The thoughts, sewing projects, and fabric oglings of a dedicated sewist.

New Bag for STITCH Winter 2014

11/11/14
I have been wanting to learn to sew with leather for some time now, and purchased and watched Kenneth King's Leather 101 video from PatternReview.com in anticipation of finding a project. I then proposed a leather bag for the Stitch Winter 2014 issue, and when they accepted my proposal I had to step up and do it. Like how I cornered myself into trying something new?




Here it is in the magazine spread. And if any of you are contemplating sewing with leather, definitely give it a try. There are some specific techniques you will need to learn, but once you know them, the actual sewing isn't hard. Not sewing-with-chiffon hard anyway.

My favorite tips:

  • Use a walking foot (this worked better for me than a Teflon foot)
  • Tie thread ends instead of back stitching at the beginning/ends of seams
  • Long stitch length
  • Glue is your friend!!
  • Consider overlapping seams instead of sewing RST


I'm still learning how to topstitch over uneven areas - tricky!

I really want to highlight the gorgeous hardware on this bag as it didn't come out very well in the magazine shots. In full disclosure, I got this hardware for free since it would appear in a magazine article. But I plan to purchase some for my next version of this bag (mustard denim & burgundy leather, yeah baby). It's everything I like in bag hardware: beautiful finish, lots of size/shape options, and solid (nothing flimsy about these - they will outlive the bag and get used again, I'm sure!). You can find them at Buckleguy.com. Here's what I used:


1.5" Antique Brass Double Loop Slider

1.5" Antique Brass Swivel Bolt Snap and 3/4" Antique Brass O-Ring


The denim is from Indygo Junction's Crossroads Denim Collection. They have a whole bunch of delicious colors!

Photo source

And it still makes me giddy to see my name in print!



I have a couple more completed leather bag projects that I can't reveal yet. Can you tell I'm now hooked on sewing with leather?

What about you? Have you ever cornered yourself into learning something new? And have you been bitten by the leather bug yet?

3 comments on "New Bag for STITCH Winter 2014"
  1. Very nice! You're really on fire with publishing projects!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Gail. I referred back to your posts on sewing clutches for one of my new projects!

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  2. So, any chance you want to send that bag my way? :D I actually purchased a little bit of leather just to make something like this-- almost a year ago. Leather is a little scary. Your bag is awesome!

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