70s cushion revamp!

Continuing with my marathon of making cushions in all shapes and sizes, my mum asked me to recover the cushion from her trusty old stool in her studio. Amazingly, she has had it since the 70s or 80s and it was designed by her dad (my granddad).

The original cover was completely falling to bits but somehow the foam inner cushion looked fairly intact. Mum's favourite colour is bright pink and she already had a director's chair in her studio in bright pink (and covered in flamingos!), so I picked a beautiful lamb's leather in fuchsia that I've had in my leather stash for years. 

I used a sample sale purchase of bright pink ribbed upholstery fabric for the gusset and a super long invisible zip, which I struggled to sew round the curved edges of the cushion - so it doesn't quite zip up the whole way.  But this is such an improvement from what I started with...I don't think I care that much! More importantly, neither does mum!

The original cushion...looking in desperate need of some attention.

Bright red tote bag (with hand printed lining and pom pom trim!)

My handbags never seem to be large enough to fit everything that I need and I'm often carrying around a second bag, so I decided to make a large leather tote for my next project. 

I picked up this beautiful pillar box red leather hide from the Tandy Leather factory stand at one of the London craft fairs (they sell online too) well over a year ago and I've always had it earmarked for a project like this. 

To avoid spending hours creating a new bag design, I chose a simple T-shape construction similar to my turquoise leather clutch (minus the flap), with long handles so the bag would sit comfortably on my shoulder. I didn't want to bother with any sort of closure so i added an inside zip pocket into the lining of the bag.

I used some sandy coloured linen for the lining that I had already screen printed with a bright red zebra motif design (the design is based on the body of a zebra, which was then cropped, rotated and repeated in order to create the design). Just before I was about to insert the lining into the bag, I came up with the idea  of adding a pompom trim to the inside of the lining, which I think adds a bit of fun to what is otherwise quite a simple bag!

I'm so pleased with the end result - for once I didn't rush any part of the construction, so the quality of the finishing looks pretty professional!

A close up of the pom pom trim and inside pocked detail

The all important details: 

• T-shaped construction: as with my turquoise leather clutch, I drafted the bag design using teh T-shaped construction method.
• Straps: In order to create perfectly straight straps for my bag, I used a "strap cutter" for the first time (bought from the Tandy Leather Factory). This is a fantastic tool that takes all the hassle out of cutting long thin strips of leather. 
• Securing the Straps: I picked up some brass screw rivets from the Tandy Leather factory (apparently they are called "Chicago Screws"), which were just right for attaching my handles to the main bag.
• Inside Pocket: since my bag wasn't going to have a zip/closure to protect my valuables from pesky thieves, I added an inside pocket to the lining - which was fairly straightforward to do (searching on Pinterest came up with a few tutorials).
• Finishing the raw edges: I'm not lucky enough to own a skiving machine, so all my bags tend to have raw finished edges (which tends to make them look a bit homemade. To make sure they looked super professional I used the following on the raw edges (all available from Tandy Leather):
  • Eco-Flo Gum Tragacanth: a thin layer of this transparent glue is applied to the raw edges. Before the glue dries, you use an "edge slicker" (see below for photos) to repeatedly rub the edges. The heat produced from friction of rubbing the wet glue with the edge slicker appears to smooth out the corners of the raw leather edges. This process is known as burnishing and can be repeated several times to achieve the desired level of burnish; and
  • Fiebings Edge Kote: once the edges have been neatened up with the Gum Tragacanth, you can "paint" the raw edges with Edge Kote (available in a multitude of colours and comes either in acrylic or dye) for a final professional touch. I chose black acrylic which was nice contrast against the bright red leather.
• Optional Detail: I hadn't noticed that the leather had some scratch marks and other imperfections across much of the hide (that'll teach me for buying it on the cheap!). I was going to add a strip of  black suede leather to sit over the centre of each side of the bag to cover some of these marks (screen printed with the same zebra motif design used for the lining) but ultimately I decided against it...

I used a simple T-shaped construction for my bag, with the top of the bag being wider than the bottom to create the classic tote bag shape.

Pattern pieces for the leather and lining all cut out and ready to sew (the leather hide wasn't big enough so I had to cut the bag in 2 pieces

A close up of the handles showing how accurate that strap cutter was (and my stitching wasn't too bad either!)

The lining of the bag, before the pom pom trim was attached, showing my hand printed zebra design and inside pocket detail.

essential pieces of equipment:

The fantastic strap cutter, which eliminates all the stress of cutting long strips accurately! You can just about see how it works from the bottom diagram on the instruction sheet.

Clockwise from left to right: the edge slicker; used in conjunction with the Gum Tragacanth to burnish and neaten the raw edges; Fiebing's leathercraft cement (i.e. leather glue!); Edge Kote to paint the raw edges; and finally the brass screw rivets (or Chicago screws as the website calls them).

Hand printed turquoise leather clutch bag

I have been waiting ages to complete this clutch bag. I bought this butter-soft turquoise leather hide at one of the Knit and Stitch craft shows in London well over a year ago.  The hide was only £10 as it was covered with light scratch marks, so it was the perfect candidate for trying out some screen printing on leather. I used my Art Deco / Charles Rennie Mackintosh inspired screen design with some navy blue screen printing ink (Jacquard professional) so it would show up against the bright turquoise leather. Once I had screen printed over the entire surface of the leather with, most of the imperfections were well hidden by the intricate design. 

The leather hide was quite thin (possibly intended for garment making rather than bags). Although I wanted a slouchy finish to my clutch bag, it needed a bit more body/structure. I picked up something called "spacer" material from the Cloth House clearance sale on Berwick Street in London ages ago (I'm told that it is used to add structure in garment making so it seemed like the right choice).

After a nice few warm sunny days this week, I thought Spring had finally sprung, but the grey clouds and colder temperatures have returned! So despite finally finishing this little bag, it definitely goes with more of my summer clothes so will have to wait a little longer for its first big outing!

The all important details:

• Bag pattern: I designed the patten pieces myself using a "T- shaped" bag construction. I find this one of the easiest bag constructions to design and make as you only need one pattern piece for the body of the bag, and (if your bag needs one) a separate piece for a flap...meaning minimal stitching time, which is great when you're using a domestic sewing machine that often struggles with leather;

• Tips for sewing leather using a domestic machine: I changed my sewing machine footer to a walking footer and changed the needle to a leather needle; I adjusted the tension on my machine and used bonded nylon thread rather than regular thread (as is commonly used for upholstery - Coats is a great brand);
• Magnetic closure: I used a set of hidden magnets to secure the bag closed, the first stitched into the lining of my bag and the second hidden within the decorative detailing on the front of the bag flap;
• Adding structure using "Spacer" material: this was my first attempt at using this material which looks like layers of webbing or netting. It bends and moves easily which is helpful when turning the bag inside out, but keeps its shape.  
• Using Rivets: something I've noticed with a t-shape construction, is that the side gussets poke out past the end of the flap....which isn't very nice to look at. Rivets are usually used to secure handles to bags, but a couple of carefully positioned rivets pinching the side gussets inwards worked perfectly to hide the excess side gusset. Perhaps next time, I won't use the spacer material for the entire the bag and only use it to add extra body to the front and back. 

The shape of the bag pattern, showing the measurements of the height and width of the bag; the depth of the gussets; seam allowance and fold lines. 

My leather hide cut out to size (flap not shown). I also cut out the same size in the lining and spacer fabric.  

Rivets: before and after. The rivets were carefully positioned to pinch the side gussets inwards to stop them poking out past the edge of the flap.