Leather Messenger Bag
I have a sewing machine. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stitch leather. I have another sewing machine…
It’s my hands.
But that is good enough to embark on making a messenger bag that should outlive me.
I first made a template out of foam to see if this was even going to work. It was ugly so I didn’t take a picture of it.
Instead I went all in and cut out all the pieces and dyed them this nice brown. You might notice it’s a different color than the bag at the top and that’s because I liked it so much I made three of them. My hands may never recover.
Dying leather is always a bit of a crap-shoot. The final color depends on the leather used, the color dye, how much dye, and what pattern you apply it. You can see some splotches here where I applied too much. Most of those are by design to give it an older and more used appearance. At least that’s what I tell myself.
10,000 hours of stitching later, I have a completed bag. Inside is a laptop pocket as well as another pocket and several places to store pens and pencils. This being the prototype, many of the finishing pieces are missing, including an engraved name tag and the latching system. The latch is called a collar fastener and I’ve attached a link in case you want to use one. It took me about four months to track down a supplier for those so you’re welcome.
I have never had a stitch fail on me, but I would be damned before I put another stitch on these bags even to fix them. To make them stronger and, just because I like the look, I put copper rivets in the seams and where the edges meet at the top. I forgot to mention that I had to stitch each of these bags inside out then flip them once I was done stitching. I definitely attached the one side backwards and only noticed it after I was halfway done stitching it on. Fun times.
The main reason I made this was I wanted to make one for my dad and my girlfriend’s dad as a Christmas present. That was a decision I immediately regretted once I saw the amount of time commitment involved. I stitched for four days straight and felt the onset of carpal tunnel well before I saw the finish line. To take my mind off my future arthritis and to get out of the house, I decided to make engraved name tags for each of the bags.
Using a vinyl resist like you can get from a Cricut, I used a mixture of peroxide and muriatic acid to etch into a brass plate. You can find a breakdown of the process here. It etched perfectly the first time which is good because I wasn’t sure if I had a second try in me.
A lot of hardware installation later, I ended up with two beautifully hand stitched bags.
People often ask me how much I would charge to make one because apparently beauty cannot exist without a price tag in our system. Similar bags go for $1200 but they are machine stitched so it’s hard to say. I guess it is the cost of my labor, but it’s more than that. It is the cost of my attention. For something like this, I don’t think that money would get me across the finish line.
Looking up after six hours knowing you have another twelve to go can only be overcome if you know that the end result is worth it. And I’m not talking about the finished bag.
I’m talking about the happiness of someone you care about.