My largest project yet.

[bikermutt07]

Well, here it is. I learned a lot along the way. I experimented a great deal with thus bag. This is the first thing I have laminated. The leather was some cheap Tandy stuff I bought a few years ago. It was probably 3-4 ounce. It felt quit stretchy so I doubled the body and straps. That made it a little heavy. The second mistake I made was trying to dye the body with a dauber (smacks head). However, my wife liked the "pattern" it left. After that I applied another coat using sponges. I had a really difficult time getting the cheap leather to take the dye evenly. I left the onside natural with the exception of the i pad pocket. It is the same color as the straps. I liked to never got turned right side out. It is all hand stitched and my saddle stitching improved greatly along the way. I was planning to stitch the straps all the way around, but ran out of time. This was a present for my wife's 40th birthday. This picture is at her party just hours after I completed it.

[bikermutt07]

Here are some more photos.

[YinTx]

Thats quite an undertaking, and it looks like it turned out really well!  Certainly the recipient is all smiles!  Well done!  Would be interested in seeing some close ups of the details...

YinTx

[Rflw]

Nice.

I am currently doing a small backpack for the mrs and am a little overwhelmed by the amount of stitching. Having now seen this .........confidence restored!

[bikermutt07]

There is probably 8 hours total on the stitching. I spent a months worth of hobby time total on it. My prior projects were 2 years ago and I knew nothing about saddle stitching at the time. So, I practiced on the interior pocket. Just about every bit of the thing was some sort of experiment. Laminating the body and straps. I tried dip dying on the straps. Different thread and needle sizes on the inside pocket. Differnt diamond chisel. 

I don't know what size the craftool prochisels are but they are small. I bought some cheap co link 4mm chisel off of Amazon and that did the trick for the top edge and straps.

The body is one solid cut. Well two solid cuts cemented together. Stitchin the bottom corners together was a chore. It did not come out very even. But it's not very noticeable just looking at the bag.  I will get some more pics up in a bit. 

I finally figured out if I save my pictures from Facebook to my device they are small enough to post here.

Thanks for looking.

[bikermutt07]

Here are more pics, and feel free to critique. I posted in show off just cause I was proud.

[plinkercases]

Nice job on the gusset corners. That is tough to do even with practice. Big win all round it seems... you in making it your "customer" in using it!!

[bikermutt07]

33 minutes ago, plinkercases said:

Nice job on the gusset corners. That is tough to do even with practice. Big win all round it seems... you in making it your "customer" in using it!!

Those corners were brutal. I think the leather is right at a 1/4" thick and wrestling the two spots together was a chore. I did cheat a little though. To save time and use larger thread, for the gussets and main seams on the bag I reverted to the hole punch and larger thread.

[plinkercases]

If its your project, design and execution and it worked it sure isn't cheating!

[Wedgetail]

That looks awesome! Great job.

I like it a lot! There is a lot to be proud of there.

[bikermutt07]

Thank you.

[isaac]

Great bag. Lucky Lady. Well done. 

[bikermutt07]

Thanks, she posted it to an art teacher forum and two people want one. Plus when I posted it on Facebook a former teacher of mine asked me to make here a concealed ccarry purse. I don't know what I'm doing. This is supposed to be my hobby.

[plinkercases]

hobby = jobby real fast when people find out what you do!

[builderofstuff]

Looks great. I really like the look of it and the finish too. The colors are great.

Chris

 

[bikermutt07]

Thanks, Chris. I was worried I got it all too dark.

[mike6642]

Very nice

[bikermutt07]

Thanks, Mr. Mike.

[Bob Blea]

I think it turned out really nice.  I like the final color of the bag.  Nice job on the stitching too.

[JMWendt]

On 7/26/2016 at 1:34 PM, bikermutt07 said:

Thanks, she posted it to an art teacher forum and two people want one. Plus when I posted it on Facebook a former teacher of mine asked me to make here a concealed ccarry purse. I don't know what I'm doing. This is supposed to be my hobby.

Make sure it stays your hobby.  It's a lot less fun when it's all business.

[bikermutt07]

Thanks guys. I'm making sure it stays at hobby level.

[Mattsbagger]

6oz turned inside out. Woof! The must have been a workout! And it looks good to me. Way better than my first bag. It was a 3 piece. 2 panels and a gusset. Looked easy it weren't. 

[bikermutt07]

14 minutes ago, Mattsbagger said:

6oz turned inside out. Woof! The must have been a workout! And it looks good to me. Way better than my first bag. It was a 3 piece. 2 panels and a gusset. Looked easy it weren't. 

It was a cage match to say the least..... From now on it will be wider than tall on all bags.

[bikermutt07]

Here's a pic of us at her birthday party with my father in law photo bombing us.