I've been looking at several designs for saddle bags and I've noticed that some bags stitch on the cover flap to the bag back and some are one piece with the back.
Is there some kind of reason why you would stitch on a flap cover rather than leave as one piece with the back of the bag? Is it purely for looks or is there a structural reason for it?
Would stitching on a flap give structure to hold the bag open more, or it is for easier placement of the closure/buckle?
Thanks for the ideas and help!
Cost. You can make more bags with a given amount of leather if you make them from separate parts rather than whole cuts. There may be other factors on occasion, but cost is the main reason.
In my experience, there are a few reasons. The first, and most important, is that having a separate flap helps a lot when you’re placing your patterns on the leather and figuring where you’re going to cut. It’s not always that we have a long enough piece to make the body and flap. So it’s just more economical and practical (not necessarily better or worse).
Another reason is that, like you said, having a separate flap makes it easier to place a closure, as you can install it and then trim the opposite edge to size (specially helpful if you’re making a bag for the first time and haven’t finely adjusted the pattern to its final size).
And finally, I think a separe flap tends to make the bag a bit more malleable when being opened or closed. But that depends a lot on the design, type of leather, it’s thickness, etc. So really not as important. Hope that helps.