Sunday 2 November 2014

Red leather tote bag





When I had just started sewing lessons I bought some red leather on a whim. I went to a fabric market with my mom and there was a stall with pieces of leather. They had an enormous selection of different colours and I just could not resist. I chose the red leather because it’s a colour that went with almost all of my clothes. For me red is a neutral everyday colour.




But then I was too insecure to actually use the leather. I only just started sewing and I was using an old sewing machine of my grandmother that was a little unpredictable when I needed to sew a thicker kind of fabric. So the leather was boxed away for years, occasionally taking it out of the box to admire it. But I was never brave enough to use it.

A few weeks ago when looking at it I realised just how silly I was. So I decided to finally use it. The pattern I made myself. The pieces are just rectangles sewn together with two long straps so that I was able to wear it on the shoulder. I wanted a really simple bag that is easy to sew and big enough to fit a lot of stuff.



The leather has an irregular shape and I tried to use as much of it as I could because I wanted a large bag. The leather is sewn bad sides together because I wanted the seams to show. The lining of the bag is a white with red polka dots quilting cotton. My grandmother did sew the lining to the leather on her industrial sewing machine. I was afraid to try it myself on my mom’s sewing machine because it is rather thick to sew especially there where the straps are attached to the bag.

I really like how it turned out and I’m happy that I finally had the courage to use the leather. I have used the bag every week since I have finished it.