fredk

Yes, looking good. I do not do a lot of stamping, but I notice you do not have any guidelines marked. Lightly marked guidelines every few rows can help. The lines would be lost in the stamping

A. language; deep can be; top to bottom or front to back. Here I assume you mean front to back 1. it looks like a continuous radius on this bag, but you could do rounded corners for a flatter bottom on the bag 2. & 3. A common way to join the gusset to the body - as here - is to fold the edge of the gusset to meet the body. Skiving the edge helps it to fold. On a bag this size I'd go for 3/8 inch [10mm] all round. Thus to get 5 inch internal you need to add 5 + 3/8 + 3/8 = 5 3/4 inch wide gusset. You also need to add 3/4 inch to the length if you are after a certain internal size. eg; if you want 17 inch internal then you need at least 17 3/4 inch wide main body leather. One 3/8 needs to be taken into account on the height of the gusset. eg, you want 12 in deep, add 3/8 for the fold over at the bottom end = 12 3/8 But essentially you are still working with a gusset 5 in wide with a 5 in radius. I always glue the skived edge of the gusset to the main body. By working carefully I can get the edges to line up pretty near perfectly. Once glued in place I make my stitching holes and sew up. One simple sewing down the front panel, round the bottom and up the rear panel. BTW I only hand stitch Also; I usually make the cardboard gusset templates [one with fold allowance, one without] first then measure around the edge of one to find out how much leather I need to go around it, then make my main body template with that measurement included. That way saves a lot of mental arithmetic, just read off a tape measure,

I make game boards covered in leather. I have made a few backgammon boards in my time. 1. Make sure your base wood board is sound and well seasoned. Any shakes, wind or not being well seasoned will leave you with a leather covered piece of firewood 2. Veg tan leather, minimum of 2 to 3mm thick 3. Normal contact adhesive. Put onto wood base mostly, use very, very little on the leather. Too much on the leather and it will seep thru. I seal the wood / MDF with PVA glue first 4. Apply leather to wood base and roll over it with a rubber brayer. Press just hard enough to get the leather stuck down, not too hard or the leather might stretch - which you do not want. Work from centre outwards, towards corners and edges 5. Allow the board / leather glue joint cure for at least 36 hours. 6. Draw the gaming area directly onto the leather using templates and a sharp pencil. You need 12 points down each side, separated into 6 + 6 with a 'doubling' bar in-between plus a bar between the opposing 6s 7. I use a wood carvers V chisel along with a guide to gouge out a V line between the points and the other leather. For backgammon points, make a small indentation at the apex of the point first, then the chisel will stop at it and not over run leaving you with a cut X at the apex. I use a steel ruler as guide and I do one line at a time, doing all lines which lie in one direction, then the other direction, I never do one full point, then the next etc. 8. I use regular alcohol based Fiebings dye to dye the points. I thin the dye 1:1 and use a small paint brush to apply the dye. Several coats are usually needed to build up colour depth. After application of the dye and a decent drying time ~ about 48 hours ~ I apply several coats of Resolene to the coloured points. Its up to you if you want to dye the doubling bar as well. I do it a 'natural' colour darker than the rest of the leather - next step 9. With the points done and dry I wipe on 'antique-ing' cream dye, then wipe off the excess, leaving antique in the V grooves. I leave this to dry for about 3 to 7 days. The antique finish gives the leather a nice toned colour. It is the favourite of my buyers; they don't like the too even coverage of dye. The resolene on the points protects their colour from the antique-ing. The same basic process for applying a dye 10. After the 3 to 7 days [7 days cos I just might forget about the board] I apply a beeswax-neatsfootoil mixture. Its a hard mix with carnauba wax in it. I apply this and heat melt it in then buff the leather up with a buffing brush and rag. Job done My son still plays chess regularly on a board I made him about 15 years ago

I may have the pattern of a bag very similar to this in one of my ancient books. The bag in the link has tabs and Ds on the gussets for a shoulder strap. Also; just move the Ds on the back from low down to higher up for a hip-hugger shoulder strap. Leave off the big O ring on the top of the flap. There would be no need to change any part of the rest I reckon I could draw up a pattern for this in about 1 hour. But I ain't offering as I'm too busy with other stuff right now. Its a really basic simple classic design Edit, to say. There are some elements of that bag I do not like. 1. Riveting on the tabs & Ds on the gussets. Although rivets are strong I have found that riveting on in that way sooner or later leads to the tab ripping off, usually the rivets pulling thru the main gusset leather 2. None of the edges are beveled and smoothed. Something I always do. Beveling, smoothing and waxing/painting not only makes the bag nicer looking but it helps weather proof the bag; water can not soak in thru the raw edges 3. The use of the large O ring central top will put an undue stress on the centre of the top. Again sooner or later, the weight carried will cause the centre top to pull upwards. It would be better with the straps pulling on the outer support straps 4. The shortness and straight top edge of the gusset. This leaves a very large gap under the curve of the flap. This might be ok in dryer climates but in wetter [ie UK] and dustier environments it'll let in all sorts of things; rain, sand, dust, insects. To be more weather proof the gusset should have a taller semi-circular top for the flap to rest on. This bag is nothing more than a slightly different version of the traditional British school satchel. Once sold for use by every school child in the UK it is now sold in fancy colours as a fashion bag. Even then the price is about a 1/4 the price of this one

wot he says. most excellent changes

Money misunderstanding; I mean, the price is £5.90 for me but the Aus price worked out at about £4.75 - 20 % cheaper btw; thats for 8 sets of alphabets. At some time you may run short of vowels. The same seller sells individual letters. In one selection you can buy 30 off each of the letters; L O V E 30 x 1 letter = about £1.55. Another selection is F C U K https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30pcs-Metal-Alphabet-Letter-LOVE-Rivet-Spike-Stud-Spot-DIY-Rock-Punk-Accessories/401614477234?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170920101022%26meid%3D9952467bc97847ae8c6b42d26c3143e5%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D11%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D401613992501%26itm%3D401614477234&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

another suggestion; use iron-on adhesive and put on a lining of silk. Anyone I know sensitive in that way is not with silk

That was one of several links. One was priced in Aus money and was about 20% cheaper than £, but that one doesn't post to N.I.

I got an effect similar, but not as artistic, as that by accident. I dipped dyed a coffee cup wrap, then later dipped it into a bath of resolene. When I took it out I noticed that the resolene had made the dye run, even though it had been dry for 3 days. I wiped the surface of the wrap with a cloth to take off the excess resolene and in doing so it spread the dye around much like in the above photo

Wot he says. I've only used mine a few times but I've never got ridges and never had to apply any pressure; the roller just glided along

Your acetone is quite different to mine. I just checked the label on my bottle of industrial acetone. There is no mention of it being corrosive, to skin or anything. The label recommends its use for; removing fibre-glass resin from tools [which I use it for], as a strong de-greaser and as a nail polish remover. I also use it for cleaning up superglue bottle tops and spills, as a superglue release, and for cleaning adhesive gum off scissors and knife blades. In use I put some on a cloth and apply to the tool - I've never worn gloves with it and I have all the skin on all my fingers

I'm in a different country to you so trade names you know mean nothing to me. Use a good strong dish washing liquid soap-detergent

Start using your stitching pony. It will seem awkward at first but it will help you to concentrate on getting your sewing done nicely. Your work is very much fine for a beginner. It is not as bad as you think it is Apologies folks, but I just gotta say; gengado's work and attitude is far superior to someone else who was doing 'rustic' leather work. by the way gengado, I have made belts, bags, purses, pouches, hats and more, but I have yet to do a wallet like the one you have made. Well done for making it

First; simply scrub it [gently] with warm water with a good detergent [washing up liquid] in it. For tough greasy bits use the washing up liquid neat directly on the area. Rinse wash with more clean warm water. Never use hot water. More than tepid is bad. As it starts to dry out it'll need feeding. use a good leather conditioner; saddle soap or beeswax/neetsfoot oil mix. Let that dry. Apply more coats of wax and buff up between applications

I came across these letters; 15mm tall approx [about 5/8"]. Not what you are really looking for tho https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/208Pcs-Metal-Letter-Rivets-Studs-Rivet-Buttons-Fastener-for-Leather-Belt-Bag/401613992501

Always wise to keep wiping the lace with some soft wax mix On quick, small jobs I have hardened the ends of lace sized 1mm up to 2mm with superglue, then cut it at an angle to make a point. Only good for short runs tho

a. have you got enough lace screwed up into the needle ? b. when I use any needle for lacing I only use the needle to get the lace thru a hole or under another bit of lace, as soon the lace appears I pull on the lace, not the needle to get the rest of the lace thru

Very nice indeedy most clever

Do not think all belts and things in movies and TV productions are always of leather. Sometimes they use plastics

Many from the US on here use an arbor press from Harbor Freight [? afair] Cheap. Some need the press ram bar drilled out to take a stamp adaptor

As the coloured part has the same grained pattern I'd be thinking that the area showing [of the back piece ] has been dyed that colour and the window part glued over the rear piece

Sorry; I keep forgetting the language barrier. Meths , short for methylated spirits, a wood alcohol, bought from every chemists [drug store] or even supermarket. Here it is dyed purple. Cellulose thinners, aka lacquer thinner, for cellulose based paints which are mostly used on cars

With Mike's warning. I use cellulose thinners to cut through industrial finishes. On work I have done meths will take off resolene, then I use the cellulose thinners to remove the dye. I recently had a chap want some car fittings done in black; duly done, then he changes his mind and wants them in mid blue. Meths to take off the resolene then cellulose thinners to remove almost all the black dye - what was left was just a darkening of the leather. cellulose thinners dries out the leather something wild so it needs a good feeding with nfo afterwards

Buckle tongue bar to main hole = waist size

The name has an Italian thing about it. As you are in Scotland I would assess that it was done by a local Italian in Scotland. For those who do not know; Scotland and Northern Ireland became home for very many Italians. The rivets/upholstery nails around the edge are rather like the type and in position typical of the 1920s & 30s