Julie has been doing leatherwork and building custom leather goods for 44 years. She started working with leather in her dad’s leather shop he set up in their tack room. She attended saddle making school at Spokane Falls Community College with Jesse Smith in the early 80’s. Her first job was in Laramie, Wyoming building saddles at The Boardwalk for Rob Vogel. She then ran Ellensburg Saddle Company in Ellensburg, Washington with her husband. After going their separate ways, Julie opened Julie Baugher Leather Design and continued her custom work. She taught Chink building classes all along the way, here and there so people could come in and build themselves a pair. Now, Julie Baugher Leather Design is a full-time leather working school specializing in chap making, but also caters to any level of leather work from beginner to advanced. Julie also has a line of chap patterns that she has created and sells online. Her love of working with leather continues, but her heart really lies with teaching others this craft that has been so good to her. Giving back and being a good servant is very important to her. The joy she finds in a student’s pride and confidence on a finished project is immeasurable. #useyourgifts

Interested in pursuing your passion to become a chap maker? Julie provides precise and refined details to help you develop and refine your chap making skills. In a world full of social distraction and chaos it is the perfect time to break away from those distractions and use your hands to master a craft such as chap making. The last few years have been a reminder to nurture our creativity and to find balance in the arts. Many of us are ranching during the day, working in an office, or at home or doing the hard work of being a mom. The commonality is that we are busy being pulled away from our passions. Now is the time to fight for those passions... to do something just for you!