Simple Leather Backpack

backpack1
 

A lot of 2018 has been about trying new things, and over the weekend I tried my hand at sewing my very first leather bag. There’s a lot to learn about sewing with leather! It’s different from regular fabric in that you can’t hold pieces together with pins, you need a special foot that doesn’t stick to the leather to sew it properly, and if you decide to rip out your stitching, the holes in the leather made by the needle are permanent. Plus, it can stretch out when you sew. No pressure, right?

 

backpack5
 

To make my backpack, I used a tutorial from I Can Make Shoes as the base pattern for my backpack and all of the dimensions. I also followed a lot of the sewing techniques from the Craftsy class Making Leather Bags, which explained a lot how the home sewist can work with leather – I highly recommend it if you’re interested in sewing with leather.

But of course, I had to make it my own and veered off course…which presented its own problem. Believe me when I say that my sewing on this project is far from perfect! I’ll show you, too.

 

backpack3
 

The first thing I wanted to change to the original pattern was adding a zipper top underneath the backpack flap. The original pattern called for snaps (or “poppers” in the instructions) and I wanted something a bit more secure and less pickpocket-friendly. So that was my first challenge: figuring out how to line the leather bag with a zipper. Fortunately, the bag in the Craftsy class had a zipper, so I followed the instructions on how to do that. Where I went wrong, and it’s such a “d’oh!” moment, is that I failed to sew on the backpack flap, straps, and securing the magnetic snap all to the outside before adding the lining. Sigh…rookie mistake. This made everything much more problematic as you will see; I left a huge opening in the bottom of the lining to turn the bag and still allow access to the leather without the lining getting in the way. Famous last words.

 

backpack2
 

All of the seams use cold rubber tape (found on Amazon) applied to the seam allowances to prevent the leather from stretching. I held all of the pieces together with either double-stick tape or my Clover Wonder Clips where possible, and stitched the seams with a long stitch and a Bernina #55 leather foot, which is very similar to feet used on industrial sewing machines for sewing with leather. When I was ready to attach the backpack flap to the top of the bag, my machine just couldn’t do it: the sticky residue from the tapes and the thickness of the nylon straps and leather were just too much.

 

backpack8
 

Enter the industrial sewing machines at my office.  I snuck away for a few minutes during a break to sew the flap to the top of the backpack and secure the straps to the bottom of the back. There is definitely a learning curve with using the machine pictured above, called a post bed machine. It’s great for sewing curved shapes and projects, like bags, instead of flat pieces, but you can totally sew both. This guy powered through the layers of my project with ease. I sewed two rows of stitching, one very close to the end of the leather and another about 1/4″ in from there, which you can see in the picture further up of the flap. There’s definitely some wonky stitching going on since it was a little tough (and nerve-wracking) to maneuver, but there was no other way to do this!

 

backpack4
 

Sadly, this is what happened on the inside of my bag as a I stitched the flap – le sigh. As much as I tried to keep it out of the way, it just didn’t work out and it got all snarled in my stitching. I didn’t want to rip out any of the stitching because of the hole marks already made in the leather, so I’m just going to live with it – it’s in the inside and only I will see it.

 

backpack6
 

Here’s a view of the back – I totally guessed on where to attach the straps, I think they work ok, but I probably could have positioned them down a little closer to the bottom.

 

backpack7
 

Yummy yummy hardware – I ordered these 1″ sliders and triangles from Lonsdale Leather, they’re my favorite for bag hardware.

 

backpack9
 

Ok, so – this is my first-ever leather bag project, and it’s nowhere near perfection or to the standard I usually have with my sewing projects. I’m totally ok with that, I learned a ton and now I know some things I’d try differently next time. But I’m super pumped with how this turned out! I made a freaking leather bag – I can’t wait to try my hand at some more.

 

backpack10
 

Leather: embossed lamb from District Leathers
Pattern: Square Backpack from I Can Make Shoes
Zipper: Riri from Pacific Trimming
Hardware: Lonsdale Leather
Nylon Strapping: Pacific Trimming
Magnetic Snap: in stash

Follow:

Avoca One-Piece Swimsuit

Avoca 5
 

I really didn’t think I was going to make a swimsuit this year. Don’t get me wrong, I love sewing swimwear, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of cute one-piece swimsuit patterns out there – I’m no longer a bikini/two-piece kinda gal these days. But when Swim Style Patterns released their Avoca swimsuit pattern, I instantly fell in with the lace-up detail of the scoop back and the cute lace-up front, and it jumped to the top of my sewing queue for the summer.

Before I jump into sewing this swimsuit – omg, isn’t this spandex so freaking pretty?? This is a much sought-after Liberty London spandex that I found online from The Fabric Store in New Zealand. I honestly couldn’t find their spandex anywhere else, even when I went to the Liberty department store in London earlier this year! It was really hard to choose a print to use, but I love the vibrancy and colors of this floral print and thought it would pair nicely with this pattern.

I’ve never sewn with Swim Style Patterns, and to be honest, if you’re just starting out with sewing swimsuits, I’d recommend starting with a Big 4 pattern to learn swimwear construction techniques and then move to Swim Style. I think in the sewing community we have a tendency to be “nice” in our reviews of indie pattern companies and to not hold back when reviewing the Big 4 (or, at least, this is what I’ve seen), but my goal is to be as transparent as possible and provide guidance/help/advice for anyone thinking about trying out any particular sewing pattern – and I think this is why a lot of us got into blogging. With that being said, I overall was perplexed as to the “why” for constructing the suit in the manner that it was, and there’s quite a bit that I would change in my next version of this pattern.  I also found the written instructions to be a little funky and relied a lot on my prior swimsuit sewing knowledge to make this suit, but referred to the instructions for the placement of straps and other details like that.

 

Avoca 1
 

.

First things first: I’m not certain of how supportive this suit would be for larger-busted gals. I don’t have a lot going on up top (ahem), and there are some suggestions in the instructions on ways to add more support that I opted not to do (like adding piece of elastic around the underbust and along the sides of the cups), but I found myself regularly adjusting the straps to make sure I felt secure when jumping around in the waves and such. Maybe if I added the elastic underneath the bust it would be different? Not sure, I might give it a go the next time.

One thing that I wish I did when sewing the bust cups: construct them the normal way by stitching elastic along the edges of the cups, and then turning the seam allowance to the wrong side and stitching in place. Every RTW suit I ever owned is made this way, and every suit I made thus far is made that way. So, why not this one? What I found super annoying is that even though I under-stitched the lining per a reviewer’s suggestion on Pattern Review, it still managed to peek over the edge of the cups a bit and was visible when wearing the suit. If the bust cups were sewn the normal way with elastic and raw edges turned, this would not have happened! I think part of the reason why this instructions weren’t this way may have had to do with trying to create less bulk at the center front where the loops are added for the front lacing, but I would have been ok with a little bit more finagling with that part of the swimsuit vs having the lining showing. The instructions also call for top stitching of the cups, and maybe that would have helped to control the lining from coming out, but I couldn’t get the top stitching to look nice on the bias edge of the spandex cup, so I gave up.

The pattern includes a separate piece for a swim cup pocket – it’s a nice addition if you’re not a fan of using swim cups in swimwear and want the cups to be removable, but I would personally eliminate it and just insert the cup between the main fabric and the lining for simplicity.

 

Avoca 2
 

I’m really glad I made a mock-up of this pattern out of some spandex scraps in my stash before cutting into my Liberty spandex, because the rear coverage felt pretty skimpy to me. I ended up merging the bottom pattern from the Vogue 9192 suit I made with the torso of this swimsuit pattern, and got the fit and coverage I like and feel comfortable with.  So, beware if you make this suit and you like a more modest fit!

I also ignored the instructions on how to apply the elastic to the back and legs and did it my normal way: attach it to both layers of the suit (lining and main fabric) on the inside of the suit with my serger, turn the raw edges to the wrong side, and top stitch with a zig-zag stitch.

 

 

Avoca 3
 

Like I mentioned earlier, the back is what sold me on this pattern – isn’t that lacing detail a great design element?? Something I would change next time that may give the straps a more supportive role in the fit of the suit is to use elastic inside of the tube straps. I did this when I made a Maison Fleur bikini top, and when I wore the suit, the fit felt very secure and the elastic gave the straps more recovery. When wearing my Avoca suit on vacation, I had to really really pull and adjust the strap lacing and tie it super tight, otherwise there was too much slack in the simple spandex tubes. With this being such a key part of getting the fit right and keeping the suit in place, it’s worth a try to see if it improves the overall functionality.

 

Avoca 4
 

Overall, I really enjoyed wearing this suit on vacation last week to Ogunquit, ME and it checked off all of the boxes when I look for a one-piece suit: cute and stylish, on the somewhat modest side, but not too mumsy/mature looking. Despite my challenges with the pattern and things I wish I had done differently, I would make this again (or any patterns by Swim Style) but make sure to use the construction methods I know that work instead.

 

Avoca 6
 

Pattern: Avoca One-Piece by Swim Style Patterns
Fabric: Liberty spandex from The Fabric Store

Follow:

Linen Alder Shirtdress + Bronze Espadrilles

Linen Alder 1
 

 

You guys, I made a thing! Now that I’m done with classes for the semester, I finally finished my Alder Shirtdress that I started almost two months ago.

I’m trying to stash-bust this year and sew through the fabrics I accumulated over the past few years when I frequented NYC several times in a year for work. I picked up this striped linen on an impulse from Metro Textile last summer – Kashi said to take it and make a dress out of it, and it sat in my closet until some hot weather came our way and it seemed like a natural pairing with the Grainline Studio Alder Shirtdress. This linen is outside of my normal palette of colors and prints that I wear, but I absolutely love how it turned out.

 

Linen Alder 2
 

I previously made two different versions of this dress: a long sleeve shirtdress out of a chambray rayon and a tank version of this dress, both made last year. It seemed only natural that I should try making the original pattern! After making the tank, I realized that I needed to raise the bust dart since it was hitting way below my bust point. I raised it about an inch, but it could have gone up more since it’s still not quite where I need it to be.  But it’s not too noticeable, so I’m ok with it.

 

Initially, I was nervous I wouldn’t have enough fabric to match the stripes up across the front and back, but I lucked out with having just enough.  I’m so happy with how well everything matched up! I purposely tried to have the black stripe hit around the waist for a slimming effect instead of the thick band of white at my midsection.

 

The other thing I find interesting about this dress vs. the long sleeve version that I made is that I really like how this dress looks as-is and don’t feel that it needs to be belted or cinched in at the waist like I do for the long sleeve dress. My guess is because the Alder is more fitted across the chest than the pattern hack I did with the long sleeve dress, where I took the top part of the Grainline Archer Shirt pattern and combined it with the skirt of the Alder dress. My personal style is changing as well and I’m gravitating towards more loose fitting garments, and I’m less inclined to make and wear more fitted styles. So, the fit of this dress is now exactly what I’m looking for – especially when it’s hot outside.

 

Linen Alder 3
 

The back yoke and button band were both cut on the bias because there was no way I was going to even attempt to match those stripes up. I also opted to not use a lining piece for the yoke and serged the seams instead when joining the yoke to the back of the dress as a finishing option. I’m not even sure that I would have had enough fabric to line the yoke if I wasn’t lazy, which, confession: I was.

 

Linen Alder 4
 

Say hello to my new beauties! After making two pairs of sandals this summer and looking for inspiration on Pinterest for what to kind of shoes to make next, espadrilles seemed like the easiest and most beginner-friendly style to attempt next.  I found these soles on Etsy and they came straight from Spain, where authentic espadrille soles are made.  What I like about these soles is that they have a rubber bottom and heel, which makes them more durable and wearable than soles that are 100% jute. I also have a pair of espadrille wedges that I think I’ll save for next summer, I just don’t have the time (or materials) to make them this summer.

 

Linen Alder 5
 

I drafted this pattern off of a wide sandal strap pattern I had, but hand-drew the shape of the vamp based on a pair I saw at Nordstrom. The upper is made out of an Italian goat leather with a foil treatment to give it a metallic look, and lined with a light brown Nappa lamb. Using a leather roller foot, I stitched the lining and upper together along top and the vamp, and then hand-stitched the upper to the sole using a special cotton espadrille thread and needle. The machine stitching is far from perfect and it’s going to take some time to get used to sewing leather on my Bernina, but I’m please as punch with how these turned out! It’s almost as if they’re made for this dress.

 

Pattern: Alder Shirtdress by Grainline Studio
Fabric: linen from Metro Textiles
Sandals: self-made, own pattern

Follow:

What I Made in 2018 (So Far)

ACS_0049
 

If you follow my Instagram feed, you know things have been a little quiet when it comes to sewing…2018 has been a bit of an adventurous year so far! Most of my sewing distraction is due to being a new homeowner – my husband and I bought a house at the beginning of the year and it’s been taking up a lot of my time to get everything unpacked, set up, and fixed up outside in the yard this summer. School is no walk in the park either, and taking summer classes is a bit of a drag when all you want to do is hang out at the pool or beach in the nice weather. But in the time since the beginning of the year, I made a few new things, so I thought a compilation post of everything all at once would be best to share what I’ve made so far in 2018.

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-07-18 at 3.21.13 PM

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-07-18 at 3.10.25 PM
 

 

I went to London this spring for work and was on a mission to get to Liberty – oh man, what a beautiful department store with lovely things, and what a fabulous haberdashery floor! It was so hard to leave with just two cuts of fabric, and it would have been more had I not been traveling with a carry-on suitcase. I settled on two Tana cotton lawn prints and whipped up an Ogden Cami from one print (first pic above) and a Willamette Shirt from the second, both of which are on heavy rotation this summer. The Willamette is a new favorite go-to pattern for an easy breezy top on hot days.

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-07-18 at 3.11.14 PM
 

 

This Willamette Shirt may be my favorite of the two – I completely copied a version I saw on Instagram and used a print from the new Cotton + Steel/Rifle Paper collab to make a beachy version. It goes really well with this pair of Maritime Shorts!

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-07-18 at 3.10.53 PM
 

 

We had a nasty heat wave recently in Boston where the weather was 90+ for over a week, and on top of that, the AC went out at work – yuck. I’ve been trying to sew from my stash (which, as you can see from the above projects, isn’t going so well, hah!) and this ITY jersey from Joann Fabrics I bought years ago was perfect for recreating a favorite summer dress, McCall’s 6752. I made the original five years ago and wore it a lot, but the fabric was cheap and didn’t hold up very well. Hoping to get more mileage out this version!

 

 

IMG_9333

 

 

After taking a shoemaking class in NYC in January, I’m totally hooked on learning whatever I can about making shoes. Using a kit from Rachel Sees Snail Shoes, I made my first pair of sandals and learned so much more about shoes! Everything I needed to make a pair was included: the leather, different shoe patterns, rubber, knife and awl, cement, and a leather punch. Plus, I got access to a video lesson that walks through each of the steps to make a custom pair of sandals.

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-07-18 at 3.11.37 PM

 

 

This was my next attempt at sandals, making my own pattern and trying some different things. They’re nothing too fancy and pretty basic, but I wear them a lot.

 

 

IMG_9555

 

 

ACS_0051

 

 

These are the sandals I am the most proud of so far – a pair of me-made Birkenstock sandals!! After stalking Jasika’s Instagram and blog, where she posted details of how she made her own Birks, I found some supplies on Ebay and Etsy to make my own (namely, the cork footbed and outsole material). To make the pattern, I copied a pair of knock-off Birk sandals from target to get the shape of the straps right. After cutting out my leather, I painted the little white dots on with some leather paint. Then it was a matter of assembling everything and boom! I had a new pair of sandals in a weekend.

 

 

I have a few other things on deck right now: a linen Alder shirt dress, an Ogden Cami/shorts PJ set, a one-piece swimsuit for vacation in August, and some more sandal and leather projects. Now it’s just a matter of finding time to get all of these things made! Just one more week of grad school to go for the summer, and I have one month off until the fall semester starts. Hope to get a lot done!

Follow:

I Made a Pair of Shoes and I Want To Make More

blue wavy shoes 1
 

I can’t think of a better way to start off 2018 than by learning something new – how to make a pair of shoes! Ever since listening to the Love to Sew Podcast episode with Jasika Nicole, I’ve been curious about shoe making (and heck, I work for a footwear company, so…). I never thought it was something I could learn to do, or that there were classes out there that I could take. After some googling and trying to find classes around me, I decided to make a little mini vacation of it and travelled to NYC for a long weekend of sight-seeing and shoe making at Brooklyn Shoe Space.

Get ready for a whole lot of photos of the process of making those blue mules you see up top – yes, those are the shoes I made with my own two hands in my class!

 

bss 4
 

bss 5
 

bss 3

Brooklyn Shoe Space is workshop space for shoe makers and leather workers where you can take classes and even become a member and use the space to work on your own projects. The workshop is two floors: the upstairs is where I spent a lot of time cutting out the pattern and lasting the leather, downstairs is the gluing station and the sander (plus a bunch of other stuff that I didn’t use or know about!). Check out that wall of leather, isn’t it drool-worthy? It was hard trying to narrow down what I wanted to use for my shoes because they’re all so beautiful.

 

shoe making 1
 

shoe making 3
 

I really wanted these shoe to look unlike anything you would find in a store, so what’s better than bright blue and yellow shoes? The pattern was pre-made for the class, which made it easier since I didn’t have to worry about drafting the pattern (although I want to learn how to do this now). I cut out a pair of uppers, wavy straps, and a midsole binding from the blue leather, a pair of uppers and wavy straps from light blue pigskin suede for the lining, and using my pinking shears I cut out the yellow leather for the sockliner.

 

shoe making 5
 

shoe making 4
 

I didn’t get any photos of assembling the midsole with the midsole board, leather board, and skiving and gluing the leather around the midsole component, but the lasting part was a lot more interesting anyway lol. All of the upper and lining pieces were glued together; the upper of the shoe was only glued to the lining about an inch from the edge, and the strap and lining piece were completely glued together.

After the midsole was complete, I nailed it into the bottom of the last – literally, into the plastic last! – and then secured the tab from the lining to the top of the last with some nails and tape. Then, it was time to last the lining. I don’t know what I thought I’d be doing to make shoes, but I was surprised at how much hammering is involved in shoe making, and how much work is actually done on your lap. Using pincers (those red plier-like things in the above photo), I pulled and stretched the pigskin suede over the toe to the bottom of the shoe, nailed it in place, and alternated the same procedure on each side. The idea is to get the lining completely smooth with no wrinkles, and the stretching and nailing shapes the leather. After everything is smoothed into place, cement is applied to adhere the leather to the midsole, nails are removed, and then you go to town hammering out the leather and smoothing everything out some more!

 

shoe making 6
 

shoe making 8
 

Same procedure for the upper leather, but this time it was much harder because the leather for the upper is thicker than the lining leather. I had a bit of a hard time with this step because I wasn’t used to using the pincers and trying to get the leather pulled tight enough over the last and nailing it in place at the same time was a bit tricky. I needed a lot more nails for the upper to work out all of the extra ease and wrinkles.

Also, between the lining and upper layers is something called a toe puff – it’s a heat-activated thermo plastic that holds the shape of the toe, making the shoe stiff.  It’s pretty cool, had no idea that’s what’s keeping the shape of our shoes intact.

 

shoe making 7
 

That’s a pretty looking shoe, if I may say so myself!

 

shoe making 9
 

Since there’s a bit of a gap at the ball of the foot from where the leather meets the midsole, pieces of cork are glued in to make the bottom of the midsole nice and even. The edges of the leather around the midsole are sanded so when it’s time to cement the leather sole to the midsole, it will adhere better.

 

shoe making 10
 

Looking like a pair of shoes now! The straps were stretched over the last and nailed and then glued in place before affixing the leather sole with super-duper strong cement. You can also see in the photo above the yellow sockliner pieces along with some black neoprene, which is used as an extra cushioning between the sockliner and the midsole board.

 

blue wavy shoes 4
 

These also have a small heel made of two layers of soling leather and a piece of heel rubber. I stamped my initials in the bottom of the leather sole before adhering the sockliner and cushion to the inside of the shoe, because why not? Not shown in these photos, but the heel of the shoe was nailed in place at three points from the midsole into the heel. Then, using an anvil, two nails were hammered on each side of the strap on the outsole to get a stronger strap attachment.  The anvil was handy for when the nail was coming in through the midsole, since it would stop it, and then the nail was trimmed on the outsole as close as possible and hammered flat.

The very last step after everything was glued, cemented, and nailed in place, was to give the leather soling a finish with a burnishing tool and some beeswax, which smoothed the leather out some more and gave the leather a nice, shiny brown finish.

 

blue wavy shoes 2
 

blue mules
 

This was a super-intense class – it was a whole day, and to be honest if it wasn’t for the fact that my instructor was helping me as I went with these shoes, I wouldn’t have completed them in that time. I was so slow! But I wanted to make sure that I made these the best I could, and it was such a different way of working with my hands than when sewing or even knitting.

Now that I made my first pair of shoes, I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can take them for a spin. But on the flipside, I want to keep them nice! I’m so worried about the possibility of getting them messed up or scuffed, and these shoes are special. For now, I’m wearing them around my house a little bit to break them in and I keep staring at them where I keep them near my couch, hahahaha.

I’ve been bitten by the shoe making bug – I’m currently waiting for a sandal making kit from Rachel Sees Snail Shoes, I found some lasts on Etsy in my size that are on their way, I’m compiling a list of places to source all of the materials and tools I’ll need (little by little, the costs can add up), and I’ve been watching shoe making videos and reading leather working books. I definitely want to try and make my way back to Brooklyn Shoe Space later this year for another class, and I would love to save up my pennies and travel to Toronto next year for a 5-day shoe making workshop. Now I find myself staring at people’s shoes, wondering how they were made!

If you ever have the chance to take a class at Brooklyn Shoe Space, or even to take a shoe making class in general, I highly recommend it – it’s addictive!

Follow: