This is a sponsored post written by Julie of Our Chez Nous.
When I had the opportunity to make something with leather from Leather Hide Store, I was super excited to sew with leather, and I decided to make a small book bag for my son to take to the library.
We’re all readers in this house, and the kids go through books like crazy. I’ve been giving them more and more freedom to pick and choose from the selection that our library offers. But at the same time, it’s hard to keep the limit of books they want to bring home down. My older two typically understand this, but our youngest, L tries to take just about every truck book he finds home. So in the hopes of letting him pick, but understand a limit, I thought it might be a fun idea to sew him up a small book bag.
The leather I picked to do this project was a Nevada Distressed remnant. I’ve only ever sewn some test swatches of leather before, but let me tell you something, this stuff, it was like butter! It cut well, sewed well and it was an awesome feeling just to be able to make something (even if it was super simple) with this! I love the distressed look of this leather, and it really just feels amazing.
You’re also probably thinking, sheesh, a remnant, I won’t get much leather with that… Well the great thing about the Leather Hide Store’s remnant section is that you can browse their entire remnant selection individually, and each listing shows you an image of the entire hide, so you can see what’s left/what’s been cut out. I was really surprised when I got my leather in the mail! It’s one thing to look at an imagine and say, ok, it’s got that much good, but once I got mine in hand it looked like there was way more then I had originally planned for. So not only did I get fun book bag out of this, but I’m planning on making up a bike satchel as well!
Now even though leather doesn’t really fray (your edges will become raw and a bit of what I like to call ‘fuzzy’ with use), I wanted to line the inside of the bag with a fun ‘neutral’ green so that any one of the kids could use it. I used this Comma fabric by Moda that I think I got from Rachael during one of her IG destashes (man this gal has some A-MA-ZING fabrics!).
Now it’s time to make your own!
1- To make mine I grabbed a few books to compare my sizing to and picked an average size from there and then added 2″ on all sides and cut two pieces for my main (leather) and two pieces for my lining. Cut one piece the width of the bag for your flap and decide on how you want it to sit, I angled mine a little bit to give it a modern flare and made it a bit long so that it would sit low on the bag.
2- Now measure the two sides of your piece and the bottom, add that together and that will give you the length for side/bottom piece. Choose how deep you want the bag to be, I made mine about 4″ wide. And cut out two stripes, one for the main and one for the lining.
3- Measure for you straps. I used a backpack that L already had adjusted for him and added 3″ to give me some wiggle room in my placement and made them 1 1/2″ wide. Whatever I didn’t use for length I cut off once it was sewn on. I also left mine raw so if you want to line them make sure to account for that in the width.
4- Now sew on the side/bottom piece to your front piece right sides together. When you get to the corner make sure to notch so it goes around smoothly. Repeat for the lining.
5- Tack the straps on the where you want them to sit at the bottom of the bag (if you pin, make sure to pin so that you don’t see the holes once it is sewn) placing them right side of bag to wrong side of strap. And do the same thing as you did with step 4 for attaching the piece. Repeat the process for your lining minus the straps.
6- Now take your lining and slide it into your bag folding in the edges 1/2″, insert the flap and top of the straps at the back and topstitch all the way around.
7- And straps or snaps to your desire! You probably noticed that mine doesn’t have any, well it’s still going to get some. I had hoped that it would have enough structure to go without but once we put a few books in it was pretty obvious that it’s something I need to grab to finish it up.
Now I know you’re itching to try some leather! And the Leather Hide Store has graciously offered a 50$ giftcard for one lucky reader. So make sure to enter below!
*I received free products from Leather Hide Store in exchange for writing this post. although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own. read the imagine gnats full advertising and disclosures policies here.
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