Red Handbag for a friend's wife

[scrapyarddog]

The body is based on a Moynat pattern but shrunken to 87.75%. Changed handle to mostly turned edge and the closure from lock to strap. If I could redo it, I'd change the handle so no edges are exposed.

The little knob at the tip of the strap close is a brass double cap rivet wrapped in leather. The belt keeper loop was a bit roomier than I anticipated so had to add some balk at the end of the strap to improve closure. I didn't want to break the color scheme so I wrapped the rivet.

Friend asked for a rush order, and I had to use what I had in inventory to produce it, and just didn't have time to develop a brand new pattern.

[YinTx]

Nicely executed!  Is that Chevre Chagrin?  Definitely a dose of red there!

YinTx

[LatigoAmigo]

@scrapyarddog Lovely color and a great design. Very nice work. Can you share what the inside looks like?

[Hardrada]

[toxo]

Stunning look. Well done.

Unless you got the exact matching thread, did you colour after stitching? And how did you get that button effect?

[Retswerb]

That is the very definition of clean, professional work. Beautiful!

[Mulesaw]

Beautiful work.

I really like the round detail of the closing hasp. it looks great combined with the leather covered rivet you added.

[battlemunky]

As I was reading what you wrote I was expecting to see the "issues" you were mentioning. If you wouldn't have said anything I would find this completely flawless. You executed wonderfully!

Are the handle hold downs 2 piece or one? If they are one piece, How'd you make that happen? 

[scrapyarddog]

15 hours ago, YinTx said:

Nicely executed!  Is that Chevre Chagrin?  Definitely a dose of red there!

YinTx

I wonder if my friend is going to put money in it and give it to his wife as a big red envelope.

Close guess. It's a red Alran's Sully. I forgot to ask RML to split this hide for the wallets I make so it's been on the shelf for a few months. Wasn't sure when I'd use it, but as fate would have it.

Edited February 13, 2021 by scrapyarddog

[scrapyarddog]

12 hours ago, LatigoAmigo said:

@scrapyarddog Lovely color and a great design. Very nice work. Can you share what the inside looks like?

Hey thanks, the flap uses navy goat suede, the lining of the body is burgundy nappa + burgundy kidskin trim, the lining of the pocket is pink goat.

[scrapyarddog]

12 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Thank you~

[scrapyarddog]

5 hours ago, toxo said:

Stunning look. Well done.

Unless you got the exact matching thread, did you colour after stitching? And how did you get that button effect?

I didn't expect it to turn out this good to be honest. It just worked.

I think the thread is Fil au Chinois 632 Rouge #128.

For the button, I cut a round piece of 3 oz tooling leather with a round punch, glued it to the rapid rivet, then skived a piece of goat hide to 1 oz at the center and 0.5 oz at the outside, placed the rivet at the center and wrapped the outside back onto the side and underside of the rivet. You really don't need to add the 3 oz tooling leather, but I needed the bulk.

See photo for a similar button.

5 hours ago, Retswerb said:

That is the very definition of clean, professional work. Beautiful!

Thank you! Well, I hope his wife likes it (and orders more... I know what she can spend on bags). 

[scrapyarddog]

5 hours ago, Retswerb said:

That is the very definition of clean, professional work. Beautiful!

Thanks, I thought it turned out better than expected.

5 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

Beautiful work.

I really like the round detail of the closing hasp. it looks great combined with the leather covered rivet you added.

Originally, I was going to use a brass oval shaped turn lock, but the particular lock has about 4 mm between the top and back plate and I didn't feel like adding that much weight to the flap. Then, I remembered Philip Jury's watch case that had a raised oval design, but it was easier for me to cut a circle with my tools. It's basically a double turned edge since I added a thinner piece at the bottom to cover the turned edges.

 

4 hours ago, battlemunky said:

As I was reading what you wrote I was expecting to see the "issues" you were mentioning. If you wouldn't have said anything I would find this completely flawless. You executed wonderfully!

Are the handle hold downs 2 piece or one? If they are one piece, How'd you make that happen? 

That's a great question. Thee hold downs are 2 pieces. Check the photo attached. If you burnish the edges or use edge paint instead of turning them, it's definitely possible to make that in 1 piece. But in order to turn this, after you turn parts to the loop and part to the main body of the hold down, you would have the awkward opening at the corner. I could cover it up with some paint but the idea was to expose no edges. 

Now, if I used a curve instead of a right angle, I would be able to turn it with a less extreme stretch rate, but when the tab flips upward, the turned edge will be expose. To avoid that, I'd probably use 2 pieces of skived leather, one to cover the larger part, and one to cover the loop in an upside down manner. There would be a faint joint line or overlapping but it probably wouldn't be very noticeable. Problem was... the friend wanted it FAST. I usually require a 3 month advance notice, and my friend, who supposedly has a MA in engineering, gave me 2 weeks. With other products to make at the same time, he frigging broke me.

 

[toxo]

3 hours ago, scrapyarddog said:

I didn't expect it to turn out this good to be honest. It just worked.

I think the thread is Fil au Chinois 632 Rouge #128.

For the button, I cut a round piece of 3 oz tooling leather with a round punch, glued it to the rapid rivet, then skived a piece of goat hide to 1 oz at the center and 0.5 oz at the outside, placed the rivet at the center and wrapped the outside back onto the side and underside of the rivet. You really don't need to add the 3 oz tooling leather, but I needed the bulk.

See photo for a similar button.

Thank you! Well, I hope his wife likes it (and orders more... I know what she can spend on bags). 

I meant the bigger button thing above. 

[scrapyarddog]

18 minutes ago, toxo said:

I meant the bigger button thing above. 

Real simple, cut out a 4 cm diameter circle with 7-8 oz tooling leather, place it on top of the base strap, skive a goat hide to 2 oz, glue, cover, mold. You could use a heated iron to improve definition. The turned edges are skived to 1 oz or less but I wouldn’t recommend that for the raised part bc it could rip. 

I didn’t case the goat.

 

[Bogwot]

Very nice bag and beautiful work

[JayEhl]

Man,  I admire anyone who can put together these kinds of utilitarian works of art.  The mastery of the craftsmanship for something that looks simple at first glance really belies this artful beauty.  What I would give to be a hangaround to just learn this kind of work.  Maybe when I retire.........

[MsEdna]

wow, looks fantastic! May I ask what thickness you use when using the Alran as lining for wallets? I struggle to find the right size, especially for the trapezoid shaped parts for accordion constructed wallets. For card slots, and generally inner construction, I use 0.8 mm without lining. But for lined parts I just don't know what to do as the place I usually buy leather can't split down less than 0.6 mm. Any input would be great!

[scrapyarddog]

On 2/27/2021 at 8:41 AM, MsEdna said:

wow, looks fantastic! May I ask what thickness you use when using the Alran as lining for wallets? I struggle to find the right size, especially for the trapezoid shaped parts for accordion constructed wallets. For card slots, and generally inner construction, I use 0.8 mm without lining. But for lined parts I just don't know what to do as the place I usually buy leather can't split down less than 0.6 mm. Any input would be great!

For wallets, I prefer 0.6 mm to 0.8 mm. For t-slots, I fold the leather over to line it or fold the top and line it with nylon where it's not visible to reduce bulk. If it's an all leather construction, I would skive all edges of the t-slot before I fold, and when I make double turn edge wallets, the "wings" of the t-slots are further skived to 0.2 mm by hand. When I make wallets, I like to overlap the t-slots for about 9 mm then turn them to prevent accidentally exposing the edges so they have to be skived really really thin. Ripping a little is fine since most areas that might rip will be hidden from view.

0.6 mm is perfectly fine and from my experience, Alran at 0.4 mm is just way too thin and would require some backing with fabric.

[MsEdna]

14 hours ago, scrapyarddog said:

For wallets, I prefer 0.6 mm to 0.8 mm. For t-slots, I fold the leather over to line it or fold the top and line it with nylon where it's not visible to reduce bulk. If it's an all leather construction, I would skive all edges of the t-slot before I fold, and when I make double turn edge wallets, the "wings" of the t-slots are further skived to 0.2 mm by hand. When I make wallets, I like to overlap the t-slots for about 9 mm then turn them to prevent accidentally exposing the edges so they have to be skived really really thin. Ripping a little is fine since most areas that might rip will be hidden from view.

0.6 mm is perfectly fine and from my experience, Alran at 0.4 mm is just way too thin and would require some backing with fabric.

Thank you for this detailed reply!

[WyattEarp]

it is definitely a very nice job, neat and clean. Bravo. 
Jesse

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by WyattEarp

[weasleyroy]

What a great piece of art I must say. Totally loved it. I also gifted my wife a luxury leather handbag named Eden Carryall. It is crafted from premium Ethiopian full-grain leather. I ordered it from Parker Clay and surprise my wife on her birthday but after seeing this design I am regretting my decision :D

[Dwight]

3 hours ago, weasleyroy said:

What a great piece of art I must say. Totally loved it. I also gifted my wife a luxury leather handbag named Eden Carryall. It is crafted from premium Ethiopian full-grain leather. I ordered it from Parker Clay and surprise my wife on her birthday but after seeing this design I am regretting my decision :D

Mmmm . . . I really like the looks of this one . . . nothing against the original post . . . just not my style . . . but quite well executed for sure.

May God bless,

Dwight