Week 8 - learning how to make a leather clutch bag

So I'm already two months in.  I can't believe it.  Its crazy how having to plan something every single week, just makes the time fly even more rapidly than usual.  Its bloody hard work as well, having to find all these things to do and learn.  Take it from me, it is most definitely not easy.  But, when I do workshops like I did this week, it just shows me how fun you can make your experience of living in London, and more importantly do something different with your life if you discover new skills and passions that you never knew you had.  

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not about to re-train in leather-crafting but all I'm saying is that there is a whole world of easy workshops and courses at your fingertips waiting to be tried and played with.

Anyway - I sound like I'm wrapping this up when I haven't even started.  I Can Make Shoes is a shoe making school that has been going for about 5 years and is based in Bethnal Green.  Amanda, the girl who started it not only runs intensive courses in mastering bespoke footwear and shoe making, but also short one-day workshops in shoe designing, sandal making and leather bag making.  I chose to do a short evening class in how to make a leather clutch bag.  The class is only two hours so doesn't take up too much time, which is great considering I was going to get myself a (fingers crossed) lovely, leather bag that I would (fingers crossed) be able to use.

I arrived at the quaint little studio and met Kiren who would be taking us through the workshop.  She works with Amanda and also designs and makes shoes.  The space was very cool and had everything one needs; lots of light, lots of lasts and lots of leathers!

I had a good chat with Kiren as I was the first to arrive.  She also writes a blog in her spare time, writing about shoes and we were talking about how time consuming it can be. Hers is called High Heels High Hopes and you can read it here. We chatted about where they get all their leathers from and she was saying that there is actually a bit of a drought at the moment and they have been struggling to get hold of them.  They often buy from Dalston Mill Fabrics which did not surprise me - there are some great fabric wholesalers in Dalston, all around Ridley Road.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of leather scraps to choose from and since I was first there, I got to really delve through the pile and find exactly what I wanted.  Obviously this was still not a help due to my eternal indecisiveness and procrastination.

At first I was going to go for something simple like black and red but in the end, as I always do,  I decide that the more colour there is the better.  So I chose some heavy colour-blocking colours of bright yellow, pink and black.  Relieved to have then made my decision, I can't tell you then how traumatic it was for me to then work out which colours were going to be placed where.  Oi vey.

By this point there were four of us there in the class and after we all chose our colours, the next stage was to cut round the stencils we were given on our chosen pieces of leather.  We used silver pens as it tends to be the best colour for showing up on the leather material.

After cutting out all of our pieces, we then had to mark out the places were we would be stitching the leathers together.  This was done with very, very thin double-sided tape put on every side that we would be stitching on.

I was a little worried about using the sewing-machine, although I did use one for the first time in forever last year, when I went to an espadrille making workshop (damn it - if only I'd known about my 2016 challenge then, that could have saved me a week!) When you haven't used one for a long time, it is a little tricky to get the hang of but Kiren told us not to worry as these sewing machines were not only very forgiving and easy to use, but also because leather is so heavy, it is much easier to work through every stitch quite slowly and for everything to be held in place.

I did actually find it very easy and there is something almost therapeutic about using a sewing machine on leather.  I liked the feeling of the leather being forced along and seeing the needle working up and down and up and down.  Its a bit hypnotic, like you have to be so present and mindful while you're working which I like.

The last thing we had to do was put in a sambrown, or as I call it, the knobbly thing that acts as a fastener to open and close the bag.  A quick couple of hole punches and Bob's your leather bag.  I don't think I did a bad job really and it only took an hour and a half so super quick and easy.  The class costs £45, which I do think is a little steep considering it is such a short class and you're just using small amounts of leather scraps - I think £30/35 would be better.  Saying that however, and reverting back to what I was saying at the beginning, to discover a passion or skill for something on a rainy, random Wednesday night is pretty special.   If you fancy doing something a little different one night in the week, I would definitely recommend this.

It just makes me think about all the possibilities that are out there and what there is to find and explore, especially in London.  It is a pretty amazing city for discovering new things, new experiences and new passions.