Development.

Last week I learnt how to stitch the leather. This showed me the different stitches that I could use to make my bag. The stitches I learnt were running stitch, straight and backward stitch, cross stitch and buttonhole stitch. I think the running stitch looked the most professional and I will therefore use that stitch when creating my bag. I was also taught how to create a handle and how to put a zip in, we did this in groups in which we all had to collaborate working as a team to get everyone involved and get the handle and zip made correctly. For my final bag I am going to use a zip fastening. We learnt all about the processes and tools required to be able to stitch into the leather, I feel the process is not too difficult however it would take a long time to have a perfect finish. By keeping my bag simple it would allow me to concentrate more on the quality of the bag rather than all the other details. I started to create bag designs after looking at many different designers work, such as Ally Capellino. I have also looked at the high street brand Zara as they have many stylish bags in both the woman and men collections. I am going to create a clutch bag in cream leather and stitch it with a bright thread. I would like to add detail to the front of the bag, as well as a handle going across the front of the bag, as shown in my drawings.  We got given some leather in the last tutorial, so with this I have started to hand knit which I found very difficult as the leather is so tough. I think I would need softer leather or I could also soak my leather in water, knit with it then once it dries it would dry hard and in place. I also painted on the leather however the leather I used was distressed and crinkly therefore the paint did not go on smoothly. I did not like the effect the paint gave therefore I will not use this technique on my final bag. I do still however want a small area of pattern on my bag, linking to all my research of the font’s and sings used on fairgrounds. I will achieve this by engraving the pattern however I have not had a workshop for that technique yet. I also wove with my leather I like this detail and think this would work well being a feature on the handle of the bag, I was going to knit the handle however if I can’t achieve a neat knitted look then I will use the weave technique.  I have started to develop a pattern piece this week and I am going to make a paper version on my bag, this will help me look at the dimensions of the bag so I can decide exactly what sizes I would like my bag. We also had a lecture on sheepskin and leather I found the talk very interesting and it has given me a more in depth idea of how the leather is treated and used in industry. I also learnt techniques such as how to cut the sheepskin to create long pieces to be used as yarn.

This photo shows all the different stitches. 

These are some initial designs for my bag.

These are the different patterns I want to engrave on the bag, taken from the fairground fonts.

These are two final designs of what I would like my bag to look like.

This is my leather work. the top left is the woven piece, the top right is knitted, the bottom two are painted which I did not like.

 This is a final design of my pattern piece which I am going to translate into paper.