Once I had made the denim zero waste belt bag I knew I wanted a leather one, so set about checking the stash for suitable leather. Ideally I wanted soft, thin leather that would be easy to sew and wear. I have a lot of such leather but not in large enough pieces to make this bag, but I found a small roll of thin, rigid leather which I had bought at a Fibres West garage sale for $7. I put it back in the stash twice, but in the absence of anything better I thought I could at least use it to trial the concept of a leather bag.

I’m documenting what I can remember in case anyone else wants to do this and can benefit from what I discovered.

I stitched the centre seam and glued down the seam allowance, which I left under a ruler and some weights overnight.

I did the same to the flap lining, leaving a hole for the button in both as per the instructions.

I realised that I should have trimmed off the corners, so did this after the fact, but it would be easier had I done it before the gluing! I also skived the edges, to reduce the thickness. That’s the skiving tool you can see in the photograph.

You can see that it takes off a thin layer of leather. I think you could do this by scraping with a razor or craft knife if you don’t have the skiving tool. Mine is called a French edge skiver. Not sure why.

I used a really sharp knife to trim the edges. I’m amazed I didn’t cut myself, to be honest!

You will note that I tucked the edges under as per the pattern. I did consider cutting the two centimetre seam allowance off and having a raw edge, but I liked the idea of having this part all neat. My machine did not appreciate this sentiment! I used the bevel tool on the edges, although this is not really necessary, but I have the tool so why not?

A couple of things to mention at this point. I could not have any overlap between the top and bottom as the flap would not flap (if you get my drift), so I had to skim a little from both edges, which means that the flap lining doesn’t sit quite as well. In the photo above I was still fiddling with the trimming. Quite tricky after it was sewn and glued together.

Another lesson was to do with the tucks. If I did another one of these I would consider cutting the middle out of the tuck. I had already glued and spanked mine so this realisation came too late. My tiny Elna Stella powered through but she did struggle on the turned over edges as previously mentioned. .

I didn’t sew this right sides together as I had visions of never being able to turn it the right way out, but had I used a softer leather I definitely would and then all that bevelling and burnishing would not be necessary.

OK, so far not too terrible. It creaks and has zero flexibility so I don’t know how it will wear but I might find some leather softener and see if I can’t make it a bit floppier.

All the time I was making this I was pondering the button. I glued down the flap lining so I wouldn’t have to topstitch round the button hole, but it it tricky to get a button through there.

So I began auditioning all my different bag clasps – I have an assortment.

I started with regular clasps, and realised that I would be cutting holes in the leather, not that that would be too difficult, but the leather on the flaps seemed thicker than the bars on the clasps.. I have two styles but dismissed them both; the one on the right seems too clunky and I didn’t want to be cutting such a big hole in my leather to accommodate either of these.

Then I remembered that Liz suggested a magnetic clasp, so went and found a couple of them and decided they would be perfect. I did have a third style but again it needed holes cut in the leather.

So these are the two candidates. The one on the left should really be put onto the bag before it’s sewn together as it’s supposed to be invisible, and the one on the right is a simple earth magnet, which is where I’m leaning.

I decided to burnish the edges using the Dremel which one of my boys won as part of a Design and Technology prize at school, so it’s getting on, but still really useful. Don’t tell them, whoever owns it might want to have it at their house!

Although this leather is thin it’s not soft, so I thought I’d treat it with coconut oil and sun.

Well this doesn’t look good! I was having a mild heart attack here!

Don’t worry, I spent all evening massaging that oil in and it’s now fairly even. Had the bag softened up? Well a little although the squeaking and creaking was still happening.

I accidentally glued the magnet in the wrong spot and when I removed it, it left an unsightly mark where the surface of the leather tore away.

I tried oiling over it, but I was still dissatisfied. I dug around in the leather scraps and found a pleasing shaped piece into which I cut a magnet sized hole with my Cricut (so easy to get a perfect cut) and then glued on. I somehow didn’t take any in progress photos, but here it is after being oiled and left in the sun. I did the oiling and sunbaking a couple of times. I am really pleased with the patch, I feel it does more than cover the flaw, it adds a bit of interest too, especially with the uneven oiling – ahem!

And the front with the flap closed.

After all the oiling and sunbaking the bag is really softening. It no longer creaks and my new big fear is that Mark is going to steal it as he’s gone from not liking it much to liking it a lot!

All that remains is to show a photo or two of me wearing it.

I wore it with my Fibremood Gizeh trousers, the second pair, and indigo dyed Fibremood Ulima to do a spot of Christmas shopping. I decided that the Ulima is too cropped, or maybe it’s the elasticated waist, either way, it wasn’t my favourite styling, although it worked well.

Then I wore it with my pink Stokx Play Pants and purple zero waste top. Now this is a pairing which makes my heart beat a little faster!

Finally for a more discreet look, the Fibremood Gizeh trousers again and the Pattern Union zero waste Edith top, complete with smocking. This was a very comfortable pairing. The bag isn’t at all visible and I wore it all day and actually forgot I had it on.

I do love the leather bag: the minute I saw the pattern I wanted to make one, and am thrilled with the result. This will be worn a lot, particularly when travelling. It’s such an easy bag to make and I love the tessellated layout on the fabric and the way all the pieces fit together.

Finally, Miss G had her hair done to see Santa, a most favourite man in her life! I was thrilled she was wearing the pink Geranium dress I made her.