So the next big decision would be hardware–do I go with nickel or gold? If the red was warmer, with orange undertones, I would go with the gold but since its cooler, with blue undertones, I will go with the nickel. But then, everyone has their own preferences.
While I wait for some of the early stitching to be completed, I need to take a few moments to attend a very important meeting. Sometimes its for a tea party, today it was to play Barbie.
Some of the leather pieces are ready to be stitched. What colour to go with? The possibilities are endless, depending on your own personal tastes. I’m choosing between red and a sand colour. Think I will go with the sand; it stands out a bit more than the red.
People love pockets. We are always asked if more can be added. Pockets, dividers, sections. Why the need to compartmentalize life? I find that one zippered pocket works just fine; there will be a smaller, open pocket for a phone or iPod as well and of course my customized iPad pocket! Plenty of pockets but not so many that I will forget where I put things–keep it simple!
The next stage is preparing the leather for stitching. If it’s too thick, it needs to be split down to something more manageable. Some pieces will need further thinning and for that we use the skiving machine.
We typically paint all exposed edges of leather. In this case, I’m using a clear edge paint. It darkened the natural red slightly.
As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, one of my newest toys is an iPad Mini. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to create a case specifically for it but so far it’s been quite comfortable in the case we made for the Kobo Vox. I thought that it should have it’s own little pocket, that way it won’t be pushed around by all the other stuff I end up carrying. It’ll probably be the only pocket that will actually have any of my own stuff in it!
We like to make our bags as nice on the inside as it is on the outside. We have some bags that have no lining at all which is fine but just not as finished as it could be. This was not something I wanted this time around. And I like a bit of colour because, well, why not? I find that when a bag has a dark lining, it is far too easy to lose things in it and I don’t want to waste too much time searching for bits and pieces. I narrowed it down to a golden sand and red. I don’t know about you but to me the choice just seemed obvious.
A small mountain of toiletry bags, destined for many adventures!
