When you begin working with leather you have a lot of ideas of what to make and before long you find yourself with all the leather goods that you need. Then you begin
making the stuff you want but don't necessarily need. At this point, your skills are at a decent level. They are good enough to begin making stuff for your friends and
family and, if you're lucky, they will pay for the cost of the materials. You hone your skills and before long you can charge for your time as well. I have just reached this
point, so when I had the opportunity to make and sell a briefcase I jumped at it. This is by far the biggest thing I have ever sold.... so fingers crossed I don't mess it up!
What is a tutorial worth without a pattern? Almost nothing if you ask me, so naturally I have included the pattern.
When cutting out the pattern, don't just follow it blindly. Allow a couple of extra centimetres on pieces where it makes sense so that you don't run short. Also, I can't
guarantee that it is 100% correct, so double check the measurements as you go along. If you find any mistakes let me know and I will correct them.
Regarding the gusset and partition board I have changed the pattern so that it has the dimensions that I think are correct. If I mention any other measurements along the
way don't follow them. Follow the pattern!
The PDF files are 1:1 so you can print it and cut it if your wish.
After a lot of experimentation with how to apply dye, I came across the Molotow transformer markers. They have a 250ml bottle where you can attach a 50mm wide head. This works really well and compared to soaking a rag with dye there is almost no mess. A friend of mine once told me that leather dye will make a HUGE mess if you were to spill it all over your table. This has off course never happened to me as I am very careful and never make mistakes.
What ever method you chose it takes some time to dye a piece this big and you have to go over the same spot multiple times. I try to divide the piece into smaller sections and take one at a time. Unlike using a rag, going in a circular motion does not work well. You need to go back and forth, up and down, and if you're feeling wild you can even go diagonally.
The good news about the gusset is that is it a lot easier to make then you might think. Don't get nervous about making the folds. Things don't have to be super accurate as wet leather is very forgiving.
The gusset piece was cut oversize which turned out to be a very good idea. It had warped quite a bit so I had to trim both sides to get a straight edge.
My steel ruler is 1m long and therefore not long enough to cut the side of the gusset without having to move it. The trick I use to move the ruler is to place a second ruler (in this case a square) right next to it. You then hold the square in place and slide the ruler down where you want it to be.
Last time I made a gusset I used a v-groover to help bend the gusset into shape. This time I will just mark the folding lines and not use the groover. The leather is so thin that this should not be a problem.
With the lines in place you can begin the "pre-folding" to make the actual shaping of the gusset much easier.
The width of the partition board has to be a bit smaller than the width of the briefcase. In my (brief)case 42,5cm. The height can be the full length of the gusset or a bit shorter. I chose to make it a bit shorter. The corners at the bottom are cut off so that they do not collide with the folds in the gusset. The top edge is beveled and burnished. To add functionality to the bag a pocket and a pen holder will be sewn on the board. The pocket is cut according to the pattern and the edges are sanded and burnished. Because I am using thin leather, it is not possible to bevel the edge but a light sanding will do. The edge is then burnished as normal but instead of having the leather hanging over the edge of the table it is now a few mm from the edge.
In all projects there are things you do not look forward to. Gluing and sewing the partition board to the gusset is one of them. The reason is that it did not went well last time I did it. I had huge problems keeping the edge of the partition board up against the gusset. When I then sewed it I did not penetrate the board having to pull out stitches and forcing the partition board in place. It was a real mess.
Having learned from my mistakes I now have a thought of bullet proof approach... I hope. The ingredients to success are lots of contact cement, two strips of wax paper and four paper clamps.
Last time I think I was a bit stingy with the contact cement. This time around I made sure that there were plenty of surface covered with glue. I marked a line around 7 mm from the edge and sanded it to help the cement get a better grip. The folds of the gusset were also covered with a fair amount of cement. Make sure that you do not go all the way up to the top unless your partition board also does.
To avoid that the sides would get stuck while inserting the partition board I covered them with a strip of wax paper held in place with paper clamps. This worked exactly as I had hoped for. The partition board glided right down the gusset without issues.
After removing the paper clamps in one side you pull the wax paper up a few cm and press and pinch the gusset around the partition board. Make sure that the partition board goes all the way out to the gusset.
I put a small mark to help guide in the board when gluing it to the gusset
The gusset need a mark as well. The right mark was placed wrong so it is the left one that is correct
Scribe a line around 7 mm from the edge along all 3 sides of the gusset (not the top)
The other bags that I have are not really practical to throw over your shoulder when going somewhere. I therefore wanted a new bag more like a traditional messenger bag. As always I searched the internet for inspiration. I finally decided to make a "U.S mail bag"
They look more or less like this with different variations:
I also found a lot of remakes of the bag. I especially liked the ones from woo-life.
As I was not able to find a pattern online I had to make one myself. I experimented with different sizes and came up with one slightly smaller than what seems to be the norm.
Most remakes of these bags does not seem to have welts. Most old ones however does. At first I decided not to have any welts but after talking to a salesman (simon tuntelder) at skindhuset I changed my mind. Also he recommended using thicker leather than 1,6mm which was my initial plan. I ended up using 2 mm.
As welts was new to me I made some tests to determine the width and how far to place the stitches from the edge.
14-15 mm wide straps in 1-1,2 mm leather stitch line 4 mm from the edge
Contact cement applied and folded in the half
Cutting out the leather to be dyed. Roughly 90cm x 55cm
Dyeing the leather
Buffing the leather
Applying "læderfedt"
Rough cut out. Diameter of corners are 9 cm (saddle soap tin used as cutting guide)
Along the edges I sanded with a dremel to be able to glue the welt on.
The welt applied
Close up
Flap
I normally dye my edges but this time I just burnish them
The first 4 holes for the rivets.
The stitching was marked on the outside of the bag. This resulted in the stitch line being to far from the edge on the inner support piece. Always "measure twice cut once"
The first one was almost perfect. The last stitch on the right went above the support piece
The second one was not good. It was placed too far down and therefore the bottom stitching overlapped the vertical stitching on the support piece. To avoid cutting the thread I had to go either below or over the vertical stitching resulting in ugly stitches.
The gusset was glued in place with contact cement. I did not rough the weld edge so the glue did not stick to it as good as to the gusset. Placing the gusset went pretty good at first sight. When I began to sew I noticed that the gusset was not placed all the way to the edge at the corners. This meant that I had to realign the gusset as I was sewing. I could almost get it to the edge but not completeley. Luckily I did not damage the welt by coming to close to where it was bend (making the stitching visible from the outside)
As you can see the gusset is longer than it needs to be. I find it rather difficult to measure the exact length so instead I just leave it and trim it afterwards.
After sewing the gusset to the back you get an idea of how the welts will look. I think it looks really good. The square corners on the flaps really hurts my eyes. If possible I would like to round them.
The side straps were then rivited in place.
Preparing the front to be sewn to the gusset. This time I mark with the pricking iron before gluing it to the gusset.
Also I sanded the edge of the welt to get a better bond.
Before sewing on the front piece the buckle has to be riveted on.
Now the glue was applied.
I wrote ealier that I left the gusset too long because it was difficult to get the right length. I cut off the gusset after it had been sewn on the back. I must have cut it with an angle because when I glued on the front piece I ran out out of gusset. This sucked as there is nothing to do about it except cutting the top of the front piece to fit.
The corners look pretty good though.
Now the part I really was looking forward to. Turning the inside out. The bag seemed pretty solid so I was not sure that it could be done without wetting the bag. I decided to make a video of the process as this was something I really would have liked to have seen before doing it myself. It was actually not that hard to do!
Now the only thing left to do is rivet the side straps to the the front and making holes in the strap.
The shoulder pad is made from 2 pieces of leather. The bottom is made of 4 mm and the top from the same leather as the rest of the bag. The slots for the strap came out crooked as I was too sloppy when punching the holes.
Shoulder pad done! It might be too big. Maybe I'll make a smalle one if this does turns out to not work.
The finished bag. At the top it is 42 cm wide and at the bottom 35 cm. It is 27 cm high
