I am sharing the results of my first shoe that I have made. It is a copy of the Birkenstock Montana. I thought "why not take a crack at making a pair of shoes? How hard can it be? Well, harder than I thought, but not too hard really. And there is something very satisfying about making shoes that you can wear!

I'm about to attach some hardware on Alpine Shrunken Calf lined with soft lambskin. This means there is a certain amount of "sponginess" that I've got to contend with. Any tips or tricks on how to do that with rivets so that the hardware is nice and tight against the leather?

I'm looking for feedback on the actual finished difference of a turned bag with piping using regular stitching iron teeth vs round hole teeth. I've heard that round holes produce a cleaner look, meaning less likely to show stitching holes. I haven't had that issue yet, but I've only made two turned bags with piping. The main drawback I've heard about using round hole teeth is that they are much harder to stitch because they're smaller. Any thoughts?

Hello All!! I am looking to make a daily use handbag and am considering using lambskin for the lining. This one in fact: Given its softness and suppleness, I have a concern about a couple of things. 1) Long term durability and 2) Stretching with use. Anyone have any general experience and input with regard to these two concerns with lambskin? Thanks in advance for any feedback! David

So I saw a video of someone installing a lining into a long wallet with two bent sections similar to what I am making. In that video, the person is seen applying glue only to the flat areas of the wallet, and the edges of where the bends are. I tried that using a rounded block of wood for the bending part and am now left with the lining on the top flap that ends up with a sort of "bubble" that comes after opening the top flap straight up, as it will be used when the owner of the wallet is trying to access the inner parts. It's not really a functional problem, but it does not look great. This is my first attempt at a wallet like this. I am now wondering why I didn't just glue down the entire lining when using the bending tool. So my question is this...is there anything I can do about it at this point? Materials I'm using are Ostrich outer layer, Sully goat lining, Salpa is the interfacing material to add structure. I used Barge contact adhesive for the glue. The first two photos show the bubble, but the third photo shows that it goes away with rubbing it lightly and then closing it more fully. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Is it possible? Anyone here done one? Photos?

Great project. Lots of fun mingled with moments of frustration. Turning the bag right side out was super satisfying! I don't know if I want to ever work again with Sedgwick English Bridle leather. What a pain! Cutting, skiving and creasing are just a bugger. I hope it wears like iron though. I'm looking forward to working with shrunken calf again. It seems like a great option for stuff you want to wear well and look great.

Does anyone here know of someplace online that teaches how to both design and create a pattern for handbags? I ask because I am currently making the De Havilland travel bag and I have wondered how does one go about designing that pattern and know how long the zip gusset needs to be, why the ends of the main body of the bag are tapered and how to determine how large the body of the bag needs to be vis-a-vis the zip gusset. Phil, have you considered doing a course on bag design where each student would have a completely unique design at the end, or is that beyond the scope of your courses?

I'm not very familiar with a lot of hardware that's out there so I'm reaching out to the community. If I want to have a smaller piece of leather that can pivot around a point on a larger flat piece of leather, what would be the best hardware to use at the center point to allow that to happen? I was thinking maybe a Chicago screw might allow for some tweaking on the pressure at the center pivot point and I could put some blue Loctite in it that could be broken free, tightened and re-Loctited again if it gets a little too loose. I should also say that I need this hardware to sit as flat as possible. Your thoughts?

I would like to hear the feelings of you all about the importance and relevance of hand stitching to "the customer" at large. Do you feel people really care in general? If you could include where you are located that would be great because I'm curious to see if there are differences geographically in how people place importance on hand stitched leather goods. Cheers, David