Patterning the old way when the CAD is just too hard

[RockyAussie]

This shows a few of the steps I took along the way as I made this bag. There are 4 bags to be made out of Australian saltwater crocodile skin and to be ready over the next week coming. The background to this is that these four Chinese customers I have done works for previously want to revist Australia and get me to make them each a bag to take back home with them. As this has been done in such a rush some of the bag hardware I wanted to get from Ohio Travel and flashy zips did not get used. 

AS hard as I tried I could not get my pattern measurements to work satisfactorily as shown below so I decided o resort to some old steps from my shoe making days.The first couple of pictures show the first bag as complete.

This following picture shows my first disastrous patterning effort using cad software.  

Here following I resorted to making up the shape I wanted by gluing and sanding up some craft-wood and then like the old shoe lasts I used masking tape to do multiple overlapping layers around the shape.

With the patterns broken down into 15 degree increments I transferred these spacings onto my mould and the masking paper.These marks are for aligning the pieces as they come together.

 

Next the masking tape I removed and l flattened onto my cutting table.

This was then attached to an A3 sheet of printing board.

I then took a picture directly overhead and placed it into my cad program to trace around and bring to match the correct size. It could be done without this step but I like to have all of my patterns stored together.

This next pic shows that the bag now sits flat and I am on the right track.

I will post some more pictures later. Brian

[garypl]

Brian, that finished bag looks great and I am in awe of your talents, both in pattern making and crafting ability!  Looking forward to seeing more about this project and thanks for posting!

Gary

[Sheilajeanne]

So, what did you make the mock-up bag out of? Looks like leather? (But obviously a cheap sort.)

[Dun]

Beautifully done and explained. Makes me want to try your steps,  I should just get some zipper practice in first.

[alpha2]

Zipper practice. You and me both.

Jeff

 

[RockyAussie]

22 hours ago, garypl said:

Brian, that finished bag looks great and I am in awe of your talents, both in pattern making and crafting ability!  Looking forward to seeing more about this project and thanks for posting!

Gary

Thanks for confidence vote Gary but to be honest I'd be a lot happier if I could get the pattern right the FIRST time. Camera's playing up a lot but I will keep posting as best I can.

20 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

So, what did you make the mock-up bag out of? Looks like leather? (But obviously a cheap sort.)

The first mock up is a thick a quite firm chrome tan that is not all that cheap but I use a lot of it on a wide range of products like belt backing and alarm pouches etc. The second mock up pattern tester is an oil tan veg or retan I get here called "Jungle" from a southern supplier or "Whisky Chopper" if from East Coast Leather near Brisbane. I picked these leathers due to them being around 2mm+ thick (5+oz) as the croc is very thick to start and getting it sanded down to below this thickness can lead to holes.

 

11 hours ago, Dun said:

Beautifully done and explained. Makes me want to try your steps,  I should just get some zipper practice in first.

I will load a few tips on the zip in a bit more detail later but I will put a little bit on it here tonight as well for you and @alpha2

To more fully check the patterns and my leather linings and their layout I decided I best make a more complete bag. Some of the croc skins are smaller than others and require some more segments than the larger skins so I also broke up the leather bag into the smaller segments patterns as well. 

This picture shows the front shaped pocket made up along with the piece for the strap that attaches later. At this stage they have the lining attached as shown in the following picture and have a 1mm foam between them. They have also been edge coated and stitched as well.

Lining side below

This one shows the 2 parts that make up the back. The lining piece shows the zipper pocket and the outer back leather shows the 1mm foam attached. I will show some more on the technique for this little zipper installation when I do the next croc bag.

This is the other side view of the above picture which shows the second pocket on the lining as well.

Next I have spray glued the edges to combine these 2 parts.

This shows the parts now conecte4d and ready to have the lining edges trimmed down and the line up V cuts put in.

This pic shows the top section of the second pocket that will have to be made up in 2 pieces on the bags made using the smaller croc skins. A stitch is done around 6mm or 1/4" in from the edge as shown.

This is then glued and tapped down and recut to size. The inner curve part will be edge coated at this stage.

Here is that piece connected to its lower lining piece as well as the opposite side of that section that has a phone and pen pocket attached. This section gets ful;ly attached together and trimmed to size again with the V cuts put in as well.

This is the gusset bottom section with its liner spray glued and ready to be attached. Note that the outer part has been made from 2 pieces as well.

More to come

 

[KingsCountyLeather]

That’s a beautiful looking bag.

Your explanation of the process is soo helpful to those of us who are new to leatherworking.

Thanks.

[RockyAussie]

Now the dreaded Zipper ...... After cutting the leather to shape and giving the inner edge an edge coat I use a template to mark a line in 7mm from that same edge. Note that the zip and the leather has had line up marks to get the positioning as accurate as possible. This is contact glued up on the zip and leather.

This shows the zip now attached into place

Next the leather lining of the same size is attached into place. It has the inner edge edge coated as well.

This piece has the zip sewn into place now and to cover the ends I decided to make up some little cover pieces. This will add strength to a part that will have to endure a lot of pressure later.

This tab is now glued back over the zip and leather edge and readied up to attach to the bottom gusset section.

Here shown are the back and its D and strap attachments as well as the front and middle pockets combined and ready to have the gusset attached to them both.

Here the gusset has been connected and ready to have a double lot of stitching on each side

More to come soon.

 

 

[RockyAussie]

4 minutes ago, KingsCountyLeather said:

That’s a beautiful looking bag.

Your explanation of the process is soo helpful to those of us who are new to leatherworking.

Thanks.

Thanks but honestly I have a terrible memory so I just book mark my post and when I have to make another I come back and see how I did it.

[RockyAussie]

Just to finish off this pattern tester this pic shows the front and middle pockets attached to the gusset.

Here I did a test with my phone and a pen for fitting. Note that the binder over the edge is a must as the zip will snag a bit if the binder is not attached

These next pics show the bag all stitched and the test is a good pass this time.

The croc making ones are next to come.

.

[KingsCountyLeather]

Looks fabulous!

What do you do with the tester bag when all is finished? Send to Ireland?? 

[RockyAussie]

1 minute ago, KingsCountyLeather said:

Looks fabulous!

What do you do with the tester bag when all is finished? Send to Ireland?? 

Sorry my friend but they often get hacked up so I can remember what thickness of skive and splitting I did cause I just am not be smart enough to write them down as I go.Probably because I'd never remember where I wrote it I even where that book would be. If you want a croc one I'll do it for you for about $2600 au. That's about $2000 US I guess.

[KingsCountyLeather]

6 minutes ago, RockyAussie said:

Sorry my friend but they often get hacked up so I can remember what thickness of skive and splitting I did cause I just am not be smart enough to write them down as I go.Probably because I'd never remember where I wrote it I even where that book would be. If you want a croc one I'll do it for you for about $2600 au. That's about $2000 US I guess.

I can imagine why wife now... YOU SPENT HOW MUCH ON A LEATHER BAG? 

funny, when I read that back and reverse the situation when she buys a bag... You spent how much on a bag? 

[immiketoo]

Fantastic work!

 

[plinkercases]

Brian we are lucky to be the beneficiaries of your poor memory and need to document your process for yourself in the collective memory forum.

This is fascinating to see... thanks as always for sharing your craft.

Murray

[billybopp]

4 hours ago, KingsCountyLeather said:

Looks fabulous!

What do you do with the tester bag when all is finished? Send to Ireland?? 

You beat me to it @KingsCountyLeather.  LOL!  

@RockyAussie Thank you!   I always pay attention when you do one of these posts since there they're always well done and always something to learn from!!  Heck, if I had the money I'd buy a croc bag just to encourage you to keep posting, but alas I'm poor.

- Bill

[RockyAussie]

Thank you all for the kind words and @billybopp 

7 hours ago, billybopp said:

Heck, if I had the money I'd buy a croc bag just to encourage you to keep posting, but alas I'm poor.

I don't think selling leather work to leather workers is ever going to pay off but the thanks is always worth more to me.

[YinTx]

3 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Thank you all for the kind words and @billybopp 

I don't think selling leather work to leather workers is ever going to pay off but the thanks is always worth more to me.

I've been tempted more than once to purchase a leather item made by those way more skilled than I in the hopes of learning more.  But yea, I don't see them making a living selling to me.  Especially since I haven't done it yet! 

YinTx

[dikman]

I think I'll stick to holsters (I can barely do them!). That croc looks amazing on the finished product, Brian.

[ABHandmade]

Sir, this is a terrific work and excellent explanations!

[RedDun]

Thanks for sharing! Looks amazing!! 

Someday it might not take me hours to wrap my head around putting a simple bag together... Someday.   :-) 

[Dun]

That really was so helpful to see. It'll be helpfull again in a couple days when I forget it all and need to reread it. Thanks for posting all of this!

[gigi]

Thank you very much Brian for posting the tutorial and for the value you add to this forum!!

[SonderingSusan]

wow just wow @RockyAussie, thank you for sharing your knowledge and skill so generously.

 

[Rockoboy]

Awesome display of your awesome talent. I can only hope to be half as good.