I am that girl.

When I arrived in the classroom for the first time in January, my classmate Rita was in the final stages of assembling a beautiful purple handbag, and I remember thinking to myself, I wish I were doing that too. I reminded myself that with time and patience, I would steadily reach that point. We had a new student join us last week, and as I stood at my banco busily working on my handbag, I could see in her eyes what I felt in mine months ago. She wanted to be doing what I was, but instead, she was working on the eyeglass cases that are a distant memory for me now. So often we arrive somewhere without taking the time to notice the steps that we took to get there. There are days that I get so caught up in the project at hand that I forget all of the small projects I've done on the way that have gotten me to the present.

This is the actual leather. Simple, black, bovine leather. I laid out the pattern pieces very carefully to efficiently cut the leather. I used a half hide, and had only a tiny piece to spare, which means I can cut two of this style out of one skin of leather. This is, of course, assuming I do not make any mistakes that require me to re-cut the pattern pieces.

We construct the handbag from the inside out, so the first part of the process is completing the lining. I bought this fabric in the Paris flea market. My bag will feature a "tremezzo," which is a zippered pocket in the middle of the lining that creates two compartments on either side. For all of you zippered pockets fanatics quite like myself, there is another smaller one on one side of the lining.

This is where I was determining the length of the straps that will connect to the handles. I know this is not easy for you to see or understand if you are not a visual person, but it will all make sense once you see the final product. If you are not into the technical stuff, here is your cue to skip ahead. For you handbag designers and patternmakers, this is where the "maniglie," handles, will connect to the bag. The ring is actually upside-down in the photo, but the shoulder strap will be fixed on the ring from the top, and there will be "gimelli" below so you will be able to adjust the length of the handles, kind of like a belt.
Configuring the placement of the "gimelli," which are the components that resemble cufflinks, and the "passantini," the small loop that will hold the strap in place. The "gimelli" will allow for the straps to be adjustable.
My sewing has come a very long way since the day Acci ate my handbag. These straps are a sandwich of material, consisting of salpa #2 on the inside and two layers of leather on the outside. I cut all three layers precisely, and then to give it a finished edge, I executed the same technique I used when I finished the edges of the "tracolla" (straps) for my earlier projects, and the pieces of the passport cases. First, I "tingere," (paint) the edges with black opaque paint, and then pass the pieces through a machine that buffs the edges and removes the glue. Repeat the process twice, and you have a nice smooth finished edge, just like a belt.

This is the inside of the bag which will not be visible from this point on. I put the white silk behind the straps that you see on the outside to prevent the leather from getting caught in the machine. It makes the sewing much easier and smoother. The smaller patches of silk are covering the "passantini" that you see above. They are threaded through the front side of the bag, and glued in the back. The silk will keep them secure. Of course, first, I must first "scarnire" the ends to make it less bulky, then glue the ends together on the backside (kind of like a ring passing through the bag), then hammer it down, and finally, glue the silk on to hold it in place. Of course this is work you will never see, but are necessary steps to properly form the shape of the bag. Overlooking any part of these processes can result in an undesirable effect that you may not even see until years down the line when the leather becomes more supple.

My first bag beginning to take shape.
I would like to take this moment to thank my friends in Scandicci who are making this bag possible. I found hardware and components in some small shops in the center of Firenze, but I was not completely satisfied. I ventured out to Scandicci, one of the industrial zones on the outskirts of Firenze. Even though I was in the epicenter of the hardware universe, I still had difficulty finding exactly what I wanted. I had particular sizes with particular metal finishes in set in my mind and was determined to find nothing less. After hours of rummaging, I of course kept selecting the pieces that were at the very bottom of the drawer, of which they only had 3 from their last order in 1970. Then I would go through the drawer next to it just to see if I could find a 4th that was mis-filed... For those of you who know me this is typical. The effort will never be done in vain, as these are the details that will make my bags so quintessentially me.