Hello,
When you cut leather, do you consider the part of body and the direction of cutting? If so, what are you doing?
Generally, the back side is hard and the abdomen to the legs are soft.
As for the direction, it's said that it don't stretch vertically from the head to the buttocks, but stretches horizontally.
ex. Leather stretch area
https://howtoshoes.blogspot.com/2014/05/basic-of-shoes-leather-upper.html