leather working 101

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I spent this past weekend learning how to work with leather at the Textile Arts Center. Our excellent teacher, Kat Roberts taught our 9-student class how to make patterns, and turn them into handmade leather pieces by way of 3 projects. Here are my results:

Day 1, morning: design a cuff

Our first project was to design a cuff because it lays flat, but changes shape on your wrist. My pattern was loosely based on my favorite metal puzzle bracelet from Erica Weiner, but the scrap bin was full of so many bright, soft leathers that I had to make it two tone.

leatherworking_cuff01
puzzle bracelet cuff

 

Day 1, afternoon: “a closed something”

For our second project, I thought I’d make a simple wallet. The pattern I designed only called for one piece of leather, but I was still too excited about all the colors, so it ended up a lot more 80’s than I intended…

leatherworking_wallet.jpg
small wallet

 

Day 2: personal project

At this point I had to keep my two-color theme. I opted for a very small purse, and picked out a desert theme in anticipation for our upcoming trip to New Mexico.

leatherworking_purse.jpg
small purse

 

 

tote to backpack conversion

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We have no shortage of reusable tote bags around the house, but sometimes you just need a backpack… this gave me an idea…

To test out my theory, I found a cool looking, sturdy, and very cheap, tote bag at Uniqlo.

But first! The first test: I removed the straps from an old, rarely used, hot pink tote bag, and reattached them with rivets.

conversion_test1
tote straps reattached with rivets

 

The straps were a tad short, and it needed a closure of some kind, but overall, it worked as planned!

On to the Uniqlo bag!

I carefully removed the stitching from the straps, and reattached them with snaps on the front top opening to add some security, and rivets (with little reinforcement circles) on the bottom. Hooray!

conversion_process
Left to right: original tote, removed straps, snaps on top closure, reinforecement on bottom snaps, back and front of resulting backpack

mini-tote

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I spent so much time designing and redesigning the back-tote (Version 1) that I wanted to just wing it on my second bag. Using the fabric scraps from the last one, I made one quick sketch of a tiny tote, and got to work.

Working on a grid made it a lot easier to make all my unmeasured pieces line up.

IMG_0691

 

The end result included two large outer pockets, two awkwardly-sized pen/chopstick pockets, and two inner pockets (one with a gusset).

IMG_0697

 

 

back-tote: version 1

vina

I decided that I needed to make a backpack/totebag. I wanted it to have:
– two side pockets for water/wallets/etc
– a front pocket for quick access things
– a separate area for shoes/umbrellas
– straps that transition from a tote to a backpack

I wanted to combine the functionality of my Marmot Urban Hauler and the looks of my collection of bags from Flux, and add a shoe compartment. (hahaha) Needless to say, after three rounds of this first version, I have a very, very long way to go.

I started sketching this months ago. Here are a few…

BackTote_sketches
I’ve been sketching this in the corners of work notebooks, so there were more, but these are what I could find.

A few evolved into cute little paper comps…

BackTote_comps
Switching to graph paper made it much easier to work to scale. (1 square = 1 inch)

Version 1.1

The last comp seemed perfect, and was to scale once I switched to graph paper, so I jumped right in with the nice, expensive, textured canvas that I picked out at Mood.

This was a terrible idea. Number 1, my child-sized sewing machine was not prepared for this, number 2, neither was I.

While it looks neat in the photo, this version involved a lot of no-sew iron-on tape. After pinning on the straps and trying it on, I decided that the size was much too big for me. I wanted to modify the size, and the way some of the pockets functioned. However, modifying anything assembled with no-sew tape is not ideal…

BackTote_v1.1
V1.1 assembled with no-sew tape and pins.

Version 1.2

For version 1.2, I wised up, got a new sewing machine, built to handle thick canvas, and found some scrap fabric to try out the new “pattern.” Here it is with safety pinned straps:

BackTote_v1.2
V1.2 was a trial for my new sewing machine, using of scrap cloth. Fake straps attached with safety pins.

Version 1.3

The trial bag seemed to work, and was a much more reasonable size for me, so again, I tried it out with the nice fabric. Once the bag was sewn, I set about attaching the straps. Not learning from my previous mistake, this is when I learned how to set rivets…

BackTote_360Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the results of this first bag experiment. But, Version 2 will be much better.

Lessons for Version 2

  1. Sketch, paper comps, test fabric, measure three times, check which side is up, then cut the nice fabric.
  2. While the amount of rivets in Version 1 is what I had in mind in my sketches, they seem a little much in reality. The next version will likely use them as reinforcement, rather than as a structural imperative. Either that, or the rivets should be a color that blends into the fabric.
  3. It turns out, like the idea of the shoe pocket more than I like the reality of it. When it’s not in use, the bag seems a little unstable if you want to set it down. This area will likely be modified or removed from Version 2.
  4. The way the straps convert from a tote to a back pack is a tad awkward. I think I got that bit backwards…