New Purse

New purse I made using some older leather I had from Tandy. I think I would design it differently if I was doing it again. The leather is cut straight across on the top but swoops down when loaded. Not a real problem but not the look I was after.

I also have to find a better way of sewing the ends of the zipper in so that it recesses into the purse better.



I thought this cotton made a pretty cute liner.

Orange purse

This purse was made from lambskin leather I purchased at Tandy just for the colour. The handles and the basic pattern were from a Value Village purse find. I still have issues with expecting leather to behave exactly like fabric and had to do some modifications in progress to make it work. Not my best stitching for sure but it is usable and with the popularity of orange at the moment, timely as well.

Purse for grandaughter

This was one of the fastest leather projects I have done. We had about 2 hours to get the purse and bracelet done before her sister woke from her nap. Obviously I would have normally done things a little differently but she loves it. Purple is her favourite colour and the only leather I had was the faux crocodile, so she ended up with a pretty stylish purse and bracelet for a 7 year old :-).

Leather purse and Card Wallets

My daughter requested a purse as hers was falling apart. This was made to the measurements she requested. She prefers the crossbody style and not too large. The purse is made from designer lamb, the strap from drum dyed vegetable tanned leather. The hardware came from a thrift store purse.

I made a little coin purse to match and found out that this leather was not happy about the turning out process on the smaller item. I used Resolene on the areas that stretched a little too much. Hopefully it will hold up.

These were made using 2-3 oz vegetable tanned leather in a Tim Holtz embossing folder, run through my original model Wizard die cutter. I really like the way they turned out although my block dying could have been better on the purple one.

The blue one is for my other daughter as it is her favourite colour.

Messenger bag

I wanted to try a messenger style bag and had some upholestry leather that I thought would work for one for the warmer weather.   I used Arther Porter's you tube videos on how to make a messenger bag as a starting point.  This bag is unlined.

Parts of the bag in progress.

Completed bag.

Front of bag with pocket.

Back of bag with pocket.

I used a belt buckle without the tongue for my closure. The other buckles I got from a thrift store purse.

I have to be more careful with my stitching but I am really pleased with how this came together.

Prototype Purse, Coin Purses and Card Wallets

This was a real learning experience. This leather was not the best choice for the design and there were many adjustments made on the fly. The stiffness of the faux alligator also caused a lot of issues in the sewing of this. Plus I am learning the quirks of my industrial sewing machine. I do have a list of things to watch for in designing and sewing my next one.

These card wallets were part of a group of ones I made out of goatskin for Christmas gifts. I am happy with how they turned out. I think they would be great as a thin wallet for a hotel key, credit card, a couple of bills while on vacation.

These were also part of a group sewn as gifts. They are made of lambskin with a patent type finish.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

Re-doing purse handle

I posted earlier about my purse with the tooled leather flap. I was happy with the tooling, but something was still not working with the purse. After a discussion with a good friend, I realized that the handle attachment looked unfinished. As I didn't want to have to redo the whole area where the handle attached, I had to come up with something else. This seems to work. I'm much happier with it anyways.

Hobo style purse

I have been playing with this in my mind for a long time and finally got it done. As a first one, there were many things that did not work as well as I hoped. But I can see a lot of improvements in my tooling and I learned a lot about the does and don'ts in construction. The flap sectioned tooled.

I am getting much better definition with my tooling. A lot of it has to do with getting some better bevellers from Northern Lights Leather Tools.

I hand painted the background using Golden Acrylic paints and air brush medium. I did get some of it on the leaf but it doesn't show after the leaf was coloured.

I coloured the flowers and leaves with Copic markers. This was a real learning experience as they behave a lot differently on leather than on smooth cardstock.

Then I antiqued with a dark brown hilite stain to pull it all together.

This wasn't the best fabric for the liner as it is a cotton, but I loved the print. I can always replace it if it wears out.

The blue leather I bought at Tandy leather on sale. I'm not sure that is shows in the pictures but it isn't navy and isn't royal blue, but somewhere in between. A really pretty colour with denim.

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