Leather Dice Tower Case

Inspiration

I bought myself this gorgeous 3D printed dice tower from an artist at the Philadelphia Renaissance Faire, and I knew I would need a way to protect it in transit between my house and the library I DM at!  I decided to make a leather carrying case, and to keep it relatively simple.  I had also recently bought a dragon scale stamp from Tandy Leather, and I thought it would be the perfect embellishment to go with this tower!

Process

Originally I was thinking of dying the case orange to match the tower, but as I stamped the scales into the natural leather I fell in love with the natural color variations, and decided to just seal it with a waterproof finish instead of dying it any other colors.

I began by measuring the widest point of the jaws of the tower, and tracing a circle onto paper with a slightly larger diameter.  After that I calculated the circumference of the base circle, and patterned out a rectangle that long, with a height slightly taller than the nose of the higher dragon.  For the lid I increased the size of the circle slightly, and lengthened the rectangle accordingly.  Once the pattern was all set, I cut out the leather!

The most time consuming part of this process was probably stamping the scales, but punching the stitching holes felt like it took far longer!  Once I had all the holes punched, then I could move onto the stamping.  Getting it consistently lined up was a bit of a challenge, but I find the imperfections in the scale patterns quite charming!  I decided to only stamp the body of the case, and not the lid, since I liked the contrast of the unembellished leather next to the scales.

Once the stamping was done, it was time to sew!  I chose orange waxed thread to match the tower and create a fun contrast with the leather.  For the circumferences of the circles I used a whip stitch, and for the spines of the lid and the body I used a cross stitch (which makes a line of horizontal stitches on the outside of the piece.)

I used the handle to help keep the lid in place, making the handle long enough to slide the lid off and away while still keeping it in place with the loops of waxed thread!

I did things on this piece slightly out of order.  Normally you would want to finish your pieces before they're sewn, but I ended up doing it after!  It still worked fine, but it's not how things are typically done.

I also made a quilted lining for the case, using fabric I had on hand and batting leftover from a previous project.  I used the same pattern as the body of the case, but didn't add any seam allowance so it would fit inside neatly.

Results

I'm super happy with how this turned out!  I can now safely transport my dice tower, which (in my opinion), is too beautiful to be kept at home mostly unused.  This piece is super practical, and I absolutely love how the stamping turned out!

Reflection

This is definitely one of my most practical projects.  In the future I would definitely go slower and be a little more careful with the stamping, but I still think it turned out beautifully!  I don't think I'd make a project exactly like this again, but I will definitely make more leather things covered in dragon scales!