You mentioned that your knife work could be better. I suggest you get a knife that you can push through the leather as well as draw it toward yourself. To cut curves, I rock the blade and move the leather rather than try to drag a knive around in a curve. Here are a few that I find useful for that.
The first pic is of the three I use the most.
The top one is my absolute favorite made from a power hacksaw blade but you could make one from a circular saw blade, too. The handle is shoe sole glued on. Leather can get glued on there just as effectively. In fact the knife I copied for it was one an old saddle maker I worked for made and used. Here's a photo that shows the size.
The next one down is what I use mostly for skiving. It's also made from a saw blade. The last one I use to trim tight spots. That one you can't cut pushing away. I bought that one.
Many like a round knife, of which many are available or you can, as I did, make your own out of a circular saw blade. Keep a box of bandaids handy until you get used to using one. These are really good for skiving, too.
Oh, yeah, keep the blade sharp and strop it every couple cuts to keep it sharp and clean of the natural oils in the leather. When I feel a blade start to drag a little, I strop. For that, I put jeweler's rouge on the rough side of a scrap of leather.