Stitchless Bucket Bag Pattern and Tutorial

HELP ON LEATHER AND TOOLS SOURCING

You get a helpful guide on suppliers (UK, Europe and the US) for buying leather and tools.

LEATHER REQUIREMENTS

You will need thick yet supple leather (about 1.2mm to 1.8mm thickness or 3 to 4 oz weight) for the back, front and base of the bag. As a rough guide, you'll need a piece of leather about 45cm by 90cm for these sections of the bag. In the US, sometimes the flexibility of the leather is described as "temper" - you want this leather to be semi-soft to semi-stiff. In the UK, the term used to describe the pliability of the leather is handle - you want to have leather with a medium handle.

For the straps you will need slightly thicker and stiffer leather (about 2 to 3mm or 5 to 6 oz). I'd recommend using veg tan shoulder leather for the straps. You will need about 15cm by 130cm piece of leather for the straps. The temper of the strap leather will need to be semi-stiff to stiff, whilst the handle will need to be firm.

HARDWARE

1 metal buckle - 25mm width

2 metal o rings - 30mm width

10 metal rivets - screw in Chicago screws or hammer in rivets

TOOLS

The bag has been designed to only require the very basic tools and materials (with the novice leatherworker and budget in mind). Some tools are essential whereas others are 'nice to have'. As with all tools, the more you spend, the better quality and nicer to use, but you can get away with cheaper tools if you are just wanting to try out bag making! The exact sizes of the tools are in the downloads but if you already have some of the tools, I will show you how you can adapt the widths of the straps.

Essential tools

• round leather awl
• scalpel, craft knife or Stanley knife with fresh blades
• metal ruler - 30cm or 60cm
• rotary punch tool
• oblong hole punch
• cutting mat
• deadblow hammer, mallet or maul

Nice to have tools

• punch board
• circular hole punches
• rivet setting tool - hand press or hand held
• strap end punch