first bag embroidery

[Hoyden]

This is the FIRST bag I've attempted in leather and I'm not sure if I like making bags yet. I made one other in canvas prior to this one.

Autumn's Chamber Choir teacher came over from Wales to do a teaching exchange and will be returning soon.

The kids wanted to give her a gift to remember them by, so I told Autumn that I would make her a nice tote to carry her music in.

It is 10 x 14 x 4. I used red leather for the top and bottom, moles skin for the center and jacquard for the lining with a heavier black leather scrap piece for the bottom stabilizer.

Front:

Daffodil, the flower of Wales, her initials on the pocket with scroll work, and the Welsh Dragon

Back

I digitized this entire design myself. The phrase is one that Miss King-Thomas had up in the classroom and put into the address books she gave to each student.

The music score is measure 30 of Les Miserables, which the Chamber Choir sang this year. The mascot fit perfectly into the area where the notes ascend the scale.

Inside:

I got an embroidery machine in February and the digitizing software in late March, so I've only been working with it about 4 months.

I used both my Viking work horse AND my Artisan 618 to sew this bag. Once I to sewing the top stitch around the top portion, the viking decided it didn't like 4 layers of garmet weight leather and 4 layers of moleskin with stiff interfacing, so I swung around and used the Artisan instead.

[Johanna]

The most treasured gifts I have ever received are the ones that were not bought in a store, but made by hand. That bag is beautiful, and the customization adds to its charm. When the teacher uses her bag, she will always feel a smile in her heart, because her bag radiates the spirit in which it was given.

I would love to learn more about your embroidery experiences, too. It looks like a whole new world of possiblities can be done now with some software and an eye for design. I remember the guys in Daytona who had lines for just sewing patches on leather jackets, so I wonder what kind of market there would be for embroidered wings? Or a company logo on Christmas gifts? The combination of fabric and leather, like you did on the bag, looks contemporary and stylish.

Thanks for sharing!

Johanna

[ETW Grumpy]

That is a beautiful bag. Really nice work. The embroidery just adds that more of a professional touch.

[candyleather]

Hoyden, are you the the de hide designer manager from Buitton or Loewe? Can you explain a bit about how-to make that flowers and letters on the music notes?

[Hoyden]

Hoyden, are you the the de hide designer manager from Buitton or Loewe? Can you explain a bit about how-to make that flowers and letters on the music notes?

I have NO idea who Buitton or Loewe are. Honestly.

I got an embroidery machine so I could embroider on webbing for my dog collars, and I got a piece of software called Embird so that I could create my own designs.

The daffodils and the Welsh dragon are embroidery designs that I bought. The music notes and the hawk mascot, I just created. Like photoshop, you can design your graphic in embird, except that you assign a stitch pattern to each graphic you create. The letter are made with a plug-in to Embird called Font engine. Any true type font you have in your computer can be digitized or created into an embroidery pattern.

I took classic painting classes when I lived in Italy. (My dad STILL complains that he spent $10,000 on painting and art lessons over four years time and I don't do it for a living.) I learned how to visually put images, colors and textures together, everything else from my landscaping, to graphic art for magazine and newspaper ads that I do at work, to sewing, leather crafting and an odd bit of painting all have evolved from those lessons.

Although seeing the Buckskinner work has some ideas banging around in my head that I am going to have a go at digitizing and embroidering onto garmet weight leather and adhering that to leather straps to make a dog collar.

Here is what I do on webbing dog collars,

[Billsotx]

Hoyden,

Where's a good source for webbing for leashes and collars?

And thanks for sharing your KEWL stuff. Do you have people collars in the adult section? ... lol! ... just kiddin' ... K-9s only ... my Border wears leather and chains ...

[Hoyden]

Hoyden,

Where's a good source for webbing for leashes and collars?

And thanks for sharing your KEWL stuff. Do you have people collars in the adult section? ... lol! ... just kiddin' ... K-9s only ... my Border wears leather and chains ...

I do get requests for people collars, but I send them to my friends Larry and Leeny at Lusty Leather. If someone wants one of my designs on a collar, I just send the artwork or pattern over to them and they take care of it. I'm too busy with dogs.

I buy most of my webbing from www.strapworks.com. For colors that I use ALOT of, like black, red and blue, I buy it in the big rolls from Weaver Leather.

Don't worry, my pit bull wears Miki Moto pearls, faux fur and a leopard print dog jacket. :biggrin:

[Billsotx]

Thanks for the reply Hoyden. That's a boss pup you got there!