My First Few Bags

[MonicaJacobson]

Hi all,

I've been working on my own until now, and after reading on here for a week and watching a few help videos, I regret every day I wasn't on here before! Oh well.

A friend asked me to make a bag for her husband, which forced me into being a little bit more serious about leatherworking. Since then, I've made a few more.

Tell me what you think! I know I've made a bunch of amateur mistakes...

For one thing, my edging is inferior, I just found out that I shouldn't be using a stitching awl, and my dye work has definite problems.

How on earth do you guys keep soft leather from going crooked as you sew it? It seems to be inevitable even if I count the holes. Do you start form the middle and each way?

[JLSleather]

Nothing wrong with that! I personally like the first one most, but then I've always liked natural leather. Even the fat wrinkles look good

Now, somebody tone down that car interior ...

[Miss Denise]

Beautiful!! I love them all. Especially the second bag.

[Greystone]

practice, practice ,and a little help from your friends here,

all things considered you've done a nice job

understand and work on what YOU see as a fault and improve it then go forward

and remember perfection is just a hands grasp away,

but keep reaching for it

you did good db

[MonicaJacobson]

Thanks, everyone! And thanks for the advice, Greystone. The best thing about this forum is that there are so many good leatherworkers showing their work at every stage that it makes even difficult projects seem a lot less impossible.

[forbeskm]

Great job! I was thinking of giving bags a shot and those look great!

[humperdingle]

I love the contrasty colours of the first bag - the style is a bit like satchels I saw on Colsen Keane's site.

[MonicaJacobson]

Funny you should say that, that's exactly what it's like. My friend's husband thought the Colson Keane bag was awesome, but much like me, couldn't afford to actually buy one. She asked me to make one like it, and I added some tooling and used a different leather to avoid completely copying his design. It's a really sweet bag.

I also like their wider messenger bag in the same style.

[humperdingle]

Funny you should say that, that's exactly what it's like. My friend's husband thought the Colson Keane bag was awesome, but much like me, couldn't afford to actually buy one. She asked me to make one like it, and I added some tooling and used a different leather to avoid completely copying his design. It's a really sweet bag.

I also like their wider messenger bag in the same style.

I'll be honest and say IMO, yours looks much nicer and 'better' made. I like their designs but they seem very expensive items.

[MonicaJacobson]

Thank you! That's very nice to hear! Yes, the price does seem a bit steep for a bag that requires mostly cutting out and riveting together. But once you get a name and a client base, some people feel better about the product if you charge them more for it.