Steps taken

The first step was to make all the patterns for the various parts of the bag. We made the patterns out of thick cardboard and took into account the margins needed for assembling both the bag lining and the leather outside and combining the two together. Once the patterns were finished I cut out all the necessary leather and fabric panels for the bag.

The next step was to start with assembling the bag by stitching leather and fabric parts together. First assembling the lining of the bag, followed by stitching together the leather outside.  I also assembled the various external parts of the bag such as the handle, the shoulder strap and the leather covered metal brackets used for opening and closing a doctor’s bag.

The final step was to combine all these pieces and assemble the bag in its final form by stitching all the parts together. The biggest challenge was to stitch together the lining and the leather outside on the leather covered metal brackets. The leather I selected for the bag was quite thick and fairly stiff, which lends itself very well to this type of bag by giving it enough rigidity to stand on its own, but did make it more challenging to work with the leather and assembling the bag.

End result

The result is a beautiful doctor’s style bag made from heavy duty, quality leather with a distinct color, matched by a sturdy lining in a complementary navy blue color. Added to this I learned a lot about the steps to take in order to make more complex leather products, using a leather sewing machine and how to think inside-out and backwards in order to design and assemble these products.