Interfacing Leather?

[toxo]

2 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

The bags in the photos I posted were empty and with anything in the bags the "open holes" at the sides are very much reduced.

Thank you, but I'm not quite following your suggestion about using veg tan.  I'd still need to reinforce it somehow I think, which brings me back to the bulk issue.  Also I wanted the front and sides to match in color and finish.  This leather was about 4 oz... were you suggesting a thicker veg tan?  Are you suggesting veg tan just because for any given weight it's stiffer than chrome tan?  Hmmm.... if I understand right, you're suggesting that the veg tan wouldn't need any reinforcement?  So I could actually make the front and back and gusset from the same veg tan, without applying any foam or other to stiffen it.  But then I'd have to improve my meager skills with dyeing and finishing the veg tan.

The clasp holds the flap down and does lock in the closed position.

Veg tan has lots of advantages over chrome tan. The thickness will depend on the size of the bag but even lightweight VT is a joy to work with compared to CT for many (not all) bag designs. The problem you had in your first post goes away with VT. firstly it doesn't need to be so thick and VT is much easier to skive than CT even by hand after some practice so you can have a turned top edge that's the same thickness as the rest of the panel and so allows a lining to be trapped and sewed between without being too bulky. The stitching when using a gussetwill stand up really well with even thin VT. This first pic was around 2mm, the second pic started life as a soft gym bag at around 1.2mm CT but I realised that the size of the bag needed more so I lined it with 1.6mm VT and now it's more like a stylish suitcase. You have to try these things

[RockyAussie]

On 1/11/2022 at 1:11 AM, MtlBiker said:

'm wondering if you guys can suggest a better technique for me than what I've been doing to interface leather for making bags/purses.  What I've been doing when using different fabrics is to first apply a fusible woven interfacing and then for the outer pieces that need more stiffness or form, ironing on Decovil Light.  That's been working just fine.  And for materials which I don't want to use heat with, I've been baste stitching a 1/4" foam in the stitch allowance.  And when I put the pieces together, it's always been just fine without being too thick.

But now with 4oz chrome tan leather for the outer bag when I sew on (baste) the foam interfacing I end up with too much bulk in parts of the bag which I can just manage to sew on my machine (just under 1/2" thick).  (The thickest part is where the gusset meets the front of the bag and the lining attaches and also where the bag flap attaches to the back of the bag.)  It works, but I'd really like to end up with less bulk along the edges.

What do you suggest for giving leather a better form / stiffening it?  If I cut my foam smaller so that my seam allowance would only be the thickness of the leather layers, that would be a big improvement, but I can't stitch the foam in place or the stitching would show.  Does it make any sense to glue the foam in place?  I probably wouldn't have to glue the whole piece of foam... just enough to hold it in place for the finished bag.

Suggestions?

You are doing really well considering what you are working with. Do you have a bell skiver yet? The biggest suggestion I think I can offer is your foam is too thick. See if you can track a local supplier that can supply Sekisui Foam. I use a fair bit of their Softlon 3002. This is 3mm thick and can be skived or sanded if you want. There are other thicknesses as well. It is a Polyolefin foam. It gives a good soft feel whilst giving a nice amount of stiffening and good memory as well. Here are a few shots of some of the uses we put it to here -

Here cutting the 3mm foam

Here ready to spray contact glue (on other side)

Foam applied and needs to be trimmed up (it has been skived on the edges)

Bag sewn together

Bag turned right side out and ready for the top edge fold down

some bags with the top edge folded

Here showing the heavy straw board base which has the bottom feet attached to it and note the ends have a lighter strawboard which has the edges shaped to give the effect we want. This does not get fully glued to the edges on the foam.

(different bag to the above pics but same design.

Here showing a couple of finished bags in a patchwork crocodile design.

 

Keep up the good work and have fun as well.

 

[MtlBiker]

17 hours ago, toxo said:

Veg tan has lots of advantages over chrome tan. The thickness will depend on the size of the bag but even lightweight VT is a joy to work with compared to CT for many (not all) bag designs. The problem you had in your first post goes away with VT. firstly it doesn't need to be so thick and VT is much easier to skive than CT even by hand after some practice so you can have a turned top edge that's the same thickness as the rest of the panel and so allows a lining to be trapped and sewed between without being too bulky. The stitching when using a gussetwill stand up really well with even thin VT. This first pic was around 2mm, the second pic started life as a soft gym bag at around 1.2mm CT but I realised that the size of the bag needed more so I lined it with 1.6mm VT and now it's more like a stylish suitcase. You have to try these things

Very nice bags!

When you say "thin" veg tan for the gusset, (looking at my bag) what thickness are you suggesting?  And would you suggest the same veg tan weight for the front and back panels?

I guess my hesitation about using veg tan is the extra work (time) it takes to properly finish the leather.  I'm talking dyeing and some kind of surface finish.  It would put these bags into a much higher price range.  As it is, I'm probably not even making minimum wage on these.  But yes, I'm a beginner and it's just a hobby for me, not my day job.

Thank you!

 

[sbrownn]

18 hours ago, toxo said:

Veg tan has lots of advantages over chrome tan. The thickness will depend on the size of the bag but even lightweight VT is a joy to work with compared to CT for many (not all) bag designs. The problem you had in your first post goes away with VT. firstly it doesn't need to be so thick and VT is much easier to skive than CT even by hand after some practice so you can have a turned top edge that's the same thickness as the rest of the panel and so allows a lining to be trapped and sewed between without being too bulky. The stitching when using a gussetwill stand up really well with even thin VT. This first pic was around 2mm, the second pic started life as a soft gym bag at around 1.2mm CT but I realised that the size of the bag needed more so I lined it with 1.6mm VT and now it's more like a stylish suitcase. You have to try these things

Nice looking bags.

[MtlBiker]

@RockyAussie - Those are beautiful and thank you for sharing the process in photos.

Not only do I not have a bell skiver yet, I don't have any skiver.  So much to learn and so little time (and money).

I wasn't able to find a Canadian (or US) source for Sekisui Foam, and even searching for softlon 3002 didn't turn anything up for North America.  Ordering from elsewhere doesn't make sense for the small amount that I might use.  After all, I'm just a hobbyist with leatherwork.  But it does look like quite the product!  I'll do some more searching... maybe there's something equivalent out there.

Gosh your bags are beautiful!  (But what is strawboard?)

 

 

 

[toxo]

2 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

Very nice bags!

When you say "thin" veg tan for the gusset, (looking at my bag) what thickness are you suggesting?  And would you suggest the same veg tan weight for the front and back panels?

I guess my hesitation about using veg tan is the extra work (time) it takes to properly finish the leather.  I'm talking dyeing and some kind of surface finish.  It would put these bags into a much higher price range.  As it is, I'm probably not even making minimum wage on these.  But yes, I'm a beginner and it's just a hobby for me, not my day job.

Thank you!

 

I'm just a hobbyist also but I'm gonna make an effort this year to get back some of the dosh I've laid out.

You're doing really well so far and you're right to ask the questions and learn from other peoples experience but only practice and trial and error will get you where you need to be. So.

To keep the cost and labour down, you could just try veg tan for the gussets. That will hold up the sides and the flap should stop the sides from coming in. The top of the front panel shouldn't need too much stiffening (maybe none) and so shouldn't be too bulky. I'd mention skiving the top but it's not that easy on soft leather and it's time consuming.

I would try 1.8mm/2mm VT, when stitched it's quite strong but you'll have to try it for yourself. You can ask your leather shop for some samples of different thicknesses but spend a little money on decent sized samples that you can sew else they'll send credit card sizes and if you're gonna dye it you can use the economy grades.

[MtlBiker]

15 minutes ago, toxo said:

I'm just a hobbyist also but I'm gonna make an effort this year to get back some of the dosh I've laid out.

You're doing really well so far and you're right to ask the questions and learn from other peoples experience but only practice and trial and error will get you where you need to be. So.

To keep the cost and labour down, you could just try veg tan for the gussets. That will hold up the sides and the flap should stop the sides from coming in. The top of the front panel shouldn't need too much stiffening (maybe none) and so shouldn't be too bulky. I'd mention skiving the top but it's not that easy on soft leather and it's time consuming.

I would try 1.8mm/2mm VT, when stitched it's quite strong but you'll have to try it for yourself. You can ask your leather shop for some samples of different thicknesses but spend a little money on decent sized samples that you can sew else they'll send credit card sizes and if you're gonna dye it you can use the economy grades.

Toxo, do I understand that you're recommending the VT only for the gussets?  The front and back of the purse should match (color and finish) the gussets, for this particular design.  I doubt if I could mix VT for the gusset with chrome for the front and back and make it match so all of that would end up being VT.  Likewise the shoulder strap and decorative straps... it should all match.  I didn't post a photo of either of these finished bags, so I'll do that now.  For the shoulder strap, I've got a 1.5" strip of black CT leather and a 1.5" strip of red.  I folded each edge in to the middle and then aligned the red and black straps and stitched.  (Finished shoulder strap is 3/4" wide.)  I really like the look of the two-color straps and everyone I've shown the bags to so far has really liked them.  I really can't see myself doing this with VT leather (and having to dye to match the rest, etc.).

It looks like I'm going to have to investigate skivers.  SIGH  Plus I will experiment with using contact cement to glue my foam to the leather (sizing the foam so that it clears the seam allowance and stitch lines.

 

(Damn, I forgot to remove the cat hair (helper) before taking the photo!)

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by MtlBiker

[toxo]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Toxo, do I understand that you're recommending the VT only for the gussets?  The front and back of the purse should match (color and finish) the gussets, for this particular design.  I doubt if I could mix VT for the gusset with chrome for the front and back and make it match so all of that would end up being VT.  Likewise the shoulder strap and decorative straps... it should all match.  I didn't post a photo of either of these finished bags, so I'll do that now.  For the shoulder strap, I've got a 1.5" strip of black CT leather and a 1.5" strip of red.  I folded each edge in to the middle and then aligned the red and black straps and stitched.  (Finished shoulder strap is 3/4" wide.)  I really like the look of the two-color straps and everyone I've shown the bags to so far has really liked them.  I really can't see myself doing this with VT leather (and having to dye to match the rest, etc.).

It looks like I'm going to have to investigate skivers.  SIGH  Plus I will experiment with using contact cement to glue my foam to the leather (sizing the foam so that it clears the seam allowance and stitch lines.

 

(Damn, I forgot to remove the cat hair (helper) before taking the photo!)

 

Just throwing ideas at you. Having stiff sides may negate the need for foam on the front. Maybe VT or some other stiffener glued to the CT gusset on the inside.

As for skiving, you need a really sharp blade. Maybe glue on the CT top to harden it before skiving. Maybe glue the foam to the top of the CT before skiving both.

Find out what works for you. No one will be as critical as you.

[MtlBiker]

5 minutes ago, toxo said:

No one will be as critical as you.

Gee, you're real lucky!  MY clients (few and far between so far) are way more critical than I am.    They all want perfection but for bargain basement prices.

[toxo]

10 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

Gee, you're real lucky!  MY clients (few and far between so far) are way more critical than I am.    They all want perfection but for bargain basement prices.

Doesn't mean you have to give it to em. Those bags are better than bargain basement.