Making a Mini Plague Doctor from Leather Scraps

The Tiny Doctor is a mini plague doctor mascot built entirely from leather scraps. He stands about 17.5 cm (6.9 inches) tall, takes around 3 to 5 hours, and uses so little leather that most of it can come straight out of your offcuts drawer.

What you are building

A beaked mask with eyelet eyes, a wide brim hat, a coat with two pockets and flaps closed with Sam Browne buttons, and a pair of little hands. He stands on his own, so he works as a desk mascot, a shelf figure, or a gift for anyone who likes the gothic side of leathercraft.

Difficulty is intermediate. Nothing in the build is exotic, but the pieces are small, so your stitching and your edges are on show in a way they are not on a bag.

Leather and hardware

The materials list is short, and none of it is included with the pattern:

• A few scraps of 5 oz leather

• 2 eyelets, 7 to 9 mm, for the eyes

• 0.8 mm waxed thread

• 4 Sam Browne buttons, 4 mm

That is the whole list. If you have been keeping a box of offcuts from bigger builds, this is the project that box is for.

Print it at actual size before you cut

The pattern comes in three editions, A4, US Letter and Legal, so open the one that matches the paper you have. Choose actual size in the printer settings, never fit to page, and check the printer test page with its 5 cm and 2 inch square before any leather gets cut. Takes two minutes and saves a lot of leather.

Every piece is labelled and the stitch holes are marked, so the pieces line up first time rather than being guessed at as you go.

Watch the build

The full video tutorial covers the whole thing, first cut to finished figure: watch it here.

The pattern is on the site here: Mini Plague Doctor Mascot PDF pattern.

A good one for using up offcuts

Most leatherworkers end up with a drawer of pieces too small for a wallet and too good to bin. A figure like this is the best use for them, because every panel is small and the colour differences between scraps read as character rather than as a mistake.

If you want to try something before you buy anything, there are free patterns and printing tools on the free stuff page, and the rest of the catalogue is under all patterns.