Leather tote bag

[blue duck]

A couple more ideas. Hammer down your stitch line. That will help the edges a bit as well. And see if you can get the stitching closer to the edge.

But the bag is looking good.

 

[RockyAussie]

On 5/22/2022 at 2:59 AM, MtlBiker said:

Finally, on the photo that shows the magnetic closure, it looks like there's a strip of blue (leather?) at the top and then brown further down?  Would it be possible for you to show a little more detail of the inner construction of the bag?

On 5/22/2022 at 3:11 AM, Chux said:

Can you say, POS?? LOL

There is a couple of "adjustment" knobs for depth and angles as well as a few different rollers. But I can't for the life of me get anything skived worth a crap. So for now I took it off the bench...

@Chux A skiver of any type like that will not work well if at all on the softer upholstery type leathers. For medium to firm veg tan leathers you may be lucky.

@MtlBiker

On 5/22/2022 at 2:59 AM, MtlBiker said:

About the heavy fabric stiffener you say will help get a nice even top line fold... Is that stiffener permanently glued in place?  Or is it used just to help make the fold? 

Yes it is permanently glued in place but not all the way to the bottom in this case. If a stiffener that only goes down partly inside on the outer skin you stand the risk of having a line show up on the outside. The stiffener in this product also serves to give an extra reinforcement for where the straps go into the bag for the rivets. These pictures are from the same bag design but in black. You will notice that the heavy fabric that is reinforcing the top line finishes short of the ends and that is to allow for the backfolding of the sides when they get done before the restitching down the sides with a tall post machine.

Below you can see where I have attached a fabric tape to further reinforce the edges

 

On 5/22/2022 at 2:59 AM, MtlBiker said:

the Texon you've mentioned?

Yes that was mentioned above. There are many types of reinforcing boards made by various brands and in this case the Texon board is mostly used for the insoles in shoes. The size is normally about 1.5m x 1m and costs around $30.00 I think per sheet. Bontex is another brand that Blue Duck mentioned above and it also is mostly made for insoles of shoes.

On 5/22/2022 at 2:59 AM, MtlBiker said:

Then the tabs you used with the magnetic closure... are they just a single layer stitched onto the inner lining, or do they (don't know how to call it) wrap around the inner and outer part of the inner bag?  (I see they don't show on the outer bag.)

They are separate pieces that get sewn in at the same time as the top line stitching. Here below you see 4 fabric pieces that are folded and they have been folded over a inner piece of fabric.

Those 4 pieces get attached together to end up like this which then gets attached to the top line lining edge and stitched with the top line stitching.

On 5/22/2022 at 2:59 AM, MtlBiker said:

Finally, on the photo that shows the magnetic closure, it looks like there's a strip of blue (leather?) at the top and then brown further down?  Would it be possible for you to show a little more detail of the inner construction of the bag?

I don't have any good ones showing down inside the bag but this picture shows the lining with an inside flap pocket. This is inside out and the magnet tabs are not attached until the lining gets put inside the outer.