bodner010

  Finished my first fully hand sewn leather bag ever... Real bag, I mean. Or not? Should I add a strap? Or should I leave it as it is? To clutch or not to clutch - that's the question... What do you think?

Playing around with buttons. I'm not sure yet whether or not to attach a strap. There's no real plan - I'm shaping it as I go. I think I like it...

Something I'm currently working on. I finally found the courage to start cutting in one the many hides I own - I'm literally sitting on a mountain of leather, enough to pave a room. Too worried to damage my precious sewing machine (and leather), I recently turned to hand sewing my leather projects. I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon sewing, sitting on the floor in front of the window for better light, the leather in my lap. Soothing... To be continued today, I hope...

You can't look past the Martin Margiela triangle bags on the net lately. I had seen this type of bags before, pre-Margiela, I mean, and a lot cheaper too. I liked the minimalism - they reminded me of Japanese bag folding, furoshiki . The ingenuity is striking - a good example of how to optimize under constraints (this is the economist in me speaking) or translated in sewing terms: how to make the largest bag possible given only a small piece of fabric. Anyway, as I was trying to figure out how to make one of these, I found out you can do so in a couple of different ways (I figured out at least 3 different methods). It all boils down to basic geometry, combining shapes in one way or another. I made several and I find the method described below to be the easiest one. All it takes is a rectangular piece of fabric, some folding and basic sewing skills. And if you prepare your fabric by hemming it all the way around, you can make this bag in under 15 minutes. As fast, almost, as furos...

I have been having fun lately, making new bags. This one I particularly like because of its dramatic shape. Linen, leather, the usual... Available here .