The leather bag is coming along, but not without some mistakes. The first lesson learned was picking the right size needle. I have a Janome home sewing machine and a heavy duty machine. My heavy machine only stitches straight and zigzag. It is fine for most construction, but I like using my Janome for certain stitches. I had to order needles for both machine in various sizes. Too small and the machine labored. Too big and the needle cut the leather along the stitch line. All I can say is that before you start your project take a few minutes to experiment with a few pieces of your project leather and test different sizes of needles.
With right needle, I began construction the exterior of the bag. It was pretty straightforward, but I wish I had made some alterations the the pattern. The piece joining the front and the back is a gusset. The gusset is folded in half lengthwise and stitched on the folded edge. I imagine this gives the bottom of the bag to have some structure and allows the bag to sit upright when using cotton fabric. This step is bulky with leather. I plan to make a gusset without the stitched edge on the next bag, and I think the leather has enough strength to omit this part of the instruction.
The biggest mistake is made while sewing tired and distracted. Once the gusset is sewn to the front and the back, the pattern instructs "to trim back any excess gusset to match the main body top edges." NEVER cut when you are tired. The back to the front angles in and instead of a mirror image, I cut both sides the same! Now I have to decide; will I start over, or make it work and rework the flap closure?
Next week installing a closure and interlining.
