Bucket-style purse – leather and canvas

This was another purse idea that came from looking at Pinterest. I really liked the look of the bucket style bags with canvas and leather. Made it a little easier on construction and the different materials looked nice together. Some of them had backpack straps, but for this I just did a shoulder strap. I also decided not to add a magnet to the inside. I figured that was overkill since it had a flap over the opening.

Materials:

• Printed canvas
• Black paisley lambskin
• White deerhide
• Black cowhide straps
• Interfacing: stiff for bottom, lightweight for the body, and fleece for the bottom
• Notions: Double sided tape, leather cement, dome rivets, D-rings, screwback knobs

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I have to say that I am glad I was finally able to use those dome rivets. The rivets are 10mm, I think, so it has to be fairly thick to be able to use them. This was through 6 layers of leather (the lambskin was pretty thin, though), and they worked great. This was a different type of closure with the leather tab and d-ring. I haven’t done that before, but it looked nice. I made 6 of those tabs without much of a plan.

Setting rivets when you don’t have a special tool for that specific rivet can be a problem. I used a setting that was domed a little for snaps with a scrap piece of leather over it. I didn’t want to scratch the domes. Then I used my mallet, and that seemed to work very well to get them set.

This was very much another make-it-up-as-I-go-along sewing effort. The closures were figured out on the fly. The placement of the pockets were too high to have the handle attachment work, so I flapped it over the edge. I mean…it still worked out, just not like I originally intended.

It’s not huge, and the top flap overlaps the side pockets a little bit.

Once it was constructed the overlap didn’t seem as big of an issue, but I will redraft it make it wider. I hand-sewed the flap on through both layers of canvas. It just didn’t seem thick enough to go through just one layer.

Pocket issues: The white is a white deerskin I ordered from Springfield Leather. It was so chewed up with lots of holes in it, so whomever tanned and processed the hide didn’t do a good job. It was supposed to be 8 sq feet and it was soooo full of holes. It also leached some pink from a red hide it sat next to since it was so porous. I had to use the backside to get not pink stained pieces, which also meant including the square footage stamp (hidden under the flap at least). I am calling this added character, and a reminder to stop ordering from them since I have issues each time I do.

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It fits what I need it to fit if I go to a tournament: DSLR, journal, water bottle, wallet, phone, keys, etc. The side pockets fit a good amount, too.

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Overall, it is cute little bag at about 10″ x 10″, depending on how stuffed full it is.

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I intend to make another one for my sister for her 50th birthday, which has come and gone. She’s used to getting things from me late, though. It’s how I roll. I will redraft it a little wider, some stiffer interfacing (it is very slouchy when not filled) and do something different for the closures. I might just do magnets, which would be much easier. I just have to wait on Spoonflower to print some canvas for me. Apparently it is slow going over there.