designing a bag

posted on by Lee Cattarin

a 3-image collage showcasing a leather crossbody bag. the leather body is brown and fairly simple. up the narrow sides, rope is laced through grommets in a style resembling a shoe lacing. the rope forms the handle and loops seamlessly through the other side of the bag, joining in one point in a figure-8 follow-through knot. At the bottom corners, there are small diagonal lines of stitching to give the bag a small lip around the base and ensure small objects don't slide out.

begin by testing

the first step in any design is small tests. For leatherwork, this usually means working with paper - cheaper than leather, but with some of the same inflexibility.

build up from basic facts

my grommets, laid out on paper, spaced out cleanly at 1/2” away from edges and 1” apart. My tablet is ~10”x8”. I started with these facts.

template, template, template

don’t measure out the same spacing any more than you have to. Templating is your friend for both ease of use and regularity.

mind the order of your work

the corners should be stitched before lacing in order to get into tight spaces easily. Grommets are set most easily before the work is 3-dimensional. It’s cleanest to cut before grommets are installed so as to work on a smooth and level surface. Hold all this in your mind when choosing your next move, and ensure you don’t step on your own toes.

consider v2

even if you won’t be making one, what would you do differently? Where does your design fail? Where does it succeed?

take notes

easier said than done.

category: reference

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