BenOrsonLeather

I haven’t made any messenger bags in a while. I do have a few other bags i could show. I’ll take some pics when i get into the workshop tomorrow.

While the bodice of this Letterman Jacket was made from wool and lined with quilted satin, this piece was a transformation of sorts into the leather realm for me. In addition to the hair-on leather stacked letter B, I made the sleeves with some of the softest deerskin I have ever come across. I am also ever-searching for a supplier that can match this quality hide as it is my favorite skin due to its resiliency in relation to its softness. In fact, it was when I was out shopping and first came across this deerskin that I was the inspiration for this jacket. I wanted something that could represent the brand and this is what I came up with. Some other details are the hand cut leather back lettering, the Ursa Major (Great Bear) embroidery, and leather BCN lettering on the front. If you look closely, there is some errors in the stitching. I was till getting used to stitching several layer of leather together. Comments and/or questions are welcome.

Thank you, Pastor Bob. I am a huge fan of the dark purple. It’s not an easy color to find in leather. Heh. Thank you, Deanr. The zipper on the flap is how one accesses the main part of the bag. It was my first bag I had bade so Logistically and utilitarian uses were not my primary focus. I just thought is was a cool idea. I don’t know if I would make that type again. It was nice and secure but took a slight amount of effort to access as opposed to just tossing stuff in. I ended up gifting it to a friend for their birthday so I didn’t get to ‘road test’ it myself. Yes, it was done on a machine. It was my very first industrial machine, a SunStar KM-????-BL. I’m afraid I can’t recall the model number. It was just “my sewing machine.” I was newly arrived in Barcelona at the time and my Spanish was “malo”, but there was this fantastic gentleman named Faustino and his shop Co Ma Tex was indispensable to me. As long as I had two hot cups of strong espresso waiting for him, he did house calls on my marching when I would have a problem. Of course I paid him for the service call but he was patient since he couldn’t explain things over the phone and had to physically show me due to the language barrier. In The States if I would have called with a similar I problem I would have been immediately hung up on and ignored. We don’t realize how cut-throat business is here. We just kind of accept it and take it for granted that we are mostly on our own. Except for this wonderful BBS!!! But I digress, looking for more pictures took me down Memory Lane. Now my ‘workhorse’ leather sewing machine is a Juki 1541. I wouldn’t run a shop without it. (Or them, i have 3. And yes they all have names.) The center panel I think you are referring to is the two black panels on both sides of the purple? If I am correct in my assumption this is one of two types of seams that make up 99.999% of all leather sewing seams. The garment industry has about a quadrillion different seams to joint two pieces of fabric together but in leather our main challenge with seams is for them not to become bulky. The seam on the bag is an “open seam”. With a seam allowance, I use 10mm ubiquitously, edges lined up and ‘right sides’ facing each other (meaning the two finished sides of the leather are touching and the flesh side is visible) you sew 10mm from the edge. Then unfold the seam and allow the underside (seam allowance) to fold over on its own side of the seam. Then sewing on the ‘right side’ you top stitch both sides of the seam to catch and secure the seam allowance underneath. It’s a very clean and low bulk seam. It may sound crazy complicated when reading it but once you see it and do it once or twice you will understand it completely. It will become your second most used seam only to the ‘felled seam’ which is stronger as it has two (or more) lines of stitching securing the pieces of leather together but is more bulky. Here is another picture I found of the bag. Less detailed, but full of nostalgia for me as it shows more of my very first leather workshop ever. (Sigh) I hope I’ve answered your questions adequately.

I’ll try and find some more. Like I said this was done very early on and I didn’t take too many pics of my work at that point. But I will look deeper.

I started making bags when I first started seriously working with leather back when I lived in Barcelona. This was the first bag I finished. I'm not including the 3 or 4 attempts that needed up on the floor. Hahaha! This is still one of my personal favorite pieces.

Holy smokes! I need that hat! I’ll put it on my “want to do list.”

I have a longarm in the workshop. Yeah, that sucker will practically sew through concrete. The issue I have with it is the foot lever to lift the presser bar! And I’m tall! I have to stretch my leg across the room to lift it! Hahaha!

Thank you. This is incredibly helpful!