I don't know how other people go about designing things, or where they get their ideas from. As I don't have a design or art background I always wonder whether I'm doing this whole bag-making thingamabob right. I'm not great at drawing, so I usually start here…
No, I don't go shopping.
Holy scrap!
These are just the small bits of leather I have. I have more leather pieces, all various sizes. When I say I don't throw away any leather, I mean it. Actually, that's a lie. I do throw stuff that is less than 1cm and too fiddly to work with. And when the shopping bag gets too full I take some of the bigger bits it to my mate
Tony, who sells sewing machines, so he can use them to show customers if a machine can handle leather. Anyway, I digress.
So bascially, in a very Blue Peter fashion, I get out my scraps, rotary cutter and glue and see what I come up with. Here are a few examples I made earlier…
Even the back looks quite pretty.
I think these look like a bit like ravioli. I've basically sewn squares and pushed them around a bit, glued and sewn them.
Not quite sure what I had in mind with this – but it reminds me of corrugated cardboard. I've pulled this sample about a little bit to see how it changes. I'll only know what it really looks like and how it behaves when I make it into a purse.
The next step is to make them into something to see if they're up to being handled a lot, put into bags, thrown around, dropped etc. The usual wear and tear we put our bags and purses through. Also, while some of these samples look nice as they are, they could look diabolical as something other than a sample. But don't worry, they don't go to the home for unwanted purses, I use them. Which probably isn't the best advertisement for Cosy goods!
Anyway, I'm off to try out something with a blind hemmer. See you in part two.
