hang it for latter use.
  I add extra leather any where I can when tracing on the leather.  Yes you do waste some but it is a far cry from being to short. My thought is I want it to look how I want it and I don't want the leather to decide for me and that is what will happen is you come up short. you either scrap it or change the design to fit the screw up.  The extra labor and just the plain fight that is necessary to make it work isn't worth the leather that saved in your layout.  Extra room where your sewing will add glue surface and hold together better while your  sewing .  It is also easier to trim off with extra room.
  It is fun to have your own look and it's not hard to do  I might of made it sound to simple but until you do your own it will be hard to believe how easy it is .   Good luck