#50 bookbag

Bag number 50 is my favorite bag, the bookbag. The first time I made this one, I was almost out of materials, so I put together a few different things that I had around the house. Wouldn't you know, this creative approach to materials produced the bag I love most.


First, the pieces must be cut out, and the holes punched for stitching. Each bag is hand-stitched inside and out, and each hole that is stitched is marked on the pattern. The markings are transferred to the leather and canvas, and then the holes are punched with a tool that is similar to a paper punch. This bag has 32 pieces and more than 4000 holes.


Once all the pieces are ready, stitching begins.


After 9 hours of stitching, this is how far I am. Still a long way to go, and it gets progressively more difficult, because the closer I get to finishing, the more layers there are to sew together.