Handmade vintage travel bag

This is the production process shared by a foreign production expert named Nick. So exquisite!

Translation: Qi Yan Mu

Do you have an adventurous spirit? Do you crave the outdoors? Do you want to be stylish when traveling? Do you have $1,600 in travel savings in the meantime?

Maybe you will say "Yes, that's right"!

Well, to all of these questions, I can say "Can you lend me $1,600?"

These are the instructions you can make on your own to make a functional, stylish, durable and A reliable leather adventure bag or travel bag that requires only a few specialized tools and little experience

If you have access to a knife, a needle and thread, and an all-purpose ruler, you're good to go. It's possible to make this type of bag, or something similar, or even something nicer!

Step 1: Goals

My wife and I have developed one! 10 years of travel and vacation planning so that our family can travel all over the world before the kids are grown and we are old.

But my one little pet peeve about traveling is this: I like to be prepared for everything, but I don't like carrying a lot of bags, so I usually stick with standard traveler backpacks because they're simple, affordable, and can be carried on almost any plane. Unfortunately, they look pretty dodgy most of the time, and what I need is a durable bag for my ten-year project that's also easy to carry on a plane.

I started looking for a bag like this and found an adventure bag from a famous leather store that caught my eye! This bag looked the perfect combination of rugged, vintage and stylish and I decided to make one as good as my skill level could. Such a travel bag, and it also needs to meet the airline's carry-on luggage size requirements

Step 2: Cost

The price of the replica travel bag I want is $1,600! I really can't afford it, it's too expensive! At first I was very angry about the price, but then I did the math... Considering the cost of materials and labor costs, the price is actually very reasonable, after all, theirs The stuff looks so good I won't begin to think about how much the craftsman's time is worth, it's an art I'm just starting to learn and I have to respect the way they measure price

But, I'm going to do it anyway. Calculating the cost of this project: $300 - $400 and 4 hours of time

I will spend about $200 on the leather, another $100 on the tools, and $100 on the stuff. Accessories and Materials.

If you're starting from scratch, I'll be honest with you, it's an ambitious project and mistakes will be made in the leather making process, and it can be expensive if you fail. .

I will introduce some professional tools that I have used, but most of them can be replaced or eliminated.

Step 3: Inspiration

I want. The image of the replica bag is pretty much what I originally wanted. I looked online and found an "unboxing" video

Side note: Am I the only one who found this whole thing. Video is ridiculous anyone?

I admit I'm a bit stingy, but it seems like a waste of time to keep watching a video of a person opening an item, but I'm doing it to get more information about this bag, and I'll fast forward to watch it .

Step 4: Leather

I get most of my leather from friends, there are tons of places online where you can order it, I do it occasionally but most of the time I like Look for imperfections before buying.

If you plan to make a lot of leather products, I suggest you become a member of a leather store. While the discounts aren't huge, you'll be notified of large sales. Most bags will be made from 9-10 ounces (approximately 270g-300g) leather, which is quite thick... about the same thickness as a thick belt. The shoulder straps on the bag will be 6-7 ounces lighter (approximately 180g-210g).

Step 5: Get Started

Unfortunately, I'm not very professional when it comes to proofing, and if I want to copy, I often have to start from scratch or try to fix what I've already done. something. I don’t have a template or a sample to refer to for imitating such a travel bag, but fortunately, the structure of such a bag looks very simple.

The main body is composed of four sides: front, back, top and bottom.

When you were in elementary school, did you ever have to build a cube out of paper? When it is spread out, it may be divided into six squares in a T shape. The principle of this travel bag is basically the same, but the sides are separate parts, and the only extra material in the main part is the overlap of the lid and front.

So the measurements are 13" (front) + 8" (bottom) + 13" (back) + 8" (top) + 3" (lid overlap) + 2" (front overlap) ) + 3/4" (bend allowance). Because the leather is so thick it needs some allowance where you bend.

I gave it about 3/16" for each bend. The final dimensions of the piece were 47 3/4" x 18".

The sides of the bag were 9 1/2" x 15 3 /4". There is a 2" overlap on the bottom and sides and a 3/4" overlap for stitching.

All cutting is done with a razor blade, you can also buy a special knife for this but I Found a box of 100 razor blades available for a few bucks and after a bunch of cutting I just threw one out and got another blade

For the corners of the bag, there are actually. Specialized equipment for getting perfectly smooth fillets, but they were expensive so I never bought one

Instead I used whatever tools I had to make the radius I liked. In this case I used these little plastic cups

Step 6: Pockets

The side pockets on the bag that inspired me were the small round pockets. .I want to fake this place, but I want bigger pockets, more of a blocky look, and molding deep square corners can be tricky because there will be more restraint on the edges in the corners.

To solve this problem, I made a jig out of 3/4" pine. There is a square "buck" that turns the leather over and the ring around it keeps the leather dry. I cut a thinner piece of leather 4 inches (about 10cm) larger than the sides and bottom and soaked it in warm water for 10 minutes or so. After soaking, I placed it on top and stapled the top in place.

I slowly worked the leather up the sides and sides until it started to take on a general shape. Next I nailed the excess leather to the wooden base and did some processing to it. Once the shape was very close to what I needed, I screwed the ring onto the base. I know this sounds like gibberish, so I encourage you to watch some videos for a better explanation.

There are other ways to make folding pockets, but this was the aesthetic I was going for.

Step 7: Preparation

I’m not very good at using sewing awls, and I don’t have a fancy leather sewing machine. For this reason, I pre-punch all of my suture holes. This is accomplished with a set of punched holes. This is a very useful professional tool. They are not expensive. The perimeter of the bag is double stitched for added strength.

I used a stylus to score lines at 3/16" and 11/16" around the sides and largest block. The trick to pre-drawing the dots is to ensure they line up when assembled. The punch points are all evenly spaced, so all you need to do is pick a point along your scribed line where the two parts are most common. For example, I started at the top front of the bag and punched the first hole 1/4 inch from the edge of the leather.

Another pre-punched hole for the decorative rivet.

Step 8: D-Ring

The side D-ring attachment took some trial and error and I messed up a few pieces of leather. The end product still wasn't what I wanted, but I got tired of it, so I got rid of it. The aim is to have the D-ring flush with the surrounding leather and surrounded by thicker leather. After I created the ring support, I pre-punched holes for the stitching. Since this was a more complex shape, after I finished pre-punching the ring stand, I placed it over the last stitched side piece and nailed it to a piece of wood with some nails. This kept the top piece in place and allowed me to thread it through the bottom piece to make sure all the holes matched up.

A quick tip at this point is to mark the backs of all the parts so they match up when assembled. If you accidentally use the left ring bracket on the right side of the bag, the left and right sides of the bag will be the same, but small changes in hole spacing may cause irritation during assembly. The small pencil marks on the back of the leather are all you need (left/right, 1,2,3, a, b, c...etc).

Step 9: Pocket Preparation

Side pockets consist of three pieces: a molded pocket, a top flap and a decorative pleat.

Just like the D-rings, I pre-opened the pocket edges. After the pockets were pre-punched, I stapled them in place on both sides and then punched holes in both sides. Molded pockets and pleats also provided holes for later button rivets.

Step 10: Fold

This leather is very thick, so it is difficult to fold it into a thin sheet. To help with the folding, I put a stitch in the back of the leather. These lines are somewhat like concave and convex cuts in wood. I folded the bag and did some makeshift seams to test the overlap. Test fit also helps motivate me. Sometimes I get a little impatient and seeing some kind of finished product allows me to keep going.

Step 11: Straps and Accessories

Due to its multifunctional aspect, the shoulder/neck strap is very complex. There are three main sections, each consisting of several pieces of leather. The strap "joins" in the middle to allow for conversion from shoulder strap to backpack strap. The straps pictured are all razor cut and pre-punched.

Step 12: Dyeing

Once all the pieces were cut and punched, I started the dyeing process.

I wanted some pop of color, and I also wanted some... "organic" colors, if that makes sense.

I tried out a few color alternations on my computer to see what I liked, and finally settled on a nice forest green.

The main body of the bag is forest green with some brown straps and pockets. I use Eco-Flo brand dye.

Fun fact: When you dye, your skin is also highly dyed.

Here are some good dyeing tips:

1. Wear gloves

2. Clean the leather before dyeing.

Step 13: Polishing and Edging

Polishing leather allows you to remove excess dye before finishing, which may require more effort.

I used old socks that were super elegant.

Does anyone remember playing Nintendo games on a tablet? Remember how you felt like a genius when you realized you didn't have to run on it like an idiot?

Can you put a sock on your hand and rub it on the power pad to make your game character run faster? Yes, this method feels a lot like this...but for a few hours.

For the belts I cut up an old pair of jeans and placed them on my knees and I just pulled them from one side to the other.

Polishing is a method of finishing leather to make it look smoother and to help make them more resistant to moisture.

To do this, you use a liquid called Gum Tragacanth and a polishing tool.

You can simply brush the liquid onto the edges and then place them on your polishing tool. There is a handheld polishing tool that is just as good but requires more grease.

The polishing tool pictured is one that can be plugged into any rotary tool or drill press, which makes it faster.

I ended up sanding just a few straps before I decided it really wasn't how I wanted it to look...and I was impatient.

Step 14: Protect

After everything is stained and polished, you may choose to add a protective topcoat, which will protect the leather from moisture and also add shine .

If you cleaned and polished the leather well before dyeing it, this step should be pretty easy.

You can use wool or in my case another sock to apply a protective outer layer.

If you don't clean the leather well and the dye doesn't soak in well, a lot of the dye will pick up on the socks when you start applying the topcoat.

Since I used so much dye, it didn't really affect the color. From now on I will start trying to apply topcoat protective film which is said to be a good method.

Step 15: Splices and Mistakes

Once everything was dyed, I started splicing them together, there were so many splices. I started with simple things like attaching the side pockets and D-ring mounts, then the straps. I like to use a saddle stitch with two needles because it creates a nice seam.

Usually all pre-punched holes line up nicely.

The top handle strap is just a thicker piece of leather folded over. This took a little more effort to keep the thin strips folded, which helped since I sewed on some small dovetail clips. Once I finished the strap, I made another assembly and discovered that the handle was actually too long. This means unraveling the seams of the entire tote, attaching it to the bag and cutting off a few inches, then hand-sewing it all back together.

Step 16: More Stitching... So that’s a lot of stitching

Sewing the edges of the main part of the bag takes 1 to 2 hours to complete. These edges have a row of double stitching for added strength, which equates to a hand-stitched seam point of just over 24 feet on this section. My fingers were very numb after this.

Step 17: Accessories

I wanted to add some embellishments to the bag, including some circles. They are flat eyelets that you can thread the straps through. They look great but can also be used to secure handle straps to the front of the bag. There is also a last minute tie down bag that holds the handles together and secures them to the top of the bag.

Step 18: Shoulder Straps

Pictured The shoulder straps are three separate pieces designed to form a "hinge" of sorts in the middle so that it can convert from a shoulder bag to a backpack . I filled it with foam rubber and then covered it with sheepskin. Sheepskin coverage won't be perfect, but it will be more durable.

Step 19: Adventure!

I was really happy when I finished it and I would love for it to get older with each trip we take.