Leathercraft workshop in Leicester teaches beginners to make a belt

At the Leather Conservation Centre in Leicester, a £35 beginner class gave newcomers a rare chance to leave with a belt they had made from scratch. The one-day workshop on Thursday, June 18, 2026, was pitched as a straightforward introduction to leathercraft, not an advanced maker session.

That framing fits the centre itself. Founded in 1978 to conserve historic leathers, the Leather Conservation Centre describes itself as a major international centre for leather conservation, education and research. It also says its wider mission includes retaining and recording historic technologies and craft skills at risk of extinction, which helps explain why a beginner workshop sat comfortably within its programme. The centre relocated to Canopy in Leicester in 2025, marking a new chapter for a studio now equipped for specialist work across leather and related materials.

The class, listed as Leathercraft for Beginners: Belt Making, focused on the core hand skills that define the craft at entry level. Participants were guided through cutting, hand-stitching, finishing and fastening, with the aim of building a feel for the material as well as a usable toolkit of techniques for later projects. The listing also said all materials were provided, which made the session easier for complete beginners who might not yet own blades, punches, thread or edge-finishing tools. A related listing said the workshop was open to guests aged 12 and above.

That matters in a hobby where the first hurdle is often not enthusiasm but equipment. A £35 class that supplies the leather, the tools and the instruction offers a very different proposition from piecing together a starter bench alone. Here, the value lay in the sequence: handle traditional tools, learn how leather behaves, and leave with a finished belt rather than a half-finished practice piece.

The centre’s education page showed the June workshop was part of a broader teaching run, with a similar beginner session earlier in 2026 titled Working With Leather For Beginners. Together, the listings suggest a deliberate effort to turn conservation expertise into public-facing craft education. For a newcomer, that meant more than a belt. It meant a compact lesson in why leather has stayed central to craft for generations, and a practical first step into the material itself.