Black leather backpack purse

So my last big leather purse that I made has broken hardware on the strap, so it can’t be carried.

I need to set about trying to figure out how to fix that mess, since the leather is still in good shape. I will have to detach both sides of the straps, and the conchos attached to the interior, and they will have to be hand-stitched back on. I just need to put on some hardware that can bear the weight of allllll of my crap. I also need to add some padding to the strap to save my shoulders. It is a nice big bag, so it tends to go to many tournaments where it has my heavy DSLR, plus at least a spare lens, water bottle, my planner, wallet, snacks and all those other accoutrements one has in their purses for out of town tournaments…aka the whole kitchen sink.

Oh, and the zipper on the front pocket is toast. *sigh*

While waiting to fix that purse, I wanted to make a different one that was completely closed at the top. To help save my shoulders I wanted to make a backpack purse. Now I made a different one a few years ago.

One volleyball tournament in Vegas and the straps are ripping out of the leather. Another thing I need to fix. The design was faulty, so I’m trying a different one for this bag. Plus, the other was blue and I really wear black much more.

Part of the problem with this one was the straps were not close enough to the bag, as those loops were too big (to be fixed). It made the center of gravity (or something) off when I was trying to wear it. It just pulled too much. It was also too big…too much stuff got shoved in it, so it was too heavy.

I am making a different design with this one.

• The body is smaller
• Straps are located differently
• I’m not relying as much on machine stitching to hold things in place. There is only so much a home machine can be expected to do.
• Heavier weight leather. This is a cowhide and the other was lambskin. That also makes it much harder to sew on a machine.
• I’m taking my time. I tend to want to get things done quickly, but in order to make it last it will need some hand-stitching which is not fast.

Steps:

1. Design and cut everything out. This was fraught with peril. I cut the whole front leather piece the wrong width. *facepalm* Recut.
2. Each of the pieces that have D-rings attached I glued together and glued on the D-rings to the side pieces.
3. Hand-sew the leather pieces with D-rings on the side piece and the back piece.
4. Make the zipper pockets. Cut zipper opening out of leather and pocket lining piece. Sew the pockets.
5. Cut and sew applique.
6. Sew the side pocket pieces to the lining.
7. Add inside pockets, if wanted.
8. Sew the side with the side pocket pieces to the front, leaving an overlap on the bottom of the center piece and not sewing to the end. This is for attaching the zipper and the leather extension.
9. Attach a leather extension to the end of the purse zipper to go along the whole side of the purse. I used a ” zipper. Add an extension piece to the inside lining side.
10. Attach the zipper to the front and front lining. Finish the bottom along the side zipper piece.
11. Attach the front and back lining pieces.
12. Attach the back piece to the zipper (with the zipper open).
13. Attach the lining.
14. Make the backpack straps, side straps and handle. Attach to d-rings.

I attached interfacing and foam to the lining pieces. I also added a thicker foam piece to the bottom and some feet. I reinforced the d-ring attachments with extra hand-stitching.

Materials used:

• Black and white cowhide (Tandy Leather and Springfield Leather)
• 2 steampunk skull conchos and 2 gear conchos (Tandy Leather)
• Canvas Lining (Spoonflower in my design)
• 1 purse zipper and 2 pocket zippers (Wawak)
• silver button hardware (Pacific Trimmings)
• Silver d-rings and strap hardware (Pacific Trimmings)
• Iron-on interfacing and foam interfacing (local fabric warehouse)
• Heat n’ bond for applique (Joann’s)

This took me probably 4 hours the first day with drafting it and then cutting it out. After that I spent a few hours each day I worked on it and another 4 or so the last day. The hand-stitching takes time and I was trying to just make sure I was making it the best I could. I didn’t want to have to seam rip, since seam ripping leather is not good!

Taking my time is especially important when I draft something and go through it the first time. There are ALWAYS adjustments I need to make. For instance, I made the center piece too long (after also making it too narrow). I try to measure and put the paper pieces together, but sometimes that still doesn’t work once you have it cut out due to stretching.

Here are the detailed pictures.

Now let’s see how it holds up. I reset the d-rings for the backpack straps, as they were on the zipper seam. I was a bit concerned that too much weight would rely on the zipper. In looking at other designs for this type of bag, they were smaller bags.

I also made a wristlet to keep in the bag in case I didn’t want to bring my big purse with me and it holds my phone, wallet and keys.

Now to work on fixing those other two bags (oh wait, I have another leather purse I need to fix, too!), along with:

• Finishing up a sweatshirt tunic/dress that I stopped working on to work on this bag.
• Making my daughter a wallet keychain so she has a place for her money/card/driver’s license.
• I need to recover all of our outside cushions in preparation for a graduation party next summer. Plus I want to make some cushions for the stone ledge around our fire pit. First…need to figure out what design I want to use and then order the canvas.
• Just overall getting back into sewing. I have a large stash and a smaller closet than before. Gaining weight is never fun. My New Year’s Resolutions are going to be along both those lines. Which honestly, if I am not sitting watching Netflix and drinking wine and instead sewing that will be a move in a positive direction.