Onto the third bag....

[motocouture]

Finally, all saddle stitching complete and bag turned! I have to say, I love working with this calf leather from HAAS (thanks again @nstarleather).  All turned seams were stitched with 0.6mm black Tiger thread and 3.0mm KS stitching irons (used linen thread only where it would show on the right side).

Now onto the lining, which will be in the same fabric as the small zippered bag in the previous photo. 

[motocouture]

[Chayse]

Stunning!

[motocouture]

3 hours ago, nstarleather said:

Amazing work, glad to see that HAAS get put to good use.

Thank you! It’s great leather, appreciate you sharing  

 

2 minutes ago, Chayse said:

Stunning!

Thanks! It’s taken a while but it’s exciting to see it finally come together 

[Chayse]

@motocouture..I truly enjoyed watching the bag unfold to the finished project! Now only if I can find the time to attempt such a thing.... 

[YinTx]

5 hours ago, motocouture said:

Now onto the lining, which will be in the same fabric as the small zippered bag in the previous photo. 

 

??Huh?  You put the liner in after you are done stitching the bag? How do you attach it?  New row of stitches?  Hope you photo document this one also, it has been enjoyable watching this bag come together..

YinTx

[JD62]

         What he said! I gotta see how that's done.  What an awesome bag that is, you should be proud.

[RockyAussie]

Beautiful. Now is a good time to play around with flexible stiffeners and padding s I'd say.

[Rolandranch]

Fantastic! You did a great job on that! Thanks for showing the process. 

-Ryan

[tzleather]

OMG...Such a beautiful bag. Perfect looking! Thank you for sharing your steps. I was amazed!

Also, do you mind sharing the interior of the finished bag? I am still trying to learn the piping process and your process helps. 

[motocouture]

22 hours ago, Chayse said:

@motocouture..I truly enjoyed watching the bag unfold to the finished project! Now only if I can find the time to attempt such a thing.... 

Thank you! I just do bits here and there, around my day-job

19 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Beautiful. Now is a good time to play around with flexible stiffeners and padding s I'd say.

Ha! Absolutely! After thinking about your advice, I’m actually going to quilt the canvas liner with some thin needle-punched wool wadding, to give a nice, soft appearance on the outside and protect the calf skin. 

10 hours ago, Rolandranch said:

Fantastic! You did a great job on that! Thanks for showing the process. 

-Ryan

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed seeing the process, I didn’t want to overwhelm people with the details. 

[motocouture]

9 hours ago, tzleather said:

OMG...Such a beautiful bag. Perfect looking! Thank you for sharing your steps. I was amazed!

Also, do you mind sharing the interior of the finished bag? I am still trying to learn the piping process and your process helps. 

Thanks, really appreciate your kind words! Always happy to share the steps, since I enjoy seeing the amazing stuff others share

absolutely! Will post more pics tomorrow, with some detail on the steps I used for piping (not definitive by any means, I’m sure there’s other ways, just what I used here). 

[motocouture]

@tzleather here are a couple of photos of the bag interior. The blue sheet is a stiffener from a thin plastic kitchen cutting mat (from TJ Maxx  ), and is both glued to the base and held by the five riveted feet. I haven’t finished the internal seams at all, since they’ll be hidden by the lining. Otherwise I’d bevel, do a coat of tokanole and burnish. In this case, I didn’t trim the seams any thinner on the corners (it’s a 6mm seam), because I wanted the extra stiffness to help support the bag.

The round patches are extra reinforcement for the strap handles; I used the same calf leather as the outside so that it moved the same way and didn’t create a ridge on the front. In hindsight, I’d probably make the patches a little bigger to really help disperse the strain from the handles. 

The small black marks are key marks, that I design in from the start. I really try to get them as accurate as possible on the original template, and they really help get accurate placement for gluing, especially on the round corners  

Edited November 23, 2017 by motocouture

[motocouture]

Finally finished! Forgot that making the lining is essentially making the whole bag again lol. Below are a couple of photos with the lining in - apologies for the quality of the pics, it’s hard getting the inside of the bag.  

@YinTx, @JD62 will throw a couple of pics up showing how I attached the lining

[motocouture]

To attach the lining (cotton twill quilted with a thin wool batting), I used my two-tooth iron to punch holes every inch or so in the seam allowance of the leather. The seam is 6mm, so plenty of room to add some stitch holes here and there. I then used a and sewing needle (normal sewing, not harness needle), and Coats heavy duty thread that I waxed, to stitch the lining to the leather seam allowance. I made sure I backstitched a couple of times in the fabric after going through the leather, so that it locked the thread each time. 

Apart from that, hand stitched the edge of the lining to the inside of the zipper tape the whole length of the zipper (took a while....).  Used an ultra sharp, fine Japanese hand sewing needle with waxed polyester (garment) sewing thread, and a thimble. I didn’t attach the lining anywhere else, as the quilting gives it some body and helps keep the shape. I also added some ease to the lining so that it can move a little without disrupting the outside of the bag. 

[motocouture]

Oh, and my lining helper - he’s convinced he’s a lapdog...

[tzleather]

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation! I really appreciate it. I didn't know you could finish the exterior and then add on the lining. I usually line each piece and then assemble them. But I like your method as you could focus on finishing the important parts first and then lining. 

 

[RockyAussie]

6 hours ago, motocouture said:

Oh, and my lining helper - he’s convinced he’s a lapdog...

Well done and it may be a good time to look that guilty one in the eye and tell him its time we made a doggy bag whilst stropping your knife of course .........

[billybopp]

Well done and it may be a good time to look that guilty one in the eye and tell him its time we made a doggy bag whilst stropping your knife of course ......... 

Reminds me of the other day at work, when a co-worker asked me if I could make a Boston Terrier bag.  I said "sure!" and asked if she knew where I could get Boston Terrier leather.  She was not amused.

That bag looks amazing, Motocouture!  Well done.

Bill

[motocouture]

13 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Well done and it may be a good time to look that guilty one in the eye and tell him its time we made a doggy bag whilst stropping your knife of course .........

Ha! Love it! Maybe I’ll just threaten to get him shaved like a poodle 

@billybopp thanks! Took a while (always looks smaller on paper lol), but really enjoyed the process. Love the Boston Terrier comment!

[JD62]

Thanks for the info!

[motocouture]

3 hours ago, JD62 said:

Thanks for the info!

No worries! Will add some more detail on the piping later as well 

[bikermutt07]

This was a great thread, Moto. I wouldn't know where to start out with a bag like that, but here's a little tip that might help.

Whenever I do lamination I use wax paper. It really helps with lining up the edges and doesn't stick to anything.

Keep having fun.

[motocouture]

19 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

This was a great thread, Moto. I wouldn't know where to start out with a bag like that, but here's a little tip that might help.

Whenever I do lamination I use wax paper. It really helps with lining up the edges and doesn't stick to anything.

Keep having fun.

Thanks! Kinda like eating an elephant, teaspoon at a time 

how do you use the waxed paper? Sounds like a great idea, never thought of it being a great non-stick material....

[Stetson912]

I've seen it in some stohlman books. He used it in between the layers of leather to keep the contact cement from touching and setting while he lined it up. Usually a square piece in the corners and one or two on the straight seams to align it. Then stick it down piece by piece and remove the paper as you go