Purse finally delivered in time for Christmas!

[YinTx]

Might never make another like this, but it came out ok I think.  About 100 hours labor in this one, Rose Chevre Chagrin on black Wickett and Craig 3-4 oz Bridle leather (from NStarLeather), with 25 linear feet of hand stitching using Pink Fil Au Chinois Lin Cable thread.  My hands are tired!

YinTx

[AdamPCain]

Very nice

[AdamPCain]

That must have been a pain in the rear to sew the sides on.

[gigi]

Very nice work! What is the size/weight of the bag?

[Pauls Leather]

very nice work.  what did you use for your edging? 

[KingsCountyLeather]

Beautiful work!

was it for a client or someone you know?

difficult to make a profit with that many hours.

[Fire88]

Beautiful bag!

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Super classy!

[YinTx]

4 hours ago, AdamPCain said:

That must have been a pain in the rear to sew the sides on.

The only easy stitches on the whole bag were the pockets. and the straps.  Everything else was a stitch by stitch challenge.  Managed to only poke myself once in ~2750 stitches.  When you do the side panels, your left hand sweats a lot since it is in the bag the whole time, amazing how well leather insulates.  Makes pulling needles through in a confined space a bit difficult.

4 hours ago, gigi said:

Very nice work! What is the size/weight of the bag?

I used 3-4 oz Wickett and Craig Bridle leather.  Doubled on the pockets so all sides are nice, and the main body was lined with a split to make it about 6 oz.  It is about 10"x10"x4", not too heavy although I didn't weigh it.

 

4 hours ago, Pauls Leather said:

very nice work.  what did you use for your edging? 

I used Tandy's Eco Flo Professional Edge Dressing (Black) made by Fenice.

 

4 hours ago, KingsCountyLeather said:

Beautiful work!

was it for a client or someone you know?

difficult to make a profit with that many hours.

You are on point.  It is for a client and someone I know.  Long story short, my late best friend's widow married again a few years back.  The current husband wanted something for her.  She is a good friend of mine also.  (if all that made sense...) I think I managed to cover materials on this one and make about $1/hr.  He promised to video her when she opens it on Christmas - payment in full.

3 hours ago, Fire88 said:

Beautiful bag!

Thank you, and thank you all for the nice comments.  A lot of work went into this one, and I still see the requisite bad stitch and other not so perfect errors, so it's good to know that everyone still sees the beauty in it!

YinTx

2 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Super classy!

Thank you!

YinTx

[Rossr]

Wow stunning work.  

 

You have an unreal amount of patience!

 

Ross

[battlemunky]

That is a thing of beauty @YinTx, it sucks that that much sewing is as crippling as it is. I sewed about 5, maybe 6 linear feet and my hands were knurled up like a crone. I didn't want to sew anything ever again, I could only imagine all that. It looks absolutely awesome though.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

2 hours ago, YinTx said:

You are on point.  It is for a client and someone I know.  Long story short, my late best friend's widow married again a few years back.  The current husband wanted something for her.  She is a good friend of mine also.  (if all that made sense...) I think I managed to cover materials on this one and make about $1/hr.  He promised to video her when she opens it on Christmas - payment in full.

Well sir, you are a glutton for punishment, but what a nice thing to do for a good friend.  I keep coming back to look at the pictures, it almost makes me want to make a bag.  Almost!

[Fire88]

3 hours ago, YinTx said:

The only easy stitches on the whole bag were the pockets. and the straps.  Everything else was a stitch by stitch challenge.  Managed to only poke myself once in ~2750 stitches.  When you do the side panels, your left hand sweats a lot since it is in the bag the whole time, amazing how well leather insulates.  Makes pulling needles through in a confined space a bit difficult.

 

You are on point.  It is for a client and someone I know.  Long story short, my late best friend's widow married again a few years back.  The current husband wanted something for her.  She is a good friend of mine also.  (if all that made sense...) I think I managed to cover materials on this one and make about $1/hr.  He promised to video her when she opens it on Christmas - payment in full.

Thank you, and thank you all for the nice comments.  A lot of work went into this one, and I still see the requisite bad stitch and other not so perfect errors, so it's good to know that everyone still sees the beauty in it!

YinTx

Thank you

That is a ton of stitches!!!! I intentionally didn’t keep track of the stitches in my wife’s purse. 

If there isn’t the requisite bad stitch or an error here or there then it’s not hand crafted. The maker will always see the mistakes and nobody else will notice them.

[Bogwot]

Nice bag, great colour combination as always

[robs456]

16 hours ago, YinTx said:

Might never make another like this, but it came out ok I think.

You should, this is good work.
Like the edges.

 

[YinTx]

16 hours ago, Rossr said:

Wow stunning work.  

 

You have an unreal amount of patience!

 

Ross

Thanks, Ross.  Either much patience, or a lack of speed.

13 hours ago, Fire88 said:

That is a ton of stitches!!!! I intentionally didn’t keep track of the stitches in my wife’s purse.

I didn't measure and count until I was done.  Or I might not have made it half way through!

12 hours ago, Bogwot said:

Nice bag, great colour combination as always

Thank you!  She likes pink... she likes black... I decided they would go good together and gave it a try.  Thankfully, I think they did go good together!

6 hours ago, robs456 said:

You should, this is good work.
Like the edges.

 

Thanks, but I think there are few individuals I would put this much effort in for, and the rest would likely not want to pay my asking price to make it worth my while.  But, I could be wrong...on both counts.  Also, I am considering altering the design to eliminate the lining and make the side stitching easier, this would likely greatly reduce the number of hours I would have to put in.  We'll see, so many projects, so little time!  I wasn't entirely happy with the edging, so hard to make an even line with textured leather like the Chevre Chagrin, thankfully it is passable!

14 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Well sir, you are a glutton for punishment, but what a nice thing to do for a good friend.  I keep coming back to look at the pictures, it almost makes me want to make a bag.  Almost!

Big Sioux, thank you.  I hope she likes it.  and... How about a few more photos to tempt you then...

[robs456]

1 hour ago, YinTx said:

 I wasn't entirely happy with the edging, so hard to make an even line with textured leather like the Chevre Chagrin, thankfully it is passable!

Yeah, it's tough. I use pebbled leather as lining for my bracelets and on the white ones ....

Kors, Balenciaga and even Gucci are some of the houses that do worse edges than you.  That's how I measure myself...the number of luxury houses that I'm better than... (which is annoying as I'm nowhere near them in prices)

Edited December 20, 2017 by robs456

[Jetdoctorbox]

Beautiful work!  I get tired just looking at all of the stitching you had to do. Well done!

[DrmCa]

This is an absolutely stunning piece of work!

[YinTx]

On 12/21/2017 at 2:28 AM, Jetdoctorbox said:

Beautiful work!  I get tired just looking at all of the stitching you had to do. Well done!

Thank you.  The final recipient has her gift... loves it... it's all over Facebook now... they love it....  maybe if someone else asks for a similar one, I'll be able to ask a decent price this time around!

On 12/21/2017 at 0:18 PM, DrmCa said:

This is an absolutely stunning piece of work!

Wow, I was feeling a bit bummed about some aspects of it, but I see I should not be!  Thank you kindly for the compliment.

YinTx

[MillieB]

That is so beautiful, and your stitching is amazing!

[tzleather]

One gorgeous solid bag. I can't image how many hours of labor went into it. Wonderful work!!!

[alpha2]

WOW. Just WOW. Lucky lady to have a craftsman like yourself do a purse for her. 

[YinTx]

On 12/27/2017 at 8:50 AM, MillieB said:

That is so beautiful, and your stitching is amazing!

Millie, thank you for that.  Good thing the pink thread matched the pink leather, because the backsides started to show I was getting exhausted!

4 hours ago, tzleather said:

One gorgeous solid bag. I can't image how many hours of labor went into it. Wonderful work!!!

Thank you, tzleather.  It was a bit over 100 hours of labor as best as I could tell...I'm not the fastest maker out there!

4 hours ago, alpha2 said:

WOW. Just WOW. Lucky lady to have a craftsman like yourself do a purse for her. 

Thanks, alpha2.  She is a good friend, so I was happy to do the work for her and her husband, plus she was really really happy with it, which makes me glad.  Other unexpected consequences:  She likes it so much she's been showing it to everyone that will give her 30 seconds, whether they know her or not!  And it got some serious mileage on her facebook page, lots of folks liked it, even though she only posted a far away photo of it on the kitchen counter!

YinTx

[Dun]

Was looking back at this and wow. Can I ask how many sq feet you used in the different leathers for this?