Making A Pen Case

[my63]

While I was waiting for my other projects to dry I started remaking the red leather bag it is really surprising just how much leather is needed to make a bag. The first steps were cutting out the main panels using the templates I made earlier.

 

20170508_115134%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

As this bag will have a lift out section to hold pens I realised that I actually needed to make the inner section that holds the pens first. The main body is made from grey board which I get from an art supplier.

 

20170508_122052%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Normally I would make the pen slots on the leather and then glue that to the board I found this caused problems in the last bag so I have wrapped the board in leather and am stitching the pen slots though the leather and board.

 

20170508_172516%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Almost done well one side anyway.

 

20170509_073803%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170509_073604%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[my63]

The next steps were to finish the stitching side two has pen slots and a larger pocket.

 

20170511_170556%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170511_170616%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I made a shaped fillet piece to join the two sides together.

 

Time to make the bag to carry it.

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Beautiful tomato pen slots!

 

It indeed has a warm hue, hence the name for the color.

[my63]

Thanks Anne-Sophie

 

I think I have worked out the best way to make the bag around the pen slots, it will involve some piping I don't buy it in I make my own.

 

I have made two test pieces of different sizes one is using 3 mm para cord as an inner core and the second uses 1 mm leather thong as its core.

 

20170517_131643%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

In order to make the piping I cut a strip of leather 1.6 metres long and 20 mm wide the challenge is it is 1.2 mm thick and ideally it needs to be half of that.

 

20170517_131416%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I decided to go with the thinner core which I then glued in place. The red mass in the background is the leather shaved off the back.

 

I also cut a replacement gusset piece which is wider than the first. I also skived (thinned) the edges of this and created more waste.

 

20170517_141417%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[my63]

The final component to make for this bag is the flowers I think I may have gotten a little carried away as I only needed one or two.

 

20170520_142928%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170520_131019%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

After making the flowers I cut the inside and outside for the back panel and front flap.

 

20170520_155429%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I tack stitched these two pieces together to allow me to position the magnetic catch and the outer flower which I think will be used to open the flap.

 

20170520_192925%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

You can also see the stitching holes and the piping the cream leather will be the inside colour and the red is the outside.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[Anne-Sophie]

I think, the inner leather core for the piping give a thinner, thus more proportioned look for this bag.

 

 

It so much work, thinning the leather, I hope, you make sure to take breaks to socialize with the Canine Crew.

 

 

Such a great idea to use the flower, a decorative element, to open the flap!

 

 

I saw the waste from thinning the piping, which seems, to me, the most challenging part of the whole project, and thought that it could be used to make puffy flowers or other small leather stylized shapes like birds, dogs, cats, nibs...

 

Two symmetrical pieces of leather sewn or glued together, except a small opening used to fill it with that waste to give weight and dimension.

 

It could be perfect for bookmarks and maybe to shape small leather pen rests.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Anne-Sophie

[my63]

let me have your address and I will send you some of the shavings but I must warn you it gets every where and seems to have an almost static quality it sticks to clothing.

 

Here is my mock up of how the pen stand will fit into the bag.

 

20170521_220452%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Once I had decided where the centre divider would go I marked the position of the stitches and made the holes.

 

20170522_185452%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I discovered that I had tacked the piping in the wrong place so I have removed the stitching this has given me the opportunity to consider using more of the flowers I have made.

 

Four flowers

 

20170522_211631%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Three flowers

 

20170522_214506%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[Anne-Sophie]

Michael, I was suggesting reusing the wasted leather before I knew what I was talking about. I apologize.

 

 

The mock up is gorgeous!

 

 

I don't know what to say about the flowers, on one hand, I love the 4 flowers option but, I might prefer the 3 flowers option, because it looks less busy.

I would also favor 2 red biggest petal flowers so they blend better with the bag and one biggest cream petal flower for contrast and to use as a backing to open the flap.

 

 

The cream biggest petal flower will be easier to see in the dark, its contrasting color will instantly be associated with the bag opening, just sharing experience of real life bag use, over a long period of time.

 

 

Again, sorry for the silly suggestion for the leather waste, I was really clueless about the true static properties of the material.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Anne-Sophie

[my63]

Hi Anne-Sophie there is no such thing as a silly question in my opinion. You have started me thinking skiving this amount of leather is very time consuming. I guess I need to consider buying a skiving machine.

I appreciate your input very much I wanted to press on with the assembly of the bag so I left the single flower I figured it will work out ok.

I hope that the single flower will be easily found by touch even in the dark the magnetic catch is quite strong.

 

This is the inside out view of the back / front flap panel being stitched together when I got to the point where the gusset needed to be attached I included it into the stitching line.

 

20170523_160402%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I don't do videos but I took this picture as soon as the bag was turned the right way around fortunately this time everything worked out. the most challenging part is stitching the bottom. I left the inner and outer sections of the back panel separate so I could stitch them together individually.

 

20170523_161037%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Michael, this creation is a true beauty, even unfinished, one of a kind.

 

I didn't know a skiving machine existed, but it makes sense, I think it would be a good investment to save you time and save your hands for sewing and building magic.

 

 

 

 

[my63]

More progress although very slowly at the moment following more hand treatment unfortunately

 

The back and front flap have been stitched in place it got a little complicated but looks good.

 

20170524_190417%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

As you can see the insert fits perfectly into its pocket I have made a front panel which is going to be very difficult to fit in place but I will get there in the end.

 

20170524_190355%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170524_185911%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Once I have fitted the front I just need to make a strap and its mounting points.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[my63]

I freely admit I have had some problems with the front panel of this bag I wanted to hide the stitching which was never going to happen but I kept trying for some strange reason.

 

20170527_160010%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

This is how I decided to fit the front I have messed about second guessing so this afternoon I just decided to get on with it.

 

The main body of the bag is finished it just needs a strap.

 

20170527_185750%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170527_185820%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170527_185951%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170527_185930%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Another wonderful creation! What talented artist you are, Michael!

[my63]

The final stages of this project are to create the strap and its mounts. I decided to make the mounts first.

 

20170611_143104%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Once I had worked out what size I wanted I cut some matching strips of leather and added some shape for the brass fittings. I chose full rings rather "D" rings as it will give more flexibility and reduce stress on the mounts.

To add extra strength I added an extra layer of cream leather it will never be seen but we will know it is there.

 

20170611_162236%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

One end of this mount is for the outside and the other goes through a slot cut into the side of the bag. I have made stitching holes on both ends and will stitch through the side of the bag.

 

Here is the strap mount in place.

 

20170611_191824%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[Anne-Sophie]

Very elegant way to design the strap holding mechanism!

[my63]

All projects come to an end this red leather pen bag is off to the USA.

Not before I share the final pictures.

 

20170613_194213%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

The bag is designed to carry fountain pens in comfort

 

Here is the pen carrier in front of the bag.

 

20170613_194037%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170613_194612%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

The shoulder strap is now finished

 

20170613_194500%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

Edited June 13, 2017 by my63

[Anne-Sophie]

Soo beautiful, thank you for sharing the pictures of the finished bag.

 

The stitching is perfect and the details are wonderful.

 

This one of a kind fountain pen holder/purse is going to make its owner very, very happy!

Edited June 27, 2017 by Anne-Sophie

[my63]

It seems like sometime since I shared a single pen case with you so here is my latest effort.

 

I call this an Emperor size case as the first one I made was for a Namiki Emperor pen.

 

The starting point is a flat sheet of Kydex a piece of dowel and a spare piece of leather.

 

20170720_195553%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

After applying some heat and rolling the Kydex around the dowel we have a cylinder.

 

20170720_214557%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I am not showing the next step as it involves melting the Kydex to weld the edges and to round over the end to form a tube. Once the tube was formed I wrapped the whole thing in orange suede.

 

20170721_191323%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

There is a good reason to wrap the whole of the outer part of the tube in suede if the suede did not go to the bottom then the edge would show through when the outer leather is formed around it.

As the next stage involves wet leather being formed around the tube I have covered the tube in black film to protect it from water and in the future dye.

 

20170722_145826%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

20170722_154202%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

The first part of the forming process is to soak the leather then using metal workers grips with wide jaws which I have wrapped in leather to help stretch the leather around the tube.

 

20170722_154202%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Chocolate dye one of my favourites.

20170722_152744%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I left the leather to dry for sometime there is a point where the dye is dry and the leather is still wet enough to form around the tube. Sounds mad but it is true.

 

20170723_153043%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

The top section remains in a plastic bag to slow down the drying process as it cannot be formed until the bottom section is finished.

 

The next step involves a pair of dividers a stitching (pricking) iron and a seriously sharp knife after the bottom section has been trimmed the top is formed glued and stitched.

 

20170724_103735%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

I don't line the inside of the lid I tried it once and the top would not come off

 

20170724_103749%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Both pieces are now trimmed and edges ready for final assembly.

 

20170725_084728%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael

[Chrissy]

I like the bag very much, and I also like the single pen case. You're a very talented artisan.

[my63]

Thanks Chrissy I appreciate your comments,

 

Single and multiple pen cases are still my favourite item to make.

 

Here is my final picture of the chocolate and orange supersized pen case.

 

20170725_195601%5B1%5D by my0771, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

 

Michael