As you know most of my free time is spent in vintage fairs and antique markets rummaging through piles of clothing and findings. I bought some great antique gold thread that I am going to use to do decorative hand-stitching. I also love that these threads are still in their original paper packaging. The one pictured above was manufactured in France and was going to be imported in NY, but I guess it never made it there.
I found this great striped textile remnant recently and thought, ooh, I will make a simple bag and attach this fabric as the handles. This simple idea turned into a not-so-simple project which turned into a week's worth of work, further proving that nothing is ever simple when it comes to handmade accessories.
I was able to execute the pattern quickly (after I messed it up, twice) since is a simplified version of the earlier satchel I made, without all of the hardware and passantini.
Instead of just stitching down the fabric to the leather, I attached the fabric to salpa, then backed it with leather, folded the leather onto the edges of the fabric (are you still with me?), folded the handles in half around the shoulder part, stitched them together, and then stitched the flat part of the handles onto the bag. There is pezzatura (seams) of leather on the backside of the straps, since it runs the entire length which measures over 140cm. Every time I tried to "scarnire" to eliminate the bulk that is created when attaching the pieces of leather to each other, I sliced right through it since I had made it very thin... which meant back to cutting, passing it through the spazzatrice (to diminish the overall thickness of the original skin), and then scarnire on the machine (to elminate the thickness just around the edges, to prepare it for wrapping). You might not be able to tell the scale in the photo above, but the bag is approximately 50cm x 50cm (roughly 20 inches). I am a fanatic when it comes to the length of shoulder straps, so trust me when I tell you they are just right.
When I was nearly finished, I decided it should have a zipper...
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2 comments:
BRAVA, AMANDITA!!!!! Looks amazing!!!!! I can't wait to see it in person. xoxo
this remains my favourite bag. it's perfect, the shoulder strap length (or so you claim), the colour, the soft leather, and the zipper which as you know is a must in Italy if you want to keep your belongings.
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