Adventures in Recycling - Making a Possibles Bag Intro

Adventures in Recycling - Making a Possibles Bag from Reclaimed Leather


Introduction


Recently, I had the harebrained idea to make myself a leather possibles bag.  Now keep in mind, I haven't sewn a stitch except for attaching a button in 25 years.  On top of that, I didn't have a local place to get decent leather that didn't cost a fortune.  So, what's a guy to do?  If he's as nutty as me, he looks for completely unrelated parts to make something new.  Enter the Salvation Army Thrift Store.



I went into the store on a spur-of-the-moment spark of inspiration.  On the racks, I found a ladies leather coat (Ann Taylor, I think), that was a heavy suede that had good leather.  Five minutes and $5 later, I walked out with my main raw material - leather.  Now, I needed a pattern.  Well I can tell you, it's not easy to find a decent one, so I made my own as I went.

The coat I got was made of multiple narrow vertical panels seamed together.  I turned the coat every possible way for a couple of days until I could see the bag I wanted.  After that, it was just a matter of taking things apart and reassembling in the way I wanted.

When I tweeted about making the bag, I had multiple requests for pictures, which I finally was able to send along.  It wasn't long before (much to my surprise), folks were asking for a video or blog tutorial on how to make one.  A video was out of the question for two major reasons: 1) I don't really have anybody that would be willing to be my camera person, and 2) you do NOT want to see my ugly mug or hear a southern drawl that would make Jeff Foxworthy sound like Norm Abrams on YouTube!!  Therefore, you get this tutorial.

Since the original was completed without any in-progress pictures, and my kids are wanting me to make bags for them, I picked up another jacket this weekend and got ready to do round #2.  I will be adding parts to the tutorial as I get to good transition points so please, bear with me. 

The first section deals with selection a leather source (coat in this case), prepping the piece, and analyzing its make to determine the best layout for maximum bang for your buck.  You can read it here.

WARNING: I'm sometimes slow so please, don't think I've forgotten you should things slow down.

God bless you all!