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.
Tag Archives: environmentally friendly
Waiting for stitching
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.
Everyone loves pockets
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!
Essential steps
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.
Little details
We typically paint all exposed edges of leather. In this case, I’m using a clear edge paint. It darkened the natural red slightly.
Now for some customizing
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!
Choosing the lining
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.
Beginning to cut
After selecting the pattern of cork that I wanted, the leather and, most importantly, the style of bag, it’s time to start cutting the pieces. We already had patterns for this particular style. No sneak peaks though! You’ll just have to wait until the item is done, just like I do!
A new project
I was thinking I need a new bag for summer; don’t think I want to carry a hair-on bag through the high humidity days. The thought of it makes me break out in a sweat. But I need one big enough to carry my laptop. I need enough room to carry all the extra stuff that comes with children, can’t stress how important that is. Mostly, I don’t want it to be too heavy once all that stuff is loaded in it. My “ah ha!” moment? Cork bag with veg-tanned leather trim! And in this case, red is best. Why not?
More fall colours to wrap around your waist
