The Leather Bag

I was working in college one day when I was told by my tutor that I was free to take some of the leather pieces lying around the studio store-room. It was donated by some leather company to the college but due to the thickness, it was not suitable for garment making. I was over the moon as I had always wanted to make accessories with leather but always find leather a tad too expensive to experiment with.

I went along and picked out a few nice colours and put them aside while I conducted my research into construction techniques for leather. I was always too afraid of sewing leather mainly because sewing mistakes cannot be rectified on leather and also because of the damage it may cause to my domestic sewing machine. I have quilted leather before on an industrial sewing machine but found it extremely difficult to handle. But while watching and reading all the information available on the internet, I managed to gain enough confidence to give it a try.

I decided to use my ‘Tombstone’ bag pattern that I previously used to make my ‘Abomination‘ back pack to save time but transferred the pattern from paper to card to make tracing the outline out easier. After that, all I needed to do was to buy the contact cement for leather, leather edge sealer and the bits and bobs on the bag.

With all the leather cut out and equipment ready, I proceeded with the construction of the bag.

I do have to admit that sewing leather was extremely stressful especially when there is 3 layers of leather. I managed to break 4 needles while back stitching and sometimes, the top stitch thread would not sew through. With a lot of patience later, I finally finished my back pack and a lot of people commented that the finishing was professional. I beg to differ as I could do better. But since this is my first try, I will leave the judgement to you.

This experience in sewing leather has made me hungry in applying my new-found skills on sewing a few more bags. I have had a request from my tutor and a colleague to make them a Celine like leather tote bag . I can’t wait to start!