Embarking On A Purse

[MudBugWill]

So, I've recently gotten bitten with the leatherwork bug after making a little dual moleskine cover, and decided to order an Horween second Essex split and make my Ol' Lady a purse. I ordered a Fuschsia suede split for the interior. To warm up I made a dog collar for my mother's French Bulldog with copper hardware I sand casted, and then drunkenly made a super-slim wallet to test out the stitching pony I just finished. Anyway, I am near getting all the purse pieces cut-out and ready for initial edge finishing. I designed it on auto-cad and transfered my copy paper patterns to poster-board, cut out my my major leather pieces and lined them with suede using welbond. Talk about fumes, whooweeee! I had a respirator on and it still got to me. I ate an entire bag of Veggie Stix, I guess I had the glue munchies. I didn't know there was such a thing!

Edited February 26, 2015 by MudBugWill

[Oakley]

You're projects are very nice. Especially the bag has a nice pattern. Do you share the CAD?

If the fumes are a problem you can try Hirschkleber. That glue works very good if you stitch the leather afterwards and you can even wash it away with water.

[MudBugWill]

Thank you very much! I do plan on offering the cad fike once i finish this purse and tweak it a little bit. I'll check out that glue for sure. The white stuff on the lid is beeswax, i need to buff it up a little bit and add the strap.

Edited March 3, 2015 by MudBugWill

[MonicaJacobson]

You did a great job on the purse! I also really like the dog collar. The suede interior is very classy. I wonder if it would be advisable to sew the flap all the way around to make sure the suede doesn't separate. However, I'm no glue expert. How does the handle attach to the purse?

Cool, on the sand cast copper hardware.

[MudBugWill]

Thanks Monica. I was wondering the same thing about the glue. I didn't want to stitch it because I thought it might look too busy. I might have to though. Maybe I.ll use black thread. The handle is riveted and stitched and fully backstitched.

[Ole South]

I like the contrasting stitch. You can lock stitch with a cobblers jerk awl for different color inside vs outside to secure your lining. It's a little different technique than saddle stitch but they look similar to the casual eye.

[Tarawhite]

Looks great!

[MudBugWill]

Finally finished it. That Strap sure took a long time to stitch. It's 100" and took about four hours. My girlfriend is ecstatic, and I am ready to move on to my next project.

[MonicaJacobson]

Nice job. It looks gorgeous.