Good resources for learning to make your own bags?

[Luna]

You may need too:
Sharp scissors (Fiskars are very good, you can buy Fiscars sharpeners too - you'll need them w. leather)
Leather needles for sewing-machine (most haberdashery stores carry them).

My toolkit (it's very basic), from the bottom:
-scissors
-bookbinding bone (my favourite tool; I use it for everything, from spreading glue to polishing, smoothing, creasing etc. This one was carved by my friend 15 years ago from the leftovers of a Sunday lunch, but you can buy them in spec. shops or on ebay.)
- awls, triangular & flat (online, shops, or ebay - I got mine from an old cobbler)
- Opinel penknife (not exactly professional, but very sharp. I the carbon blade! Available in good hunting/angling shops)
- hole-puncher & setter (few bucks for a set of 6 on eBay. Don't buy the revolving handheld ones, they are useless)
- a surgical thingy which I don't know the English word for, but very useful. (Originally it was meant for keeping the arteries shut during surgery.)
Sewing-machine: try to get an old, robust uggly one - they are much stronger (cheaper too!) Even better: an old, foot-operated cast-iron one. Of course, industrial/leather machines are the best (old or new), but who can afford them...

Good additional and essential items. I totally forgot about awls which are pretty much essential in patternmaking, etc. If you can afford an old industrial sewing machine, by all means buy it! I own a really really old Singer... other good machines are by Pfaff.

The heavier the machine and the more annoying to move it and the more space it takes up, the better the machine is.. SAD BUT TRUE!

... I seriously need to start sewing agiain.

 

[ShimmaPuff]

Between this thread, and the other one, I smell the seeds of Revolution!

Vamos muchachos, vamos pa'arriba!
Go for it! Go forth! Make bags! Make better bags than your erstwhile preferred bag producing corporation!

Hang those bags on the shoulders and arms of all your loved ones, then, with never a backward glance, move on to your liked ones. Sell them to strangers! Sell them on the internets, at local craft fairs!

Assemble and share strategic stitching techniques, patterns, and yes, even zippers.

The hour has come!

 

[friponne]

^ Zippers, yes! 'Zipperstop' on eBay has literally thousands of them, good metal ones & very cheap!

 

[friponne]

Between this thread, and the other one, I smell the seeds of Revolution!

Vamos muchachos, vamos pa'arriba!
Go for it! Go forth! Make bags! Make better bags than your erstwhile preferred bag producing corporation!

Hang those bags on the shoulders and arms of all your loved ones, then, with never a backward glance, move on to your liked ones. Sell them to strangers! Sell them on the internets, at local craft fairs!

Assemble and share strategic stitching techniques, patterns, and yes, even zippers.

The hour has come!

Yesss Shimma!!! You rock!
That's what I'm doing, selling 'em on the internets in order to make money for er... uhm, buying bags made by my erstwhile preferred bag producing corporation... :shame:

 

[Satchelman]

Between this thread, and the other one, I smell the seeds of Revolution!

Vamos muchachos, vamos pa'arriba!
Go for it! Go forth! Make bags! Make better bags than your erstwhile preferred bag producing corporation!

Hang those bags on the shoulders and arms of all your loved ones, then, with never a backward glance, move on to your liked ones. Sell them to strangers! Sell them on the internets, at local craft fairs!

Assemble and share strategic stitching techniques, patterns, and yes, even zippers.

The hour has come!

I make my own bags and sell them too (though my earnings are about a £1 an hour as I hand stitch everything) But on the plus side I love working with leather and creating beautiful things. Heres a few.

 

[purly]

I make my own bags and sell them too (though my earnings are about a £1 an hour as I hand stitch everything) But on the plus side I love working with leather and creating beautiful things. Heres a few.

These are gorgeous!

 

[Satchelman]

thank you Purly, Its nice when someone admires your craft. Get cracking and we can see some pictures of yours.