Today’s Boston Globe has a very amusing story about the Birkin, a handbag whose legendary exclusiveness is firmly quashed in the story.
And if you like Posh’s Roland Mouret dress Burda WOF did a pretty good knock-off.
Erica’s version is really hot!
For this shoulder bag I used 2 brick-red leather hides, both were about 7 ½ foot large. This bag is a rectangle shape, zippered pocket on the front partly hidden under the flap and one zippered pocket at the backside for easy access.
Plus an inside pocket at the backside of the lining bag and a key lash stitched at the side seam of the lining bag.
I drafted a rectangle shape on paper with a fold over flap and measured my leather to see if I had enough leather, copied the rectangle paper pattern and add the several pieces for the pockets front and back and added a small piece to attach the shoulder straps, added seam allowances (3/8 inch (1 cm) for the side seams and 5/8 inch (1,5 cm) for all the other seams).
After cutting out the pattern parts from the interfacing I taped the paper pattern still with the interfacing pinned ontoo the leather with some medical paper tape.
The small pictures are all ThumbNail , just click and you see a larger image.
I made a long shoulder strap so I could wear this bag also crossed over. The strap is sewn with 3 pieces to get that extra long length.
The size of this bag is 17 inch (43 cm) wide, 12 inch (30 cm) high.
The total height is 17.7 inch (45 cm). Bottom depth is 2.4 inch (6 cm).
Shoulder strap is 59 inch (150 cm) long and 1 ¼ inch (3 cm) wide, so I also can choose to wear it crossed over. Outside pockets are 13 inch (33 cm) long and 6 1/8 inch (16 cm) deep.
I started with fusing leather interfacing to all the parts except the shoulder straps.
This non-woven interfacing is special made for leather because it can be fused with a low heat iron.
The bottom part and the part where the shoulder straps are sewn between are fused with a heavy hair canvas interfacing for some added strength.
All the seams are stitched and glued and flattened down before any stitching from the right side.
The zippers are sewn at the pocket openings, between the already closed seams.
I marked the seam allowance wide with a pencil (by folding the allowance back to the inside with the zipper teeth just inside the fold line) and glued the fold line of the zipper/pocket opening. The marked pencil is a guidance line only.
Then I used craft double-sided adhesive tape cut in half (because I only needed a narrow piece) to attach the pocket lining over the zipper-tape. Raw sides of the pocket lining and seam allowance match.
From the right side I sewed the zipper and the lining pocket (sandwiched stitched)
Now the other side of the pocket lining and zipper are stitched. The next step is sewing the pocket lining pieces together to form a pocket.
The lining for the bag is interfaced with a woven interfacing for adding some strength.
The leather is sewn with my new purchased “used” Singer 20U machine, Güterman strong polyester thread size 100 and sewing machine needle size 14/90.
I used several sewing machine feet for sewing this bag.
The Teflon and roller feet are great for sewing leather. I also used the Right Hinged Narrow Cording foot and glued some Teflon tape under the foot for top-stitching the shoulder strap at the center.
The Right Compensating Top-stitch Foot was great to edge stitch the shoulder strap.
Lining leather for reinforcing the magnetic snaps and to cover them so the metal parts will not weaken the lining.
The inside lining pocket 7 x 7 inch (18 x 18 cm) is from a double layer of lining with the opening at the fold line which I glued down with a strip of double side fusible hem tape. The pocket is stitched around right sides together but I left a small part open at the bottom to turn the pocket inside out. Pressed and edge stitched at the lining bag.
There was some leather left but it was damaged, but I could use this part and cut around the damaged spot and add some color to the inside pocket. I made a template 3/8 inch (1 cm) wide and 3/8 inch ( 1 cm) wider than the length and wide of the pocket so the edges of the pocket is covered by nearly 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) and stitched the leather around the pocket edges.
I used a Pritt glue stick for temporarily securing the leather around the pocket edges and used the zipper foot to stitch it close to the edges.
For the bag opening I used a different zipper a non-separate one which can be used for garment sewing like in a a dress. This zipper has a smaller and narrower zipper coil, which does not add weight and is more flexible for the purpose of this bag.
The zippers I used for the pockets are separate ones which are sturdier.
The only hand sewing I did was finishing the last inch ( 2,5 cm) from the pocket lining seams towards the top side,
prick stitched the lining bag at the zipper tape at the bag opening so it will stay put,
secured the lining side seams about halfway down with a couple of stitches towards the leather side seams and sewed a few stitches at the bottom of the bag to attach the leather and lining bottom together.
I closed the opening in the lining bag side seam, (which was needed to turn the bag inside out) with a ladder stitch.
Since the inside of the shoulder strap was not as nice butted together as it should be, although I tried to do it right by marking a line at the center where the edges would meet eachother.
I noticed that after stitching a hairline away from the center edges with the zipper foot and topstitch from the right side along the outer edges there was a small gap which showed the natural leather color.
I bought some leather colored polish to fill in the gap. I was lucky that the color brick red is the same as the bag. Used a narrow tiny brush to “paint” the gap between the folded and stitched edges to cover the natural brown suede leather which on some spots was visible.
Also a bag stop was glued at the center of the inside shoulder strap. This bag stop prevents the strap from gliding of my shoulder.
This last thumbnail picture reflects the true color of my new bag the best.
My store bought black leather bag was worn out so I made a copy because I still liked the design and the size. This was one of my first leather bags I made.
Sewing is done with a commercial sewing machine and regular sewing machine needles.
The size of this bag is wide 13,5 inch ( 34,5 cm) height 12,5 inch ( 32 cm) bottom depth is 4 inch ( 10 cm) and the shoulder-strap is 45 inch long ( 112 cm)
I used a printed sturdy leather , several interfacings , lining leather to reinforce the bottom, leather glue , leather tape to reinforce the zipper opening, medical paper tape to secure the patterns on the leather while I did cut the leather with a Kai cutter. A hammer for flatten the seams.
Hansel leather interfacing which can be fused on a low temperature.
Front side zippered pocket.
The inside pockets, one welt pocket with a snap, one zippered pocket, pen holder, cell phone holder and key ring holder.
The dark green lining is interfaced to give it some more durability, because this lining is not a sturdy bag lining.
The bag closure is done by 2 bag snaps and a piece of Velcro which acts as a pickpockets alarm.
Back view
Bottom view.
Added a bag stop at the inside center part of the shoulder bag so the strap stays on my shoulder .
Vogue pattern 7703 view D was used to make this drawstring bag in butter soft blue leather.
I used 2 pieces of soft leather, one hide was 5 foot and the other was 7 foot .
Three different fusible interfacings to add some strength and add some body to the bag because the leather was too soft to become a bag on its own.
On top the extra heavy woven, middle the non woven, at the bottom hansel. These interfacings are special made to use with leather, because you can fuse the interfacing with the iron on a warm setting.
The non-woven interfacing was fused on all the pattern parts except the drawstring as an underlay for the woven leather interfacing Hansel which is a bit rough and I did not want to change the hand of the leather.
The extra heavy interfacing is added to the bottom part on top of the previous two interfacings, the leather facing parts and the shoulder strap.
Dupioni silk fabric was used for the lining, front pocket lining and the interior pocket.
I made some pattern and design changes. The backside of the bag is sewn with a center seam because I had not enough leather to cut that pattern without a seam. It was an easy alteration, just double half of the center backside pattern and add seam allowances. I topstitched the s.a. on both sides of the center back seam.
The front pocket was too wide to my taste so I stitched a line at the center of the pocket, now there are 2 separate pockets.
The pattern instructions suggest to use cardboard for the bottom part. I was not satisfied with the result it was too stiff so I used a remnant piece of upholstery leather which I glued to the bottom part.
Also skipped one of the shoulder straps because I find it annoying that wearing a shoulder bag which has 2 long shoulder straps , one of the shoulder straps is always falling down .
I used only one shoulder strap (the length of the pattern strap is 21,5 inch /55 cm while I used a 38,5 inch/ 98 cm length) which I sewed diagonal at the front and at the back side of the bag.
The instructions for sewing the lining bag was different than what I did. I sewed the side seams of the lining but left one piece open for turning after I attached the lining at the leather facing and sewed the bottom part. The last step for sewing the lining part was to sew the left open part by hand.
I noticed too late that the placement of the interior pocket was too high placed, so if you want to make this bag be aware of this. It will be more convenient if the posket is placed lower on the pattern an adding a snap would be handy too.
I made this bag last year when I could download the pattern for this Nairobi bag from the Hotpatterns newsletter in October 2006,
I used a faux printed green leather to make this bag with some modifications.
The size of the bag I made is 15½ x 11 x 2 inch (39 x 28 x 5 cm)
The pattern came with sewing instructions but I did not follow them because I made some alterations on the pattern so I used the common sense attitude.
I used green faux printed leather, a woven interfacing to support the faux leather, 2 metal teeth zippers, rigilene boning, lining which I interfaced with a fusible stretch interfacing, double sided fusible craft tape, 2 silver metal D-rings with screws, a bag stop and a key ring all from my stash.
I made some minor design changes. First I like my bags with a zipper closure so I redraw the opening for the bag in a more fluent shape so I could attach a zipper to close the bag, see the red lines for the new shape opening.
I also did cut a longer shoulder strap.
To attach the bottom side part I used 3/8 inch (1 cm) seam-allowance instead of the 5/8 inch (1,5cm). This will result in a bit wider/deeper bottom/side part as well as the bag itself.
I wanted to keep the shape of the bag and prevent my bag to collapse , so I used rigilene boning .
I glued the boning all away around the bag between the seam allowances of the bottom/side part start and finish about 5/8 inch ( 1,5cm) from the opening .
Used a double sided fusible tape and fused this tape ( using a Teflon sheet to protect the faux leather) next to the bottom seams, glued the rigilene boning to the tape and top-stitched the seam allowance from the right side . The first stitching line is close to the seam and the next stitching line a bit farther away.
I 
The zipper closure is made of 2 rectangle pieces of fabric and lining the same wide as the upper side opening.
For the closure of the bag I sewed the lining (facing) at the zipper tape next to the teeth, fold the lining away and sewed the zipper at the fabric, pinned the lining bag at the bag opening and sewed the closure/opening part at the bag opening, pivoting at the corners on which I already basted the shoulder strap loops.
Double sided fusible tape is also fused at the seam allowances of both the bag upper part and the part where the zipper was stitched, top-stitched those seams from the outside, fused the tape also at the zipper tape next to the lining and folding the lining over it and hand stitched the facing lining at the bag lining part. This way the top-stitching is only visible from the outside and invisible from the lining part.
The fabric loops for the D-rings are made to measure.
The faux leather fabric is interlined with a woven fusible interfacing , the lining with a stretch fusible interfacing and I did the zipper pocket my way, also placed the pocket lower than the pattern marks. The pattern for the cell phone pocket was too narrow for my cell phone so I adjusted that and skipped the other small pocket. Sewed the cell phone pocket at one side of the bottom side part and added a key ring to the other side which in this picture is not visible.
For both the pockets I used the lining fabric double to add some strength .
For the shoulder strap I did not want to add bulk by using seam allowances on the long sides so I did some testing to get the least bulk at the seams.
I sewed the strap wrong sites together in half with a loose tension large zigzag stitch but only ½ of the zigzag stitch catches the fabric, pulled those two edges from each other and the result was a non bulk shoulder strap.
I wove a piece of cotton twill tape through the shoulder strap with the help of a safety pin and top-stitched the strap along both edges.
The finishing touch was attaching a bag-stop,
Which I glue on every shoulder strap of my bags rtw or self made,to prevent sliding from my shoulder.
By Diva Els
Since I made my last leather bag I felt the urge to sew another one for everyday use. I save my bags although they are be worn out or out of date but I cannot throw a bag away. One of my favourite bags ((bought 10 years ago) was worn out but I still like the design and the hardware was good enough to reuse again.
So I made a copy of this bag.
A piece of dark green butter soft leather was in my stash and waiting for a use.
I measured the bag width, length, height, and depth and made a paper pattern.
The original bag has a center seam at the side where the zipper pocket is placed but I had enough leather to skip that seam. 
I interfaced the leather parts with a fusible non-woven special leather interfacing which can be ironed with a warm iron. 
The non-woven interfacing is cut with seam allowances. The bottom and side part could use a bit more strength so I added an extra layer of a sturdier interfacing between the first and second layer (this one without seam allowances).
The shoulder straps also could use a bit more strength so I did some testing and used a piece of petersham ribbon as an extra layer.
The opening of the bag where the zipper will be attached is stabilized with fusible seam tape as well as the lining opening.
I used leather glue to hold the leather seam allowances, and a hammer to flatten the seams. The bag has two pockets on both sides, one is an open pocket,
and on the other side a zippered one.
The lining is interfaced with a fusible cotton red interfacing. The inside pocket is made of a double layer of the lining fabric.
The inside pocket
has a double function, the outside is a zippered pocket while the under layer is an open pocket,
This pocket is sewn at the lining by topstitching around the edges. I also added a key ring at the side depth of the bag.
When I was sewing the short end of the zipper at the bag with the hardware ring attached, I noticed I made a mistake. The hardware has a silver colour and I used a matching green with brass colour zipper teeth.
I removed the green brass zipper from the opening but left the pocket zipper because that side is not shown to the public while I wear that bag. I wear my shoulder bag on my left shoulder so the zipper pocket is towards my body. I bought a new green zipper with silver teeth which had a nice zipper pull,
but the colour was not spot on and the zipper was not working properly. It was stiff. I tried to smooth it by rubbing beewax on the teeth but it did not help. So I decided to use another zipper from my stash. This time a grey one that worked okay but needed to be covered to hide the grey tape.
I used 2 strips of leather to cover the tape.
I stretched the leather a bit while sewing the leather at the zipper tape so the zipper has the same shallow shape, to match the bag’s shape.
So the zipper is sewn in on a different way. The original bag zipper opening is topstitched and the zipper tape was partly visible.
It was easy to sew this bag on my Pfaff sewing machine because the leather was soft, the hardest part was sewing in the zipper. I needed to do some tests for the zipper to see which order to sew it. I found out that the short side of the zipper, where the ring is attached, needed to be sewn in first. Secondly, the zipper long ends on both sides, and lastly the other short end where the shoulder straps is attached.
The lining is sewn in by hand at the zipper tape,
because I had already glued the leather seam allowance to the inside.
The final step was to add the bag stop,
which helps to prevent the shoulder strap gliding of my shoulder.
Finished bag.
Done and ready to use.
By Diva Els
I wanted to make a copy of this unusual shaped bag after reading about this bag at
Kathleen Fasanella’s website And reading more about the bag that Gigi is making
I had hopes to find the pattern but no luck . Gigi was kind enough for tracing the pattern pieces and sent it to me in The Netherlands.
Items I used for this bag:
The leather bag is sewn with a home machine Pfaff 1467, I used a regular sewing foot on which I glued a piece of Teflon under the foot. Stitch length 3.5, needle size 90 and regular Gütermann thread. Leather glue, small piece of lining leather and a hammer to pound the seams flat. I had a large piece of leather about 32 square foot in my stash and it was enough for making this huge bag, although I had to cut the front pocket with a center seam. Fusible hair canvas for leather in two different weights and a soft non woven fusible special for leather.
I also used fusible woven tape for leather at the front opening and the inside pockets for stabilising, as well as 2 pieces of rigilene boning (6 and 12 mm)
Detail rigilene boning,
The wider one 12 mm which I stitched at the inside of the flap at the spot where the back parts ends and the flap starts.
The other piece of rigilene boning (6 mm ) I glued between the facing and the upper part of the front and topstitched from the right side of the bag.
The most heavy haircanvas is fused at the back, side parts and the shoulder straps ( without seam allowances), the other pattern parts are interfaced with the lighter weight canvas while the nonwoven interfacing is fused at the flap facing, the inside pocket, and the shoulder strap facing part.
The pockets are lined except the cell phone pocket. To further strenghten the straps I decided to use a bit more interfacing so I fused a second layer of the heavy hair canvas to these.
The magnetic closure at the front is stabilized with a piece of leather lining at the inside and I also glued a piece of the leather lining on top of it so the metal part is covered and can not damage the leather.
I added a cell phone pocket and a key ring at the side part.
The straps were cut longer and were not tied in a knot (in contrast to the Pattern example), but they were sewed together as one. I like the longer shoulder strap so I can wear the bag crossed over the shoulder.
I added a Vogue American Designer Original label inside the back pocket,
The unusual shape of the bag bottom,
The sizes of the bag I made are:
width 16 inch ( 41 cm)
depth side 9,5 inch ( 24 cm)
height 12 inch ( 30 cm
Shoulder strap length 53 inch ( 134 cm)
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