Leather and Twill Bucket Bags with Fringe
Our client, Kate, is a an Importer who travels the globe looking for cool, crafty finds. She found some twill bucket bags made by a street vendor in Columbia and wanted to put her fashionable twist on them.
She brought about 12 of them back to us and asked us to give them some leather flair.
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These twill bucket bags were already great. However, adding some full-grain, oil-tanned leather straps and fringe really made these come to life. If I were smarter (and I am NOW... ), I would have taken some before photos of these bags. On some of them, we used a beautiful Tennessee Whiskey colored leather to create some a bottom border with 4" fringe. We left about 1.25" at the top part of the fringe and ran a double-stitched line for strength and style. This really added some texture and contrast to the twill bucket bags. For these with the brown leather, we used brass O-Rings and rivets to secure the handles to the bags. We also created matching leather gussets to secure the rings to the bags. |
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On the other bags, we also used a Full-Grain oil-tanned leather. This time we used Ranchero Black leather for the straps fringe. The fringe was also double-stitched in the same manner as those previously shown. Of course, we used our favorite natural colored bonded nylon thread on all of the bags - that stuff goes great with almost ANYTHING! On these with the black leather, we used chrome O-Rings and rivets to secure the handles to the bags. We also created matching leather gussets to secure the rings to the bags. |
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We used the same two full-grain oil-tanned leathers to cut some 1" straps. Carefully, the straps were doubled (one on top of the other - finished side out) to create a durable, long-lasting strap. The straps were stitched with a contrasting bonded nylon thread (You know what color!) to give them a touch of style while adding strength. Doubling the straps together helps them minimizes stretching of the handles over time, when the bucket bag is carrying anything of significant weight. Plus - it just looks really nice!
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While sewing on the fringe, we had to use our cylinder arm Cobra class 4 Premium sewing machine. Our needles didn't seem to "enjoy" the twill and created some challenges with entanglement, etc. Even though they boogered up my sewing machine a couple of times, we got through hem and I think the fringe added a nice whimsical look, while keeping the bags colorful and classy. We think they turned out beautifully! |
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