DIY Leather Bucket Bag

Well, last week was a week of firsts…hand-made jeans: check. First online class: check. Wait, what? So if I’ve been a little quiet on social media in the last month it’s because I’ve been beavering away planning, sewing, filming and putting together an online sewing class for this DIY Leather Bucket Bag. Eeeeeee!

This all came about quite serendipitously. I was approached by Skillshare late last year about the idea of putting together an online sewing class, covering the subject of ‘whatever I like’. So in the spirit of 2016 I said yes first and freaked out later. At first it was suggested that I could teach a learn-to-sew style class…even after sewing for over six years, the idea of being considered an authority on sewing fundamentals is not my beef. But pass me an obscure material and an idea for a high-risk DIY and I’ll run with it, any day!

One would dare say leather bucket bags are trending right now and to be honest, for quite a while I was going to buy one. But then I thought, how hard could it be? It’s just a rectangle plus a circle with straps and a cord. I drafted up a template. Bought a beautiful hide, some basic leather working tools, did some research and got to it! Argh, of course there were hurdles along the way. And then the filming… my god. As a mostly-introvert, speaking my thoughts aloud on camera for 8 + hours (and having to make sense and not do weird faces) was intense. Oh and the part where I punch a hole in the exact place I tell everyone not to punch it. Le sigh. But the result: pure leather bucket bag deliciousness and a class that I am so excited and proud to share with you!

In the class you will learn:

how to sew leather using a domestic / home sewing machine

how to set up your machine and the different types of stitches required

how to use basic leather working tools

how to create a custom metallic monogram and leather tassels

You will come away with your own hand-crafted, personalised and damn-fine-looking bucket bag and also new knowledge and confidence to sew with leather; a typically “tricky” material. Spoiler: it’s not tricky. Of course I would be honoured / love you (maybe forever) to enrol in my class and DIY yourself a leather bucket bag. If you enrol via this link, Skillshare will give you a month of premium membership for free!

07/08/2015

DIY Espadrilles

Make This

Hello my loves! Today I have a tutorial for your that is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread: DIY ESPADRILLES! If you’ve been following my Insta feed you would have seen sneak peaks posted along the way. It has taken every shred of will-power not to post the entire tutorial there. I’m going to be straight with you: there is nothing too technical here. They don’t even take that long. But there is some grunt-work. At the end of which you will have DIY’d yourself a freakin pair of shoes! Like, real shoes you can actually wear. Alternatively you may want to display them somewhere high-vis with good traffic flow and bask in their attention for a while. Are you ready?!

22/08/2013

DIY Detachable Swim Straps

Make This

Here as promised and I do believe in record time from mouth to blog, a how-to for some alternative straps for those beloved Bombshell Swimsuits. These are just your typical, thin elasticated straps which I’ve made detachable here but can also be sewn straight on and used on any swimsuit, obviously. There’s a bit of a trick to these so don’t fret if it all looks quite un-lined-up to start with. Just trust. I literally spent hours staring, like a crazy woman, at a pair of straps on a suit I own trying to figure out what kind of magnificent machine was used to get the elastic inside the straps but also attached to the straps from the inside. Turns out it’s not a machine, just some clever placement of elastic and fabric. Read on to find out….