Review on NW Shoulder Acrylic Template Templates by Michelle Langley

So my own experience with leather is about 2 years and I consider myself an advanced leather experience now. As many people have pointed out, this pocket template isn't very beginner-friendly. It took me a couple of weeks to put this together as the template "includes" instructions, but they are all in Chinese. However, I have found that any part of these templates can be used to make the bag shown in the photo. First you need some kind of hardware over the skin to put it all together. Photo 1 shows the materials I used to make the bag, all of which can be found on Revain. The only thing I forgot to add in the photo is a leather awl (which can substitute for chisels if you're poor) and a hole punch to poke holes in the leather. You can use a mini hole punch, but to be honest my first tool for working with leather was a hole punch. If you want to make more leather goods, this is a must. The two templates MUST be joined before transferring your design to the skin. Figures 2 and 3 show that parts A01 (main body) and A06 (decorative band) consist of 2 parts. Don't forget or you will be disappointed when you cut them out. The photo shows 4 side panels of the bag, A02. Part A04 is used to connect the shoulder strap to the bag and can be assembled before sewing. Figure 5 shows the sidewall creases, A03. They should run between the main body of the bag and the side panels to allow the side panels to expand slightly when the bag is full. I used chrome tanned leather so it's already stretchy so I didn't put it in. The details of A07 and A08 are a bit tricky. Item A07 is 1 piece shoulder strap, but it is missing the hole you need. Part A08, I repeat, CANNOT be followed as is. There are 2 wavy lines that represent a continuous distance, not on the template, there is something like the 1m or 1m part in the Chinese instructions. So pic 6 shows the correct length and don't forget to poke some holes in the other end to allow the buckle on the A07 piece to tie everything together. Next one part has no part number and it is a belt clip that goes with part A07, see pic 8 to see how the buckle and belt clip connect to part A07. After all, this is part of A05 and it took me a while to figure out what it was for. This is actually another buckle strap purely for decorative purposes. The front closure of the bag uses a buckle for decoration and there is another snap button closure underneath. You can see it more clearly in the bottom left corner of the second photo here on the page. In general, design is difficult when you don't have instructions to understand or follow. I hope my instructions and pictures were clear enough for those who want to try this pattern. The design of the bag is good and it all fits together. Enjoy!