DIY Leather Bucket Bag

The bag I made was a lazy bucket bag, rather than the traditional one with the circular base as I wasn't sure my machine could handle it. The best part of using leather is that you don't need to finish the edges or line the bag necessarily, and given my laziness, I didn't find it necessary.

So this leather hide was $10 from a local vintage shop at the Redcliffs markets and I bought it 'just in case'; which is why I have so many boxes of fabric, and am kind of wishing I bought more.

The leather was pretty easy to cut with a box cutter. The bag ended up a bit more rectangular than I would like, but I cut the maximum amount that I could out of what was available.This isn't as detailed as most of my tutorials, but the mood struck me, and my camera was being unhelpful, but this bag uses many techniques that I have shown on my blog before. 

In brief:

1, 2. Cut your leather pieces. I had 2 x 15.5" x 12" rectangles. I used the remaining leather to make a 40" long by 2" wide bag strap and a 36" x 0.75" long drawstring

3. Sew the two rectangles along both long sides and along one of the short sides. Box the corners by pinching a triangle 3" long. As per this wet bag tutorial. 

4. Using a leather hole punch you will need to punch 12 holes. The holes need to be punched at the following intervals from the side seam, about 1.5" from the top of the bag: 2", 3", 4.5", 7.5", 9", 10" and the same on the back of the bag. 

5. For the straps you need to fold the leather in half lengthwise and sew along the two raw edges. If similar to me you do not have enough leather you can join two opposing diagonal cuts of leather with a zigzag stitch, as shown in the top left corner on the shoulder strap.

6. The drawstring should be threaded through in the following way to ensure that the front centre drawstring can be tied. 

7. To finish the bag off you need to attach the straps. Same as the drawstring you need to fold the fabric in half lengthwise however this time I sewed both sides. I used rivets to attach the straps. I used two rivets at the front of the bag, and used two rivets at the back of the bag to balance the bag. I wasn't sure my rivets were long enough to go directly through the side seam. 

This is my attempt at setting up an impromptu photo shoot and Russell dutifully guarding my bag.I'm surprised he didn't try to chew the leather. 

Happy Crafting!