By the last blog I had cut out the main pieces of the summer bag, skived (thinned down) some edges and attached the lining to the gussets and skived the lining. Since then I have stitched and burnished the top of the center divider and the tops of the gussets. The two gussets have been attached to the center divider, the edges have been beveled. The initial edge burnishing has been done. Please see the photographs of my progress below. The next stage is to do lots of edge skiving, attach the goat suede lining to the two main panels, attach the brass lock and assemble and stitch the front and back panels to the gussets. Between work commitments and family life I am getting limited time to work on this project. I am conscious of my customer wanting to use the summer bag now that the weather is warming up. On top of that there are a load of logs that need processing for the winter and now is the time or else they won’t dry. So lots going.
This photograph shows the edge finishing and the stitching of the tops of the gussets and the central divider. The edges are not rolled. Instead a strip of the replica Russia leather has been attached on top of the lining and stitched in. This is my preferred method because a roughed up raw edge can be re-burnished easily whereas a roughed up rolled edge is a bit more complicated to fix. Also I prefer the look of a burnished edge. Personal preference and a design matter that my customer agrees upon.
Another shot of the burnished and stitched edges. I prefer not to go for a mirror edge finish because the edges can look tired quite quickly. None-the-less the edges are very smooth and do reflect some light. Once they have been beeswaxed and polished again they will be well protected from the knocks the bag is expected to recieve.
Another angle of the lining, the stitching and edges of the gussets and central divider. Both the lining leather and the outer leather are really quite exquisite. The lining does add a little bulk but it is well worth it in my opinion. This bag will be used intimately and I would like the owner to feel and see something beautiful. Furthermore the contents will be taken the utmost care of while they reside within the bag. One often forgets that even the contents of our bags have a rough ride at times and they are as deserving of care and protection as anything else!
As can be seen the gussets will be attached along the three edges of the central divider. All of the edges have been skived so that the lining is not visible from the outside and so that the edges are not too thick in appearance. An art in itself!
The final photograph below shows my slightly modified vintage stitch awl about to pierce the edge of the leather to make a stitch hole. Also the two strands of thread that made saddle stitches are visible, protruding from the sides of the leather. This is the famed Fil au Chinois Lin Cable thread and the texture of the thread can be seen in this photograph. It is not as smooth as most other high end linen threads due to its double twist. A distinctive look. The skived (thinned) edges of the central divider are also visible and will form part of the smoothed and edges after a burnishing session.
