#bucketbag

Pic 7 : sometimes you will find that the punched holes are a tad too small but it’s an easy fix, just a quick once round pass using a slighty..very slightly, bigger punch, Note at the bottom an ‘x,’ this is me keeping track of the ‘Start stitch here’ hole as mentioned earlier. the white gloves, as those long time followers will already know,... but just for those who may be new to my blog,..they are to prevent my nails dragging and marking the leather.

Pic 8 : On the inside I wanted to put a liner of the ‘softer’ material that will be used for the upper section of the bag, but so that you could see the lovely bright color of the ‘wrong’ side of it as you will see. first I had to rough up the whole area as shown here, I used an actual ‘rougher’ tool seen in the picture but you can use a knife edge or anything that will get the job done, this helps the glue to bond the two sections together better.

Pic 9 : Ok, so, those keen eyed amongst you will probably be wondering, why , if he has already glued a liner onto the base, is he now gluing another piece. Well I messed up twice on the day I was tired, I did eventually stop to avoid making more, this was me the next day putting the mistakes right. I realised I hadn’t used the soft leather ‘upside-down’ for the inside color / effect. It will all come clear at the end.

Pic 10 : When I first started this blog showing my little project builds I promised to show any and all mistakes, and I do, in the hope of saving you yourself some time, money and effort if you decide to have a go yourself. But now..I’m Back on track, new pieces cut for lower section and the correct liner is on and waiting to be trimmed.

Pic 11 : Next after the larger sections comes the straps and assorted leather sections, the process is the same just on a smaller scale, no big deal, but takes a lot of patience as there are lots of holes to punch, hundreds in fact. If you have no patience, this is not the hobby for you.

Pic 12 : Straps and assorted pieces done. Time to start the build.

Pic 13 : Here I’ve taken the thin ‘skirt’ section and using a rolling stitch with a waxed thread I stitched all around one way as seen here fixing it to the veg tan base and then went all the way back to fill the gaps as shown in Pic 14.

Pic 14 : Skirting stitched on ready to go the other way to comlete the stitching.

Pic 15 : Stitching the side pieces together using a cross over stitch to give this effect on the outside. I’ve used a waxed thread in Purple.

Pic 16 : Once both sides are done it made a nice shape and was quite sturdy already.

Pic 17 : Here you can see the rivets in position for the next step and you can now see the actual ‘right’ side of the liner.

Pic 18 : Here you see the pattern placed over the project to show how it’s coming together so precisely. The patterns from Dieselpunkro are not only great value for your money but they are very precise.

Pic 19 : You can see the inside showing the rivets. once the strap sections are fitted you won’t see the outside of the rivets and once done they will add to the strength of the whole structure.

Pic 20 : All the strapping has been treated with Tan Kote straight onto the straps, left to dry and then buffed up to a shine.( though in other circumstances I would wipe it off quickly, I am aiming to darken the color as will show later. )

Pic 21 : The strapping sections all put together and placed over the rivets.

Pic 22: Then using the purple thread again and a ‘Saddle’ stitch this time I have stitched the whole piece over the rivets following the pattern holes as always.

Pic 23 : Straps, Done. and used a few buckles lying around to ‘test’ fit, they are ‘not’ fitted yet as I want antique brass not shiny brass.

Pic 24 : Next I fit the bottom section as shown, thread the two needles used for a saddle stitch with the purple waxed thread and begin to stitch it to the main body of the bag.

Pic 25 : after the bottom is stitched on you can now see what I was saying about the nice color on the ‘wrong’ side of the soft leather I glued on as a liner.

Pic 26 : Showing the bottom section  finished and looking very solid as the main body becomes even more solid now.

Pic 27 : These two side secions are part of the handle / strap section. I punched a small hole in each using the pattern marks and added a Chicago screw on each as seen here. and I have added a small ‘Stay’ strap around each using a stitch or two on the back to hold them together.

Pic 28 : This pic and pic 29 show me fitting the eyelets. I used some gunsmoke blue/grey colored ones.

Pic 29 : The punch tool used to fit them.

Pic 30 : I fitted the antique brass buckles and used antique brass rivets to hold the straps permanently in place. I also fitted antique brass ‘Stays’ as seen in this pic. Note how the strap coloring is the same as the base, that was achieved by  A) Using leather from the same roll and B) using the Tan Kote for the same amount of time on everything before buffing..which time wise in this case was just ..put it on and wait for it to dry completely, then buff it. It seems to have done the trick as you’ll soon see.

Pic 31 : the base is now done, time to add the upper section to it.

Pic 32 : First I attached the side pieces as shown here, I stitched them to the base using a saddle stitch and the usual Purple waxed thread a seen here, I did both sides the same way.

Pic 33 : You can see here the struggle to get to the stitch holes which could barely be seen on the inside due to the material used, but again this comes down to a lot of patience. It’s worth it at the end.

Pic 34 : You can see here that you have to start at the bottom of the strap section ( I know most of you have figured it out, but for anyone wondering..I mean the ‘pointy bit’ ). I came up with the stitch and right to the top, then I doubled that stitch back down till it met the ‘upper’ material being stitched on. Here if you look carefully I made a few passes back and forwards to give extra strength at these points, I then started along the edge joing the soft ‘upper’ section to the now solid ‘Base’ section as shown.

Pic 35 : Here you can see the upper is now stitched to the base. As I reached the far side I again had to stitch the ‘pointy’ bit, I joined onto it, went to the top as before and doubled it back down then carried it to the bottom around the point and back up the other side doing exactly the same again until I had joined back onto the upper and base sections and then carried on along the edge on the opposite side finishing off with a few back stitched, snipped it and used a lighter to melt the ends to secure it.

Pic 36 : Next I changed the main shoulder strap for my own design, I cut a normal strap a half inch wide, wet it ( ’Cased’ it ) and stamped a nice flower design on then stamped a center for each one. as seen here. I edged it all around and then used Tan Kote in the same way as before and allowed to dry rather than removing it,  then buffed it to a shine, it came out the same color as the rest. Once it was complete I punched and slit the holes as shown on the patter , threaded the strap into place and connected it using the chicago screws pushed through the punched/slit holes.

Pic 37 : I used leather off the same roll to cut a thin ‘tie’ piece for the ‘Pull-Tie’. I treated it the same way with the Tan Kote and achieved the same color again bringing together the whole look.

Pic 38 : A view of the inside of the Bucket bag. You can see now that re-doing the bottom was worth it as it now matches the top inside section. You can see the Pull tie threaded through the eyelets. One thing I almost forgot, see the top edge, I rolled it over and saddle stitched it all around to give a much tougher top edge.

Pic 39 : The finished bag, the only other things I did were to make the small leather piece that holds the pull tie pieces together as seen here, no big deal.

Pic 40 : And I cut the leather pull through into two pieces once threaded and once passed through the small leather ‘stay’ piece I knotted the ends and as you can see here..You now pull each side closed seperately, making for an easier closure.

Pic 41 : done.