Single Gusset Small Briefcase

[Avgvstvs]

Hi folks!

It has been a while since I had the chance to fool around with leather.

I finally made a briefcase (a first for me) out of veg tan. The leather used is 5oz thick and was dyed with tandy's pro waterstain for the black sections and the tan parts have been treated with olive oil and "saddle butter".

The whole thing is stitched at 7spi with 532 linen thread. The edges are painted with fenice ebony edge paint.

Hope you guys/gals like it!

PS: sorry about the poor picture quality...

[thefanninator]

Nice work. A punch (round or English point) will fix those ends.

[electrathon]

Nice, clean look.

[Thor]

I wouldn't want to see English points or round strap ends on this bag to be honest. A bit of measuring or a template for the ends would be good enough. It's a nice and clean bag. I like the content of your bag. Now your nick makes sense to me

[thefanninator]

I wouldn't want to see English points or round strap ends on this bag to be honest. A bit of measuring or a template for the ends would be good enough. It's a nice and clean bag. I like the content of your bag. Now your nick makes sense to me

Yes, templates would help. It's not really the shape that matters, the consistency does. The strap on the front isn't symmetrical.

[Thor]

... The strap on the front isn't symmetrical.

It is and it isn't! If you review the strap as well as the keeper thoroughly you'll notice that it's diagonally symmetrical, which is odd, but kinda cool too.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/uploads/monthly_10_2015/post-49501-0-62127200-1445742795.jpg

It's not what I would have done, or what many people would do, but I think it sets it apart from other bags. I'm curious to learn about his reason for doing that.

[Craftsman Made]

That is a real nice looking bag. Is there a shoulder strap to go with it?

[Avgvstvs]

Thx guys for the comments. I really appreciate it.

@thefanninator: as Thor said, the strap end/keepers are and aren't symmetrical at the same time. I did that on purpose because I think it's a simple element that makes the bag a little different and gives it a little "flair". With english or round points, it would just be a classic single gusset briefcase like any other. I really like the result though I understand that many people might not.

@Thor: the idea for odd shaped strap ends came to me when I made a watch strap about a year ago. I didn't want to make a round or english point and experimented with a lot of different shapes and ended up with a design similar to this one, which I really liked (though not symmetrical because of the strap end being the only part with that shape but rather a "recall" of sorts of the other diagonal cuts of the watch band). See attached picture of the watch band in question.
When making the briefcase, I decided to make something similar but made it somewhat symmetrical.

@Craftsman Made: there was a shoulder strap in the works but I wasn't satisfied with the stitching. The strap is black on one side and tan on the other and I went for black stitching coming from the black side. The stitching is not as straight as I'd like it to be and the backside stitching being of contrasting color with the leather makes it stand out quite a bit, which displeases me.

If I am to make another one, I'll either use black thread coming in from the tan side or beige thread coming from the black side so that the contrast is not on the backside (straighter stitch) and the backside stitching won't stand out as much if not rocket straight (hope this makes sense...). It's a small detail but I think it'll make a world of difference.

I made this bag for my personal use and don't really need a strap for it, but the D's are there for whenever I decide I need one/ want to make one.

[thefanninator]

Ah ok...well, I'm glad it's part of the overall design and not due to poor cutting skills.

Thanks for the background info.

Cheers.

[jhstong]

I think it looks great!!!! Love the contrasting colors too!

Edited October 25, 2015 by jhstong

[Avgvstvs]

@thefanninator: now, now, I'd have to have a pretty hard time with cutting to aim for round/english strap ends and end up with oblique cuts. Hahaha

@Jhstong: thanks man!

Cheers!

[TwinOaks]

Avgvstvs,

You can eliminate the contrasting stitches by altering the sewing method. IMO, the best stitch to use here is a lock stitch. Each thread (front/back) stays on its side of the strap, only making the 'lock' inside the hole. You have to be careful with your tensions to avoid pulling the lock to the surface, but it would allow you to keep black thread on one side and tan/beige/white thread on the other. I believe that would give you the look you're after.

[Avgvstvs]

@TwinOaks: that's a pretty good idea. I'll have to learn how to make a lock stitch. Thanks for the suggestion!

[TwinOaks]

it's what sewing machines do.....and handi-stitchers. From one side, push a loop of thread through the hole, and run the second thread through the loop. Then, pull the loop back into the leather. Each thread stays on its side of the leather.

[MonicaJacobson]

Nice bag! I like the contrasting colors.

About the strap end, you might need to go even more extreme before it looks intentional enough.

[Colt W Knight]

That's such a nice polished bag, but the wierd ends don't work for me.

[Avgvstvs]

@ MonicaJacobson : thanks! I'll take that into consideration for future projects

@ Colt W. Knight: thank you for the input. By the looks of it, you're not the only one who's not too keen on the way I made te strap end/ keepers. I guess I'll have to work on that.

[Jimbob]

ohhhhh yeahhhh, nice, small, bold clean and making a statement.....well done!!

[Djw872]

Beautiful bag!