Womens Clutche/Purse

[ewayne53]

I am very much a novice but I’ve been making belts, knife sheaths and holsters. I would like to make my wife a clutch/purse and a wallet for myself. I’ve found a pattern I like but I’m not sure what leather to use. I use veg tan heavy leather for my previous projects but that’s obviously to thick. I was thinking about using a 2/3 oz veg tan but I also like the pre dyed leather. 
 

I would appreciate any suggestions or recommendations from anyone with purse and wallet experience. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by ewayne53

[DieselTech]

21 minutes ago, ewayne53 said:

I am very much a novice but I’ve been making belts, knife sheaths and holsters. I would like to make my wife a clutch/purse and a wallet for myself. I’ve found a pattern I like but I’m not sure what leather to use. I use veg tan heavy leather for my previous projects but that’s obviously to thick. I was thinking about using a 2/3 oz veg tan but I also like the pre dyed leather. 
 

I would appreciate any suggestions or recommendations from anyone with purse and wallet experience. 

I believe a lot of guys will use a 6-7oz or 8-9oz for the outer piece of leather, if you are tooling it. Then they will use 2-3oz for the interior of clutch purse/wallet. 

Lol anyhow that's what I see on youtube. 

[rleather]

For the purse 4-5 oz is plenty, if you need it to be stiffer add a bag stiffner . The wallet needs to be light or you will be skiving all day, imo. 3-4 or 4-5 oz back,and  2-3oz pockets. Only my opinion. good luck and have a great new year.

[Bert03241]

I made my sister a clutch purse , used 4 t0 5 oz veg tan , she loves it. I used the same pat to make a shaving bag. Holds my razors, brush, soap, nail clippers, files and what nots.

[rleather]

11 hours ago, Bert03241 said:

I made my sister a clutch purse , used 4 t0 5 oz veg tan , she loves it. I used the same pat to make a shaving bag. Holds my razors, brush, soap, nail clippers, files and what nots.

nice purse!

[Mablung]

It depends on the style of thing you want to make. I've made my wife and sister purses out of 4/5 oz. oil tan that are soft and pliable, not a ton of structure; they were meant to be that way, with one big compartment and a flap closure. I made my mom a tote bag out of 5 oz. chrome/oil tan (S.B. Foote utility side—overrun of Red Wing boot/shoe leather) that is stiffer and has more structure, but still basically soft.

Look around on here for different things people have made. You can get some different "looks" and structure if you use 3–5 or 6 oz. veg tan for a purse, depending on just how structured and rigid you want it to be. 

There are a lot of good exemplars for wallets, including clutch-style wallets, on here, too. The consensus seems to be that the outer panel should be 4 or 5 oz. at the most, with 2/3 oz. pocket panels, plus maybe a thin liner. Otherwise, you'll have too much bulk that will require endless skiving, as already pointed out.