Like that one please

When a schoolfriend of M saw this bag in school, she asked me to make one for her. It turned out to be a cosy sewing afternoon. First we met in the shop, where she chose the leather fabric pieces. Then our sewing date was there. She wanted me to sew, but after a little while she took the lead and did all the rest by herself.

Happy to make you happy, Diever!

Daughter's turn

Last May holiday, my eldest daughter M and I spent some quality time together when the two of us had the house for ourselves. M was very, no extremely determined to make a bag. Just a second schoolbag, not at all necessary, but really necessary to be made right away. It became a cosy three-days mother-daughter project, with the daughter in the lead and mom just following.
The blue denim was found in mom's fabric stock, as well as a sturdy mustard yellow denim-like fabric for the lining. She knew exactly which kind and which color leather to chose. The horse girl had a saddle in mind.

The lining and the waterproof extra layer that she wanted to be added were easily made, but the leather details were not. What a joy to have a motivated co-worker along. Motivation does it all! Whenever things had to be done over and over again, no problem for her! She did it with patience, till the late night hours. For me it was one of the hardest projects ever, but it was great to do it together! And with together I mean, that I did the roadmapping and the leather cutting, and M did the rest.

By now I can tell you that she is using this bag every day. Schoolmates couldn't believe that it was self-made. M prepared an answer to this: by topstitching her name on the shoulder strap she convinces all disbelievers.
Besides, which girl has a whole bunch of braided wristbands made of exactly the same leather as her bag?

Favorite fabric

Jil, our sweet girl next door, let me know that she would love to get a drawstring bag in the fabric of the pencil case that I made for her two years ago. This Heather Bailey fabric was used long before for the tree in M's bedroom.

Looking at my remnants stock it appeared that I had to do my best. Remnants were there, but there was little left and their shape was strange.
This fact brought me to this free formed patchwork. Remnants just came together as I found them. Their shape remained. Made it more special to make this easy project (following this tuto; thanks Mieke).

Heart's desire

This one is an oldy. I mean, I made it already in January of this year. Meant for L's birthday, but only finished recently! F fixed the frame with wheels and (very important!) pull out handle. Sometimes it just takes long...
For years already L was begging for it: a roller case. I don't know where her desire comes from, as we don't have one and simply love our backpacks. I refused to buy one for her before because none of us likes the available ones with awful pictures of Walt Disney, Pokemon or what so ever. A solution that came up: make one myself.

You'll recognize parts here (thanks Debora!) and here, but after this post my hands were really itching (thanks Riet, for the inspiration!). The significant parts, wheels and handle, come from a cheap Marktplaats (Dutch eBay) buy. I just replaced the ugly case. 'Just' turned to be quite a job. I think this thing was the hardest ever. It just didn't come out of my hands like that and I had to redo about every part of it. I declared myself for crazy several times, but at the same time I very much enjoyed making it. I even laughed when I discovered late at night that I made the whole thing upside down (so zippered pocket and text were wrong). The embroidered words (like done here long time ago) are going to be typical I believe...

Denim was choosen for the outside, a sweet Petit Pan fabric for the inside. The color of the piping I so love! It's super bright as I noticed before; I can't even catch it by camera. Both inner and outer fabrics were stiffened with the most stiff fusible woven layer that I could find. But in the end the case still wasn't hard enough. So finally a strip made of polystyrene panel for the corners attached to foam board for the sides had to be added between the layers. Still I'm not satisfied. Who wants to tell me the secret of all those super hard looking little cases made by you, Belgian bloggers? Although I'm pretty sure I won't make another one...

In the early morning in January L found only one present on her birthday table. After unwrapping she discovered in every pocket some more (like my iPhone!). Among them this toiletry bag.

Now it's finally hers. This way she left for Vlieland. And she walked like a lady!

Three times a charme

My eldest daughter M is 13 now! Yesterday she had her birthday during schoolcamp; the best birthday ever, she assured me today.

She is such an animal lover! That's why she got two kittens today, one for her and one for her sister. Kittens that didn't agree with my initial present idea to make a bag for M with the kittens inside.

Last week M was that enthousiastic about this bag, that I decided to make another one for her. She might be kind of young for a leather bag like this, but on the other hand she will be going to secondary school after summer and she's no more a little kid!
This bag is a sum of the bags I made before. I learn each time and now I'm satisfied with the result. There was no more left of the beautiful cotton straps I bought in Paris and that you saw before, so these leather straps came in. Ordinary glue was a secret friend this time.

Maartje

My sweet niece Maartje has turned grown-up, she's 18 years old now. This weekend we attended her party. On Saturday there was no time left to shop for a present. On those moments I more often end up behind the sewing machine. No time left to design as well, so here's a variation on this bag. This bag carrying a bottle of white wine made her happy!

The bag appeared to be way too high. I cut about 8 cm from the top - with handles already sewn - and then used this cut off part on the inside of the bag as a facing. 
All together it can be approved, and might be approved soon in another try. I have to take a look at my leather stock first.

Leather is such a rewarding material to work with. To cut it is like cutting butter. I love to experiment and eventually change plans during the trip. No problem. Let's see where I will end up next time.

Night work

Last Saturday I was feeling restless. I had planned to make a leather bag in daytime, but daytime was really busy. So finally quite late in the evening my egg could go out. It just came the way it was, without a lot of prior thinking or designing (I was just too tired...). This leather was used right away, because who's a better receiver of a bag like this then Kristel?

Sewing this first large leather bag late at night didn't turn out perfectly, but luckily Kristel is not a perfect perfectionist ;). She invited us to their together-100-years-old-party. And what happened? Kristel was wearing nude colored clothes, just like the color of this bag and, M discovered yesterday, apparently did I unconsciously use the same colors as she used in their invitation. Funny, isn't it?

The edge of the green leather was used just like I bought it. Of course I didn't want to spoil this beautiful material. I enjoyed roller-cutting it. Like cutting butter! Above you see a cows mark, that I loved to use.

For those who wanna know how to make it: here's the inside of the bag.
Kirstel, you did such an awesome party preparation! So well done! You made me happy with being so happy with this present.

By post

My mother is having her birthday today and is turning 75! We posted this for her and will visit her with the whole family next weekend. For now a small present filled with birthday goodies like pictures, drawings and letters.

My mother loves a modest way of living. Design should be simple, colors preferably natural. I hope this bag will suit her well. The leather is much more soft and supple than used in this tutorial.

Made with M

M started to make this bag for her friend Sofia and then I took over to finish it, because she had to go to sleep. Sewing precisely is quite a job for her, and I think details like the strap made by her turned out perfectly. For me a new experience with a decorative stitch of my Bernina (how I love that machine!). A press fastener of Prym was used again, but this time fastened invisible on the inside of the flap. I only have to find new D-rings instead of these rectangle ones.

This afternoon Sofia's great birthday party took place high up into the trees. Getting feedback afterwards that she loved the present is oh so rewarding, don't you think?

After work

Sometimes I just grab my sewing machine as soon as I'm home from work. These working days were not the best, so I needed to empty my head.

The lucky one who is getting a present this time is birthday girl Grietje, a beautiful romantic little girl in L's class. The bag is made of a fine and soft Liberty fabric and finished with a golden bias binding.

Mix & match

As you can read here, I came to these leather sample bags because I wanted to have a new bag matching my dress in no time. This bag is made of four leather samples, that were laying around in the office. The only things I bought were a leather lace and eyelets. When you want to try this bag as well, please don't bother about sizes. Exact sizes don't matter. You can choose to make a landscape or a portrait model. The tutorial will do in both cases. Just avoid cutting the leather when possible to save time. Here and here you can see reversible examples. The bag pictured above measures 16 x 26 cm.
When you don't know where to get the leather, maybe these links (that I didn't try myself) work out for you: Dawanda nl and en.

This is what you need:

1. 4 (preferably very different) leather samples. If you want to know: mine are 20 x 25 cm and are a good quality of Moore & Giles. Or cut 4 rectangles out of leather if you don't get your hands on samples. You might even use some thicker quality felt instead of leather.
2. 4 eyelets, inner diameter about 5 mm, to hammer through the leather to finish the holes for the strap. When you want to make a non-reversible bag, 2 eyelets are sufficient.
3. normal but good quality thread
4. double sided foam tape (like Tesa, often used to mount mirrors)
5. 3 m of flat leather lace. Note that the double lace should fit through the rings. Mine is 5 mm wide.

Mixed reds

Last week I had another opening of one of our buildings in the office: a new school in Amsterdam. In this case red was the appropriate color accent. So quickly this bag was born. I think I prefer the proportions of this latest bag.

Shiny and matte, red and more orange-like were mixed. Such a nice game to play.

When I have some time left, and that will be not before Sinterklaas, I'll make you a tutorial of these kind of bags. The result of this sewing lesson will be given away to one of you! So keep an eye on my blog :).