Patterns built for the irons you already own.
I build each model as a geometry system, then cut a sheet for every pricking iron spacing from 2.7 to 5 mm — all of them in every download. Whichever irons are on your bench, the stitch holes land exactly where your tool punches, with no fudging the last three holes at a corner.
One panel, fitted to six different irons
IllustrationClick through the spacings. The hole count recomputes, the panel height adjusts and the corner geometry follows — nothing is stretched or approximated to fit. This drawing is a simplified illustration made for this page, not a sheet from a pattern: the real sheets carry dimensions, trim and stitch lines, a printed scale check and written instructions.
What makes these different
Four things you can check for yourself before spending anything.
Every variant, in one download
Six pricking iron spacings, 2.7 to 5 mm. Six pocket opening styles where the model has one. All in the same file — nothing to pick at checkout and nothing to get wrong.
Drawn by one person, checked panel by panel
Each model is built as a geometry system — stitch line, corner radius, trim allowance and hole positions all derive from the same formulas. Every sheet is cross-checked and version-stamped before release.
Free to try, no email
Model No.001 is a gift — no signup, no drip sequence, no catch. Judge the work yourself. If you build it, I would like to see it: @aptuspatterns.
Sell what you make
Single-maker licence: build and sell as many finished pieces as you like, no royalty and no permission needed. What the licence does not cover is passing the file on, making tools or templates from it, and team or mass production.
What's in every pattern
The same contents whether you paid for it or not.
- Spacings
- All six in every download: 2.7, 3, 3.38, 3.85, 4 and 5 mm, each on its own sheet.
- Openings
- Where a model has a pocket opening, all six styles are drawn: straight, bump, trapezoid, batwing and two asymmetric ramps.
- Paper
- A4 and US Letter, both included.
- Scale check
- A printed 20 mm bar, a 1 inch bar and a row of holes at your own spacing. Thirty seconds with a ruler, before any leather is cut.
- Lines
- Trim allowance and stitch line drawn separately, corners marked, every hole position explicit.
- Instructions
- Step by step from first cut to finished piece, written so a beginner can follow it without guessing what was left out.
- Licence
- Single-maker. Unlimited finished pieces, for yourself or for sale.
- Version
- Every sheet carries a version stamp, so you always know which one you are holding.
In another language, or something non-standard? The instructions are written in English. If that is the thing standing in your way, write to me and we will sort it out. The same goes for a stitch line inset or trim allowance outside the usual values — they are not on the menu because most makers never need to change them, but if you do, I will draw it for you.
Is this you?
Four situations these patterns were built to solve.
Your irons aren't 4 mm
Most patterns are drawn for a single spacing. If you own 3.38 or 3.85 mm irons, the holes drift, and you end up improvising at the corners. Here every spacing is already in the file, so the drift does not exist.
You've bought a cheap bundle before
There are excellent pattern makers out there — and there are two-hundred-file bundles sold by people who have never cut leather. If you have had the second kind, what you can check here is the method: one geometry system, the same formulas behind every panel, and a version stamp on every sheet.
You want instructions that actually help
Outlines on their own leave a lot to guesswork. Every model comes with step-by-step instructions written so a beginner can follow them start to finish — each stage in order, and nothing assumed along the way.
You want to sell what you make
The licence is explicit: unlimited finished pieces, for yourself or for sale, no royalty and no permission needed. What it does not cover is passing the file on, making tools or templates from it, and team or mass production.
Model No.001 — free, permanently
Take one and see for yourself.
A complete small bifold card holder: two pockets, sized for two to six cards and a folded note or two. Drawn for every spacing, in both paper sizes, with the full documentation set. Not a teaser and not watermarked — the same sheet quality as anything that will ever be for sale here.
- All six pricking iron spacings: 2.7, 3, 3.38, 3.85, 4 and 5 mm
- A4 and US Letter, both included
- All six opening styles: straight, bump, trapezoid, batwing, and both asymmetric ramps
- Step-by-step instructions, recommendations, tips, and the licence terms
- Model
- No.001 — Small Bifold Card Holder
- Holds
- 2–6 cards, or a folded note
- Pockets
- Two
- Spacings
- All six: 2.7 · 3 · 3.38 · 3.85 · 4 · 5 mm
- Formats
- A4 · US Letter
- Openings
- All six styles included
- Licence
- Single-maker, sale permitted
- Price
- Free — and staying free
Why I make these
I am Zsombor. I draw these patterns myself, in Budapest.
I have been making leather goods for years. At some point I wanted patterns that matched the way I actually work, so I started learning Inkscape and drawing them for myself.
What I found along the way turned into this. If you stop drawing one pattern at a time and think in a system instead — panels as elements, where the hole positions and the stitch line follow the tools in hand while the corner radius stays fixed, because the geometry requires it — then the pieces combine. One panel meets another and the holes already line up, because the geometry decided it long before the leather was cut.
That is the whole idea, and it is where the name comes from: aptus is Latin for fitted. One person, one system, and a pattern that suits the tools already on your bench.
What's coming
Being straight with you: the store is not open yet. Model No.001 is real and free today. Here is the order of everything else.
Puzzle Horizontal
Fifteen models built from one panel system — card holders and wallets, including versions with a cash compartment.
The bundle
All fifteen together, plus the combination map showing which panels assemble into which model, plus two opening styles that are not in the single patterns.
More series
Vertical card holders, then belts and watch straps. Same system, same precision, same spacing choice.
Tools and guides
A free pricing calculator for your own finished work, and written guides on tooling and suppliers — kept updated rather than frozen.
You get a say in the order. What people ask for moves up the list. Use the form below, write to hello@aptuspatterns.com, or say it to me on any social channel — it all reaches the same place.
Tell me what to build
Eight questions, completely anonymous, about two minutes. I want to understand who is actually at the bench — what you own, what you make, what you sell — so the next models are built for real people rather than guesses. There is a box at the end for anything you wish existed and cannot find — that one matters most.