leaky5

Thinking about it, I may try and glue the zip to the leather in the picture first and then glue a small strip along the under side.

I am trying to insert a zip into a slot I have cut in a piece of leather. As you can see from the picture the zip wont lay flat. Any ideas how to stop this happening, I am thinking about glueing 2 small strips of leather to the under side of the zip to make it less flexible and then sewing right through.

What type of paint is best for this type of thing ?

I buy my gum trag from cake decorating shops as powder. I then just wet my finger, pop in in the powder and rub of the edges, it only costs a couple of £ and lasts ages.

Here is what I have come up with as a test piece, I am quite happy with it. The piece coming out of the end can twist 90 deg and could have a ring or go straight onto the bag body. The hand part bends nicely as well, with no kinks.

Thanks for the replies. It is a suprise, so I have been looking at all her current ones. I have plently of time, dont need it finished until September. So first I will have an experiment with making a handle out of two layers as I mention in the OP. I will pop up some pictures when I have done it.

I am currently making a handbag for my wife, I am happy with most of it, but I having trouble thinking about the handles. I dont really just want to do flat handles with the flesh side on the reverse. So I have a few options. Buy some ready made ones, but these may not match the colour (black) well enough. Or maybe use some 1mm thick leather, first creating the handle and then wrapping another layer over the top for the hand grip and sewing through both layers. Does anyone have any good tutorials on handle making they could link me to ?

A few bits of recent work. First Christmas presents for my twin boys. 1.2mm leather with pig skin lining. Next a small bag for me to take on dog walks or to the range. Damn lot of hand stitching on this.

Has not turned out so far, certainly not bad enough to redo it, they were both flat before I started. I will keep it folded and topped up with Lord Sheratons for a few more days. Still got to finish it off, so the edges will hopefully look better.

I have a feeling it may not be enough. As I have enough leather and lining material to do another back and I have not stiched one side, I may cut through the glue and see how much extra I will need to give a nice finish. I will take some before and after photos.

It is veg tanned, that has only been dyed so far. I have given this ago and left it to dry overnight.

I have been making a wallet for one of my sons and I did not allow for the main outside part to be a bit longer to allow for the fold. It's not far out I just need to soften / stretch the leather a bit on the crease. So far I have been using some Lord Sheraton leather balsam, worked the leather some and have bound up the wallet folded to leave for a while. Is there anything else I could try ?

Rather than do a full cut grove I may just run a creaser down it just to give a small indented line. Then I might try some small Glovers needles and suitable thread, I will have a practice on some spare leather first.

Normally for sheaths and pouches I would use blunt needles and 0.75-1mm waxed thread and cut a stitch groove. I am making a bag for my OH and I want to try and make the stitching as neat as possible. So this time I was not planning to cut a groove and was hoping to use a thinner thread and smaller sharper needles that would maybe cut it into the leather slightly as pulled tight. Can anyone recommend a thread that might be good for this ? Thanks Richard