Today started with a large hide of leather and the idea to make a bunch of tiny braids but little idea of where I would go from there. This seems to be they way things are with this project. It's freeing because the piece can really go anywhere, but it ends up being very time consuming because I try a million things on the way to making it work. Today's piece could have benefited from better planning especially about the amount of leather because I ended up having to make the back of the bag out of a different fabric. If I make the piece again it will be much smoother.
I cut lots of little strips from the leather about 14" long and braided them. I experimented with different braiding techniques and even braiding the braids, but I ended up just sewing them to the leather in an over-under pattern to give it some more texture.
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| Attempts to braid the braids for a more interesting effect. Could've been great but they weren't long enough. |
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| The crisscross effect I ended up with utilizing both the finished and suede sides of the leather. |
After the braids were done I stitched them to a piece of matching leather, and covered the edges with a frame of leather. That's something I definitely would do differently next time. The braids are very thick and difficult to sew through. There is definitely an easier way of constructing the piece that is less hazardous to my sewing machine.
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| The braided portion is tucked into a mitered frame of leather for neatness. |
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| A peek at the inside material. |
I used an undyed linen as the lining and the strap of the bag. The strap makes it a shoulder bag but it tucks in as well. I actually think this piece would be really cute as a backpack!
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| Shoulder Bag. Leather, Linen |
xo,
Arielle
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