This one has been ongoing for a long time, i have made 2 mock ups in foam. Then 2 iterations in leather as i wasnt happy with the proportions when made. It uses a cheap metal side release clasp, which i quite like and wanted to use in something. I also put an 10mm strip of carbon fibre about 1.8mm thick below the d rings to try and keep the shape. The outer is black calfskin in 1.6mm and 1mm for the gussets, 0.6 for the zipped card holder. The lining is black pigskin which came at about 0.7mm. it was all stitched at 9spi with 0.5mm thread

here is a zipped purse. I wanted to make something which zipped around a corner. A friend has a 3d printer, and made a former for the zip to help with aligning and glueing, i also made one in greyboard stuck together, but the 3d printed one was better. This is made from veg tan goatskin for both the outer and inner, again thinned to 0.5mm, 0.8mm and 1.2mm. I also stuck a layer of dacron to the outer for a bit of extra strength. Riri m4 zip and stitched at 9spi

I havent posted much for a while, just been very busy with the day job this year. Here are a few items i have made over the last few months, minus belts. decided to make a new wallet and travel pass holder which match out of a skin of alran goat which i had thinned down to varying thicknesses from 0.6mm to 1.2mm, stitching is 10spi and 0.4mm thread. happy with the results, and the skin i bought from alran at an exhibition in london, i think it was about £30 which i thought was very good value.

i have an ipad pro in a protective plastic cover which also holds the pen, but wanted something nicer to put it inside and doing it from materials/hardware i already have. it was made from combination tanned leather which was reinforced with sized thick canvas to make it a bit stiffer. it was lined with upholstery velvet which came on a canvas backing which added a bit more rigidity. i bound the top edges so i didnt have to edge paint these. the zip is an m4 riri zip and the lining is yellow silk. the velvet lining and silk were bought as offcuts from ebay a year or so ago, just needed a project to use them. it is stitched at 9spi with 0.5mm thread. the closure was something i bought a couple of years ago, and had been hanging around in a draw. the only difficult part was the stitching order for the flap to the main body without stitching through the lining. was really happy with the edge painting too. seem to be getting better at this although binding the edges is still quicker.

Hello, the day job has been extremely busy, so I have not made anything to post. Managed to finish this, the outer is veg tan goat and the lining is chrome tan pigskin. All reinforcements are either 1.2 or 2mm veg tan leather. The lock is from MMC Colombo and the strap holders are off Etsy. I was thinking of adding a strap type handle to the top, but wanted it finished this year 😂. All stitched with an awl due to how it was glued together. Looking at other posts, I think I am going to have to improve my photography.

Hi there, it has been a while since I posted anything, the day job just gets in the way, and this is a bit different to wallets etc I have made. It is in veg tan leather, although I think the body is combination tanned as it is so soft, but skives and burnishes a dream. The lining is chrome tanned pigskin. Even managed to get a logo on too. Only taken 3 years

Hi There, parts of this have been kicking around on my bench for over a year now (the end caps), so here is a bit of a prototype, just the interior left to do, although undecided at the moment. maybe lambskin, maybe material, will probably be light grey. when i do get it finished, will probably give it to someone to see what they think, and if the straps are too long, is it big enough/ not big enough etc. been fun making so far with only the inside to do which will have 60mm calf leather around the rim, and hopefully do the rest in 1 piece to save stitching. not sure about a pocket although leaning towards not having one. the bits on each side will stick over the interior, and i will stitch in. the stitches on the sides end 60mm from the top. the black stuff you can see on the inside is dacron - used for sail repairs in yachting, but also the black numbers you see on sails. very strong and stretch resistant, but about 0.1mm thick. i also glued canvas to the interior as well. the handles have non stretch tape in the middle.

bored on ebay which is always expensive, ended up buying 2 knackered gladstone bags. not sure if anyone has any hints or tips on what to do with them. was thinking of stripping them down, using the pieces for patterns, taking all the rivets off etc and re-making them, polishing all the bits etc. also, was thinking of adding a strap to them, but not sure if that is correct? if anyone has any tips before i start, they would be greatly appreciated. i am hoping to have the smaller one done by christmas, the big one i am not sure about

Hi There, every year we have to decorate an egg for a work colleague, so this year decided to make something they could maybe use afterwards. not entirely happy as it was a bit rushed. if i had more time the next one would be a lot better. it is in veg tan shoulder, with the lining veg tan goat. chose these so i could burnish the edges rather than spend a weekend or so with edge paint. used an old set of 7spi irons so the stitches are slightly longer, like the look of that. thanks

Someone i work with asked me if i could make a wallet with a coin pouch. Not keen on these, so have put it off for a long time. This is the first time i have used zips, so maybe that was the reason. Anyway, i got riri #4 and ykk #3 - riri is the smaller zip weird. the leather is 1.2mm italian veg tan calfskin butt, lots of hand skiving for the turned edges, and also the coin part to make it thinner. i also added a small gusset to make it easier to get things in and out of it. this was thinned by a knife to about .6 at the edges to .8 in the middle. the interior is two tone silk (green/brown) which i like a lot. stitching is 9spi vintage irons with 0.4mm galaces 8ply cabled polyester really like the thread, easy to use, doesnt matter how much you twist it, it doesnt unravel and seems quite sturdy. glad this is out of the way, can get on with other things, i have a few bags i would like to make - one for the gym based on Philip's de haviland bag, a tote bag and one based loosely on a 1920/30 carpet bag. sorry about the photography, the stitching and finishing are getting better, the photography most definitely isnt🤣

hi there, did this as a trial, a few things i am not happy with, which i will change. the outer is veg tan shoulder, and the inner is pig skin. was done 7spi with galaces 8ply 0.5mm polyester thread. here are some pics of the round tub. not really happy with the butt stitch down the middle of the tub, offers very little strength and rigidity, more decorative. in future, i will do a 15mm overlap with 2 lines of stitching, like on the inner, and in a dark brown thread, hopefully the stitches wont be too wonky. might try some veg tan pig skin or calf skin for the inner, so maybe i can burnish the edges. i have a 3d printed template for an oval, which i will finish when i get chance. have been messing with a different way of finishing the edges, so hopefully better than the round tub, using dyes, tallow and pearl glue.

Hi there, i thought working at home this year would give me lots of time to work on things, although the reality was quite the opposite. Someone at work asked me if i could make a replacement watch strap, as i had never made one before, said i would. When i saw the watch, realised it wouldnt be as straightforward as i first thought, due to the way it shaped at the top. made it using vachetta calfskin 1.4mm, which was really nice to use, cut and skived easily - but marked as soon as you looked at it - short nails a must. lining in pigskin about 1mm. i used polyester ribbon as reinforcement around the spring bar, and vildona paper stuff for the rest. To build up the shoulders i used 2mm bridle leather. Stitching is 10spi, i was going to use a thread the same colour as the pigskin, just to hide any iffy stitches as it was all done with an awl due the shoulders being about 5mm thick. Thread is Galaces 8ply cabled polyester thread 0.4mm thick. Uniters edge paint, this is probably the happiest i have been with edge finishing, slowly getting to grips with it.

hi there, i think someone was asking about how to create the stitch lines in illustrator. creating your pricking iron teeth as a pattern brush is ok for straight lines but not brilliant around curves. Normally i just use a dotted line stroke to indicate where to hit, but having thought about it, here is how to do it. I hope i dont see this on youtube anytime soon. measure the width of your pricking iron teeth using calipers etc. i have some 4z and ks blade to hand and at 8spi they both measure 1.44mm wide. we multiply this by 1.414 and this gives 2.036mm (this is the width of our stroke, as when it is rotated 45º, it will be 1.44mm high. i have made a circle here to show how it works. and also indicated the start point handle. any short stitches will show here. the stroke needs to be the height of your pricking iron teeth * 1.41, the dash needs to be 0.1mm and the gap is 3.28 (3.38 normal gap minus width of the dash) make sure that it set to preserve exact dash and gap lengths Check to see if you have any short gaps - the one above does, so we need to make it larger or smaller to get rid of this. make sure that in the transform menu, scale stroke and effects is turned off, other wise it will just look the same as you scale up or down. its usually easier just to link the horizontal and vertical sizes and just type in there rather than scaling. when you are happy with everything. expand the item now you need to release the compound path and ungroup the elements, as they need to be individual to do the next part. now we need to go on transform each and set rotation to -45. if we were doing reverse irons, it would be +45 hopefully it will look like the above. i printed an oval and a circle out to check. rushed the pricking a bit as i had a meeting to do, but they match up very well. one thing to note, is do this when you are happy with everything, as there is no going back. i usually keep a layer of this before i do the expanding and hide it. i also usually have a stroke just set to 0.1mm to show where the centre of the stitch line. just starting pricking only a couple done. this is punched, matched up very well. hope this helps, if you need any other help with illustrator, give me a shout.

hi there, i have just finished making this for a friends birthday present - hope the laptop fits in it. i wonder if you can guess her favourite colours. anyway, the outer is in calfskin, the inner is baby calfskin. nearly came unstuck, as the whole inner calfskin was only just long enough, didnt think it would be that small. i used black cabled thread and 8spi irons. i stitched the strap so far down the front, so when you see the back, there are only 2 or 3 stitches where it goes inside. i stitched this in place before putting the lining together. not sure whether i should have stitched the piece surrounding the hole just to the top piece of leather like the strap. might have a go at another one and see how it holds up. like the fastening detail, will be using it on a tote bag i am putting together and another bag for myself. let me know what you think.

Hi There, havent posted much recently, but just seem to have made everyone i work with a wallet or belt, and they are all variations on a theme. someone at work said they needed a new bag strap, i showed them a bag i liked (equus leather) and the strap i liked, he said could i make one and i thought i would give it a go, as it will come in handy for other things i want to make - the yellow thread is what he wanted, which made me really concentrate on the stitching and awl work, would have preferred brown or black. Also, the pattern for the bag on Equus website, is in one of the books Philip has for sale in his library section, although the strap isnt shown in it. i cut long strips of bridle leather to make sure i had a few opportunities to get it right. i split one end to half thickness and cut it about 100mm with a skiving knife. i have an osborne splitter, but dont seem to get on with it. the rest is like a belt i guess, although the buckle is put on the opposite way, so it pulls tight when it hangs down, very simple but looks good. i also put non stretch tape in the split part of the leather, used Philips way of tapering down a webbing strap shown in the bag making series. i punched both sides of the strap, so i could just use the needles to go through the webbing. a bit of doublesided to hold the split together, makes pricking easier.

hi there, just wondering if people thin leather themselves? i don't have room at the moment for a bell skiver, but have an osborne splitting/skiving machine, which is ok for veg tanned up to about 100mm. but was wondering about other ways of splitting. i bought 2 old dixon spokeshaves, hoping to make 1 half decent one out of them. but they are both different sizes, so they are not interchangeable. i spent ages getting the blades sharp, but unfortunately the shape of the blades do not follow the shape of the sole on either of them, so they are not great. Reading up on bookbinding etc, they use modified stanley 151 spokeshaves, so having bought a vintage one and a new one (the angles of how they sit are different), i think i will try and modify one. just wondering if anyone else has done this? found a guide on hewitts website and also something on youtube from DAS bookbinding. both of these seem easier than watching haku-handmade on youtube thining leather with a skiving knife - although interesting as he uses a japanese one bevel down. if anyone has done anything like this, be good to hear as i think i will be doing it this week/weekend. i now have 4 stanley 151's to go at, just in case i mess up.

with more time to get in my shed while working at home, i thought i would try and make things i might need, and which are different to what i have done previously. i bought myself an osborne 84 splitter at christmas, but have never really got to grips with it. so i thought making a belt might help understand the splitter a bit better. first thing i found out, was the awls i have aren't very good with bridle leather, so i had to learn how to sharpen awl blades and set in handles, which will hopefully come in handy for future. Although i did sharpen 3 different sized blades so not sure on that. anyway, australian nut bridle leather with black .55mm thread. 7spi irons. these were pricked and an awl used to make the holes. i did 3 layers of black dye and wax, with sanding in between each layer. respect to anyone who stitches in their keeps, such a faf for about 34 stitches. this shows the template i used as well to mark the end and the holes. hopefully the techniques will come in handy on straps as well as another belt for myself, as had to give this one to my dad.

hello, i started this between christmas and new year, but took longer than i thought - especially the edges. i have a few designs i have been working up for bags, this is the first one which i have managed to make up. its using 2 different thicknesses of dyed through shoulder - chestnut, with black edges and yellow thread. there are a few things i learnt while doing this, have a thorough plan and stick to it. i made a mock up of the pocket and flap to see how it would work, as i wanted to make sure i could get my hand in, so that is why the gussets on the pockets are the way they are. the main gusset doesnt really work with the tight corners of the bag. dont do anything important late when you are starting to get tired - case in point the panels where the strap attach are 30mm lower than planned. still not sure how it happened. when gluing, i found that cutting the cheap small spatulas to required shape works a treat. when gluing the pockets on, i cut one of the spatulas so it was only 3mm wide. from an aesthetic point, i think the stitching on the straps is a bit big, maybe go up a size and down a thread size. will get on with the other bags at some point, and also the laptop envelope i have plans for, although i used the black calf skin for something else, so will need to buy some more. let me know what you think. thanks i think i am going to have to brush up on my photography skills.