Crocodile / calf leather duffel

[motocouture]

Couple of photos of the interior. To finish the internal edges, after stitching, I cut a mm or two off with my trusty Knip knife (they are sooooooo sharp, and I will shamelessly collect as many of them as I can). I then crease both sides of the cut seam edge with my Regad fileteuse, to round and smooth the edge fibers, and apply a single coat of uniters edge paint. Once dry, I smoothed the edge paint using the flat side of my heated creaser, which gave an acceptable finish I felt for the interior of the bag, without being too ‘heavy’. 

[motocouture]

I also post photos of my work on my Instagram account, mo2couture, if anyone’s interested in more pics

[toxo]

Excellent work. Something to aspire to.

[motocouture]

1 hour ago, toxo said:

Excellent work. Something to aspire to.

Thank you, much appreciated!

[Sangrati]

On 1/14/2020 at 1:58 AM, motocouture said:

Thank you, and not a problem at all! Will send you a sketch diagram via message

That's a nice bag. Can I have the sketch too pls?

[motocouture]

On 1/22/2020 at 9:22 PM, Sangrati said:

That's a nice bag. Can I have the sketch too pls?

Thanks! Not a problem at all, I will send you a message with the sketch. 

Edited January 24, 2020 by motocouture

[Tugadude]

On 1/12/2020 at 9:33 AM, motocouture said:

Hi all, recently finished an overnight / gym duffel for myself (Happy Christmas!). I drafted the design from scratch, and it is completely handstitched. Materials used were a light khaki crocodile, with olive HAAS tumbled calf leather (roughly 2.5 to 3oz weight from memory, thanks @nstarleather!). Thread is linen 532 Fil au Chinois in grey, and the edge paint is a custom color I mixed using Uniters (with a gloss top coat). Webbing for the strap is 38mm wide cotton webbing sourced from Amazon. Hardware is plated solid brass from @Buckleguy Supplier; great quality as always. 
 

As always, took longer to make than I thought it would 

BTW, I was meaning to ask what your process is for handstitching.  Do you use chisels to make the holes or do you use a pricking iron and awl?  If you use chisels, what type if I may ask?  it looks quite nice!

[motocouture]

10 hours ago, Tugadude said:

BTW, I was meaning to ask what your process is for handstitching.  Do you use chisels to make the holes or do you use a pricking iron and awl?  If you use chisels, what type if I may ask?  it looks quite nice!

Sure! I use KS Blade pricking irons, from memory, the 3.00mm (8.5 stitches per inch). I have a 10 tooth, 4 tooth and 2 tooth in the set. I very rarely use an awl, just use the pricking irons to make holes all the way through. I used a ‘normal’ saddle stitch, no casting, with a grey linen fil au chinois 532 thread. I love these pricking irons, use them for everything.

I am looking at getting a set with teeth at approximately 4 or 5mm spacing, for doing the seams where the piping is, as these are flipped and not visible on the outside. I want to do some samples though, I don’t like the leather ‘gapping’ between stitches when the seam is flipped. 

[Tugadude]

59 minutes ago, motocouture said:

Sure! I use KS Blade pricking irons, from memory, the 3.00mm (8.5 stitches per inch). I have a 10 tooth, 4 tooth and 2 tooth in the set. I very rarely use an awl, just use the pricking irons to make holes all the way through. I used a ‘normal’ saddle stitch, no casting, with a grey linen fil au chinois 532 thread. I love these pricking irons, use them for everything.

I am looking at getting a set with teeth at approximately 4 or 5mm spacing, for doing the seams where the piping is, as these are flipped and not visible on the outside. I want to do some samples though, I don’t like the leather ‘gapping’ between stitches when the seam is flipped. 

Well that bag is a great advertisement for those irons then.  I also sometimes use wider spacing on the inside of turned bags to save time.  I think 4mm might be the limit though.  Maybe 5mm would work, but it might not give good results on thin leathers.

I'll have to try that thread sometime.  I've mainly used polyester.

thanks for the info!

[motocouture]

21 hours ago, Tugadude said:

Well that bag is a great advertisement for those irons then.  I also sometimes use wider spacing on the inside of turned bags to save time.  I think 4mm might be the limit though.  Maybe 5mm would work, but it might not give good results on thin leathers.

I'll have to try that thread sometime.  I've mainly used polyester.

thanks for the info!

No worries at all, glad to hear someone else does wider spaced stitching on turned seams. Good point for the thinner leathers, probably works best when you have 3-4 layers of firmer leather. 

I’m a huge fan of Meisi thread, both linen and polyester versions. Just didn’t have it in the right color (of course) on hand for this project, and didn’t want to wait lol.