sensy

This is my latest work, a briefcase/folio. This somehow has less pieces of leather than @Duke Mantee's bag - but with big pieces like this it's easier to have one piece of leather than having to do more long stitch lines. Especially when you're dumb like me and decided to use 2.7mm irons for a bag. Learned lots, got better at perlage (setting rivets and making them look not shit) and decided I like French stitching clams.

Man, old messenger bags always look so cool. I've made a couple, but nothing I'm particularly happy with. Like there's something about the simple design I can't quite capture and make my own. Lately I've been making a couple of my cash and card wrap wallets. I'm sort of thinking about making some kind of store where I just put stuff to break even and can continue making whatever I want whenever. Not super hopeful about it working out, but I'm willing to try.

Such beautiful work @Duke Mantee I wanted to write a little on the bag I made, and this ”pleat fold” in particular, cause it took me a while to figure out how to do. It’s there not only because I think it looks cool, but also the Liston locks can be sort of fiddly, so being able to get a finger behind to support the insertion of the lid lock part. Anyway, I think this technique is only possible if hand stitched, but I’m not an expert at machine stitching so I could be wrong. To do it, I prickmark the stitch line, one line on each side of the lock. Then I stitch from the bottom up, until the first mark seen in this image: The mark isn’t super visible, but its just at the top of the lock at the stich line. At that mark, I folded the bag over, and stiched through two layers. I continue until the second mark, where I fold the bag back again, and stitch through 3 layers until I reach the end. The top of the bag is skived to zero to make it easier to stitch the binding. I have never seen a guide on how to do this pleat, so I figured I could type one out. Theres probably even a name for it in french or something, I just dont know it.

And some of the handle.

I wanted to make myself a new bag, inspired by super fancy Ortus models. I've been using a self made ripoff of the Mimosa model, but figured I could made something less completely stolen. So I set to work. Lots of making of pictures here.