I promised a prize for a sewing contest with my Sewing Mamas group of sewists, and finally got around to making it. I gave the winner a choice of leather colors and she chose the kelly green. I think this is a lambskin…it has been awhile since I purchased it.
This is my leather bag pattern that I posted awhile back. That is my most linked post on Pinterest, and pretty much the sole driver of traffic to my site lately. This really is an easy little purse to make, and I use mine all the time (especially my black one).
I wasn’t sure what color webbing to do, so I ended up layering different webbing with a purchased ribbon that matched.
I made a trip to Tandy Leather for the conchos and closure. The embroidered ribbon, gunmetal latch and separator were from Amazon. I think the zipper was from Joann’s. The webbing was from the local fabric warehouse here.
I have seen straps done with embroidered ribbon lately, and it looks like a pretty addition to a purse. I thought that would really pretty up the purse here, so I searched a bit on Amazon and found one that matched pretty well. I was honestly surprised I found the kelly green webbing at the local fabric shop, so it all worked out.
Here it is all finished and ready to wear around!
On a side note, I think sewing all these leather bags has ruined the gears on my Janome machine. It is in the shop again (6 weeks for service!!) since it keeps skipping stitches and won’t do a zig zag stitch. I may have to replace it AND get a leather sewing machine. It is probably time to get an industrial type machine for purses. It gets pretty frustrating sewing on my home machines at times. The thickness of the layers tends to make it tough to sew. I am researching what type to get, but it seems like I will really need to get one with a cylinder arm, a walking foot, and a servo motor with a speed reducer. I think that will be a project to figure out over the next year. Plus it is $$, but I would like to be able to sew purses and such to sell eventually.
