Admittedly lately I've been dealing with burnout from work, so I haven't been at the bench like I wanted to be. But I'm always on the lookout for new tips and tricks that might help my own creation process, and came across this video recently: "11 Simple Tricks That Will Change Your Leather-Craft Forever! (Using Bump Jigs)" by Mascon Leather.
So not just one tip, but eleven? Cool!
They're all using the same set of bump jigs: straight and L-shaped pieces of metal that you "bump" your leather and patterns against to help you with marking and cutting your pieces.
I'd write all about the tips here, but seriously...just go watch the video. I'll wait.
This is utterly brilliant to me, and while I'm going to try something similar with items I have on hand for now, I've bookmarked their site to get a set later. (I also want a set of the pattern weights while we're at it...all of my old pattern weights just aren't heavy enough for leather, and the best I've found is a jar candle I had around.)
Burnout might have me down right now, but it feels less overwhelming when you find tips like these that make the preparation and cutting process feel more fun!