Shoulder bag

What: shoulder bag

Material used: Leather (sorry I have no idea whats that finish is called)

Pattern: rub-off from a RTW faux leather bag with some minor changes

I actually planned to use a leather jacket my friend "donated" to me for this bag, but it had too many seams and pieces to make a bag in this size work, so I went and bought a piece of leather from Abakhan. 

The texture is patchy and uneven, resembling suede in places, so I tried to cut the bag out so that it wont show on the front side. 

Back of the bag has a cut in pocket with zipper closure. I've noticed those pockets usually cause my woolen coats to pill at the spot where the pocket rubs against the coat, so I decided to cover the zipper with a welt. 

I took the D-rings and buckle with slider bar from the original bag. Screw head rivets are from my stash.

A very handy zipper closure hidden under the flap

The flap closes with a magnetic snap. Inner side of the flap was cut from that old leather jacket I mentioned above. 

The whole bag was interlined with felt, that I attached to leather with spray glue. I was ever so careful while gluing the felt to the leather and still ended up with two glue stains on the right side! Thankfully, none of them really shows. 

The strap, areas where snaps are attached and the back pocket opening were strengthened by gluing cotton fabric to leather, thus preventing the leather from stretching out.

I used black medium weight cotton for lining. The lining has two pockets - one with zipper and one slide-in pocket, you know, the usual stuff. 

My machine handled sewing leather pretty well. I had few skipped stitched here and there thanks to the glue and double sided tape I used to keep stuff in place. But that wasn't anything I couldn't fix.

I am pretty damn pleased with myself, even thou the bag has it's small flaws. Pretty damn good for a first try!

Have you made a bag that's wee bit more complicated than a tote? Ever wanted to make a bag?