Purse panels, What are they?

[iamnotworthy]

Hello all..I am new to leather crafting.  I bought a DIY purse kit from Babylon leather.  They sent me individual finished panels with leather on one side and liner on the other to hand sew together.  The panels are firm, but bendable, and the leather appears to have been glued onto some sort of substrate.  Does anyone know what that panel is contructed of or how to make such a panel?  Thanks..JOE

[Beehive]

Thin plastic sheeting glued to the back of the soft chrome. 

 

Weaver has a roll of plastic advertised for making patterns. You can use that to firm up a panel. Keeping the purse from collapsing into a big clump of leather. 

Basically any flexible material you can cut and attach. Cut piece from a two liter coke bottle. Plastic jug. Neoprene to some extent.

 

Or using stiff veg tanned behind the chrome. With plastic sheeting, you can go thinner. Verses having extra bulk from the veg tanned.

Edited February 28 by Beehive

[iamnotworthy]

thank you for the response

[Digit]

You can use all sorts of reinforcements for chrome tan leather, depending on the sturdyness and thickness you want. Salpa (bonded leather) comes in several thicknesses (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0mm), there's also Velodon, Texon, and you can use just about any type of woven textile cloth or canvas as well.

Just glue it to the leather with PVA and make sure you sew around the edges to keep the layers from peeling. If you use some porous reinforcement (eg textile) it'll be a mess of glue of course. Any mess or ugly reinforcement you can hide with thin leather lining on the inside, such as pigskin.

[iamnotworthy]

Thank you..I am going to give Salpa a try!