Hi Im Joe

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Thank you very much! Yeah a roller foot would be awesome. I do have a zipper foot which helped but a roller..... Thank you very much! This is actually Duck Cotton from JoAnne...I'm not sure why I called it canvas...brain fart. Thanks Bill! Yeah I skipped the edge finishing. To my defense I wanted a vintage and rustic feel. I definitely regret not trimming the edge closer to the stitching. I did glue the handles and then stitched. Thanks blue duck! I have an Adler 67. I don't have a cording foot but I do have a zipper foot that I used. I like your idea about completing both the lining and the bag and dropping it in but I haven't quite worked out how I would do the zipper tab. I like the idea though and will have to give it some thought. The way I did it was I glued the leather zipper tab face to face with the bag. Then I pulled the lining up on the outside of the bag and clipped it face in to the zipper tab. I left the bottom of the lining open so I could pull it over the bag and stuff if inside after I sewed it to the top of the bag. Thank you Chris I really appreciate your kind words. My goal with posting this stuff on forums like this is to hear people chime in on what they would do differently and how I could improve. It helps to point out what you think you did wrong because then people can zero in on that and help provide suggestions.

Hello Everyone, This is kind of a new one for me. This is the first bag I have made using zippers as well as the first bag I have used a lining in. There is some stuff I would change but overall I'm pretty happy with my first effort. I would not do round handle's again or I would use a thinner cord and try to stitch closer to the cord. Every time I got close to the cord while sewing the machine would skip stitches or otherwise mess up. I also didn't sew the lining corners when I should have. I left them open until the end. I should of sewn the corners before attaching the lining to the bag and just left the bottom open. Oh well live and learn. Thanks for looking and let me know what you guys think! Joe

Yeah no reverse is kind of doing me in. I agree that it seems there are way more parts and info out there for the Singer (ENGLISH MANUAL!).

Sounds like maybe I shouldn't mess with it. No reverse kind of hurts. Thanks Constabulary! Very helpful.

Hey guys what do you think about this: http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/for/4612933380.html The lady will take 175.00 for it. I have the adler 67...how do the two compare? Thanks again guys for all your help. You have saved me much headache. EDIT: Did some research on the ISMACS website and I think the machine is a 111w101.

Thanks guys! You are awesome! Hi-jack away...I hope someone has an answer for you!

Hello Experts... Can anyone identify this old Singer for me? http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/bfs/4646560335.html Thank you so much! Joe

I think he's trying to tell you that you may be wasting your time. It also sounds like he has some knowledge of the process. So just because he isn't saying what you want to hear I wouldn't disregard his comments.

I was talking about the strap that has the hole for the sam browne stud. You could have stitched that to the front of the bag instead of the flap.

I would not have thought to wet the bag to ease the turnover! Solid tip for veg tan and so obvious once you think about it! Sewing it sounds like a 3 or 4 handed job!

Really nice bag! But I bet the bottom of the gusset was a straight bitch. One quick question...why not stitch the closure strap to the front of the bag to avoid those two lines of stitching showing up? You could still loop the strap through the mandolin style cutout to secure the flap. Pretty sure the straps are one thickness (not two glued together). I think she stitches it for a look.

Haha...sorry to "expose" you! I feel like thinking on your feet and working around challenges is so integral to this craft. I think you did a great job. I bet that bottom was a pain in the ass. Turning veg tan over can be a real bear.

I love the tooled strap going around the top of the bag! Really nice touch. What did you end up using as a finish?

Thank you very much! Yeah, I wouldn't mind selling a few...hahahaha. Literally after I got done sewing up the bag I thought to myself...man I should have skived that leather down some. Oh well lesson learned. Thank you very much!

This bag does not have any pockets. The other tote bag I made had a hanging inside pocket. The next one I plan to do a zipper top with an overlay leather pocket (also with a zipper) on the inside lining. It's totally up to you!

Thanks Monica! Slowly but surely. I have some ideas for a combo canvas and leather bag I'm going to try out next.

Here's the link for the tutorial: http://www.kingsmerecrafts.com/page51.html Also because the D ring or square ring or w/e you are using is likely not as wide as the strap itself you have to cut a triangle out of each side of the strap. That way when you fold it over to rivet the D ring or square ring in the strap narrows down to the width of the D ring or square ring. I hope that helps!

Thanks Rohn! I gave it to her yesterday and she was super happy. It was a total surprise so that is always fun!

Good luck man! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Thanks Bill! Yeah the mystery braid was necessity as it was all the leather I had left! But it worked.

Thank you so much!

Thank you very much! Thanks Bill! Yeah I should have edge finished the braid but to be honest I just ran out of time. I had to get the bag done for today. Triangle's would be awesome! I'm going to pick some up for sure. I had D's but they were 1 inch and really looked clunky. So I dug around and found the rectangles and decided to use them because they looked a little less clunky.

So I made a tote bag recently for my wife. My grandma mentioned to my mom she really liked it and wanted one. So without telling her I made this one for her. I'm giving it to her today! I did the strap a bit differently on this one. I'm not sure how much I like it but I made this bag basically out of extra scraps I had so I needed to improvise a bit. I definitely see the flaws I made...I need to practice machine stitching a lot. I'm just not very good at it yet. Anyway...here ya go! Thanks for looking. Let me know how I can improve or things you would have done differently. After all there are so many ways to make the same thing it's always fun hearing other people's perspective. Joe

Looks good! I got my makers mark from Phillips as well. Super nice guys!