Leather for Link?

Question

I'm making my friend a Link costume (from the Legend of Zelda, not a specific one) I want to make him fake leather gauntlets, and a thin sort of leathery pouch (purse). Is there a specific kind of fake leather that's thin and easy to work with?

Answer 1

If you do not have craft stores near that sell (fake) leather that is usable, try to find a place that re-covers furniture. They sometimes work with (fake) leather or they might take the leather, fake or real, of the furniture they re-cover.

If you have a big waste collection day when people put their old furniture on the street to be brought to the tip, you might try skinning a couch yourself.

If it is for clothing real leather is much better, as it breaths, but if you want to use fake leather on principle (vegan or so) try to line it with cotton or wool so the perspiration can go somewhere.
For pouches you can use the fake leather, but real leather will be harder wearing.

An other source can be old bags, many people replace bags as soon as they get damaged, but often big parts of the (fake) leather will still be usable. For bags like that look into the charity shops, and ask the people working there if they get lightly damaged goods they do not want to put in the store but might be willing to sell to you for a small price.

Most leather used for furniture and bags can be sewn with hand tools, the thinner kinds also with home sewing machines.
Try hand sewing with a normal sewing needle, if that is hard, do not use a normal sewing machine.
Any way, buy the special leather needles for your machine, and for hand sewing if you need to do more than just finishing of.

Answer 2

f you want to use the fake stuff, vinyl or suede is probably your best bet. However, why settle for fake when you can get the real thing on the cheap? Check your local goodwill or thrift shop for old leather skirts and cut them up as needed. (I see leather skirts at goodwill all the time and they're like, two and half bucks--the fake stuff will run you more than that!)