Prada-inspired Handbag

[HiddenStar]

Hi all, below are some pictures of a handbag (my first handbag project) I made a few months ago. Would like share this with the community and hopefully it'll help anyone who is on a similar project

Feel free to leave any questions/comments (:

 

Edited November 3, 2017 by HiddenStar

[ByNelson]

What a lovely project... good job!  

what were your thoughts on the edges? 

[battlemunky]

That is really well done. I like the edges undyed.

[motocouture]

Nice work! I assume you drafted the pattern yourself?

[Fire88]

I reall like those undyed edges 

[Stetson912]

I'd like to know how you did the lining

[Richardrn80]

Absolutely beautiful!!! Very well done. I showed my wife and she asked if you had a pattern for this beautiful piece of art. I like how you left the edges unpainted. It gives a contrast to it that makes it still very simple. Well done!!

[Richardrn80]

One more question. How did you do the handles? I attempted to do some handles like that, but they failed miserably!! What’s your secret to the handles? What type of leather, thickness did you use?

[Danne]

14 hours ago, battlemunky said:

That is really well done. I like the edges undyed.

Yes i agree, if someone told me "Hey, i'm going to make a Prada inspired bag, should i paint the edges or not." My answer would be "Of course you should paint them, it would look awful if you leave the edges "natural" But on this handbag it looks REALLY good. It gives the bag a very unique look. The reason it suits the bag is probably because of the outside color. 

 

You should be proud of that bag

Edited November 4, 2017 by Danne

[Danne]

1 hour ago, Richardrn80 said:

One more question. How did you do the handles? I attempted to do some handles like that, but they failed miserably!! What’s your secret to the handles? What type of leather, thickness did you use?

 

I haven't done any bags, but maybe this helps you? 

 

[HiddenStar]

Thanks for the kind compliments everyone  It was the most effort I ever put into a project (took me 3 months on and off :S). Hopefully the replies below are helpful (:

 

On 03/11/2017 at 10:45 PM, ByNelson said:

What a lovely project... good job!  

what were your thoughts on the edges? 

The edges were burnished with gum and finished with a slightly glossy top coat. I did this primarily because I still needed work on my edge painting skills. I liked how it turned out but I do agree that it can be subjective when it comes to unpainted edges. Below is a picture comparing the raw vs burnished edge.

15 hours ago, motocouture said:

Nice work! I assume you drafted the pattern yourself?

4 hours ago, Richardrn80 said:

Absolutely beautiful!!! Very well done. I showed my wife and she asked if you had a pattern for this beautiful piece of art. I like how you left the edges unpainted. It gives a contrast to it that makes it still very simple. Well done!!

Yes, I drafted the pattern myself with reference to pictures of a Prada handbag. Unfortunately, I do not have the soft copy version of the pattern :/

14 hours ago, Stetson912 said:

I'd like to know how you did the lining

I used goat leather for the lining. The whole lining piece was assembled before I glued it onto the outer layer. Below is a work-in-progress picture for reference.

4 hours ago, Richardrn80 said:

One more question. How did you do the handles? I attempted to do some handles like that, but they failed miserably!! What’s your secret to the handles? What type of leather, thickness did you use?

This was one of the hardest part of the project. I wish I had seen the video shared by Danne! (unfortunately that is a very recent video)

I did some try an error for the handles. Various online tutorials were suggesting a cotton rope core. However, I found it to be too sloppy and soft, probably because my leather was quite supple (cow hide, chrome tanned, about 1.5mm thick). I think the polyester rope as shown in the video will work as long as your leather isn't too soft. In the end, I decided to use rolled up goat leather for the handle core and it worked really great! Alot more effort but it made a very solid handle indeed! (making this bag really 100% leather  discounting the thread, zips and metal hardware). Below are some pictures for reference.