Florine

Scale up or Scale down?

15 November 2018

Today my fellow Leathercraft lovers I want to talk to you about patterns since you might have seen on Instagram that I’ve started a new project. You can recognize the final product since it is a previous project scaled-up. But how do you do that… Scale something up or down?

Making you own patterns

When you’ve just started leathercraft, using patterns from books or the internet is totally fine. Although when you are ready for the next step you might think of learning to make your own patterns. Why?

Well, for me it all starts with an image in my head what the bag should look like. Finding that exact same pattern is not only nearly impossible but also, when you make it yourself, it will learn you so many things. Besides the whole reason you started leathercraft might have been because there are no bags matching with your needs and wishes.

It will learn you how different proportions do or don’t work. It will make you think of the order of construction. But most importantly it will give you the freedom in your design, shapes, and sizes.

Smaller or larger scale

Talking about sizes, sometimes you’ve made a pattern before which would also look great a bit bigger or a bit smaller. But how do you scale your pattern up or down? Well, it depends on how you’ve made your prior pattern.

In a post a while back I’ve explained how you can digitalize your patterns with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. If you’ve saved your document as a vector file it does not have a unit. So whether you want it be in millimeters or in kilometers is totally up to you. The only limitation would be your printer or your paper size.

The other option is to describe how you’ve made the pattern without any units attached to it. So if you describe your pattern with for example a square with a 45 degrees angle, no matter what size it is, you can scale it up or down!

Alright, if you’ve made it this far reading this post, I might as well give a small hint on my newest project… what do you think of a big bag-sibling of this lovely one?

As you can imagine is each bag frame different so I’ve applied the latter pattern option. I was so glad I’ve actually written that DIY since I had forgotten how I’ve made it before. But thanks to the DIY archive for my blog I could make the new pattern in no time ;)! Personally, this has been one of my favorite DIYs, so I’m looking forward continuing with this project!!

Learning from the masters – Bottega Veneta

13 November 2018

A brand known for it woven leather on the exterior of artisan-made luxury leather goods came up for my research for the Basket bag 2.0. A brand which products I like very much but actually don’t know anything about… Let’s see what we can learn from the masters of Bottega Veneta!

History

It all started in 1966 in Vicenza, a small town near Venice. A small Italian shop was opened by Vittorio Moltedo and also run by Laura Moltedo for many years. They sold mainly men and women’s ready-to-wear clothing, small luxury leather goods and exclusive home items.

The name origins from the Italian words for Venetian shop; Bottega (shop) Veneta (Venetian). Later this Venetian shop has expanded all over the world tough the name remained.

Known for

Despite my lack of knowledge about the brands’ background, I do recognize a bag from Bottega Veneta… And as you think of it.. how is this possible? They are known for NOT putting their brand on the outside of the bags. They believe the product will speak for itself… and it does!

One of the more iconic trademarks of the brand is the woven leather. It is also known as intrecciato, which is again in Italian and means simply woven. Different versions of this woven leather can be seen from classic, trendy to modern. Yet, it can only be one brand; Bottega Veneta

Nowadays

Since a few months Daniel Lee is the creative director of Bottega Veneta. A young Bristish desiner who has worked for Céline, Maison Margiela, Balenciaga and Donna Karan now gets the chance to “to evolve what has gone before, while contributing a new perspective and modernity“.

What do I want to learn

With each post of the series “Learning from the masters” I look with new perspective to a brand, a certain technique or to an item. This time I am not looking for a new technique, but I try to identify how can you let a bag speak for itself? How could anyone recognize a “Florine Leather and Style”-bag without a brand name on the outside…? What could be my iconic trade mark? It does definitly gives me some food for thought!

Christmas special – inspiration

8 November 2018

Each year I try to make a little something special for Christmas. The first year I made tiny little bag ornaments, cut by laser. The second year I’ve made Christmas coasters, engraved by laser… So what shall I do or make this year? Let’s gather some inspiration.

Jewelry

If I do my thorough search on Pinterest and use the search terms “leather” and “laser”, the first thing that pops-up is laser cut jewelry. Day by day I wouldn’t wear such jewelry although for Christmas I do like to dress up a bit. Some nice dress, high heels and some jewelry to finish the look. What could I think of for laser cut leather jewelry…? mmm let’s make some sketches and see if it works.

Clothing

Leather clothing is quite tricky… you do have to make sure it stays classy. Though a suede dress or leather skirt might give some extra texture to your look. If I want to stay in my leather laser streak of past few years… I’ve seen some awesome laser cut leather clothing on Pinterest. Below two examples, of items you can use for spicing up your christmas look.

Pimp your pump
Laser cut skirt
Patterned shirt pannel

Christmas interior assessories

If you don’t want to wear any of your laser cut leather during Christmas, you might as well make some gifts or items you can use on the Christmas table. You can ofcourse make them throughout the year though with a little hint of laser engraved snowflakes, or jingle bells it is definitely a Christmas eye catcher!

Candle holder
aser cut tray
Napkin ring

Christmas card

Last but not least, if all the above-mentioned ideas are not your cup of tea… What about a personalized Christmas card?

I’ve gathered a lot of inspiration and got some awesome ideas for this years christmas special! What I am gonna make will I keep a secret for now. But since I’ve moved to Utrecht I am looking for a new laser lab where private customers are welcome. So please let me know if you know a good place!

Triangle bag – Part III

6 November 2018

Another project finished! I wouldn’t often make this kind of bag but for a special customer, I make an exception. This modern, minimalistic design will definitely set it apart from other bags. It will catch your eye. I am of course talking about… The triangle bag.

Beside showing off the final result, I like to reflect a bit about what did go right and what have I learned from this project once it is finished. If you’ve missed the first parts you can find them here and here. But right now we continue with the final part.

Interesting geometrics

I would say of myself that I am more of a classic-bag-design kind of gal. Though this triangle bag project did make me curious and less frighted of less usual geometric shapes and inspiration. Maybe a next bag could be square…? Let’s think about it a little bit more ;).

Bag lining

I’ve tried different techniques with bag linings. You can either make a drop lining, no lining, a lining sewed along the edges or a fully glued one. This time I wanted to make a fully glued one but with a little batter in between for a soft touch… Well if you try something new, you might fail. Eventually, the batting didn’t work out with this shape and made it like an old wrinkly bag. Not the kind of look I was going for… So eventually I ended up with no batter in between and made it look much better!

Turned edges

This triangle bag if full of turned edges. Some serious skiving had to be done before this would work. I do see the need for a skiving machine. Not only to do it faster but also more consistent and eventually also with the perfect thickness. Until then my two hands are the skiving machine ;).

For now… all it needs is some wrapping paper and a big bow! I am so curious if this is what the customer imagined and if it truly looks amazing with her color matching winter coat!

Technique – The bound edge

1 November 2018

Over the last year, we’ve been discussing different techniques to finish the edges. Many products you see in fast-fashion stores have unfinished edges which will last less long than when the edges are protected for moist and dirt. Well, today we will add another method you’ve already seen in the previous DIY, though today explained in more detail; the bound edge.

Different techniques to finish edges

To list the techniques this are some options to finish your edges:

– Burnishing

– Edge paint

– Rolled edge

– Turned edges

– and last but not least the bound edge

But how do you bind an edge?

First, you will have to measure the length you will need for the small strip of leather. You can either use a measuring tape or a simple piece of thread. Just to be sure you might add a little extra to this length.

Next, you will have to decide on the thickness fo the strip. It is not just the width on both sides but also the top arc, and don’t forget about the stitching margin.

Once you’ve cut your strips, it depends on your material what the next step is. In case it is all leather you can glue it really tightly onto the piece before pricking the holes. Though since I was making the DIY clear make-up pouch, I pre-punched the plastic.

Lastly, sew everything together. To fully finish off your project, think about how to sew the end pieces of the leather strip together. You can make them flush or overlap a bit. In the latter case, you can also skive them both to half the thickness to make it even.

Super-super finishing touch: if you really want to finish off your project well, you could finish all the edges of your strip to bind the edges. To make a little crease along the side, and for example, burnish it. Why would you finish off your edge finish? Good question. Though it could be that you want to bind off the edge where you’ve got to hide the lining of your bag, or multiple layers are harder to finish as pretty as you would like.

A great technique to add to your knowledge collection! Would you like me to explain other edge finishes as well? Leave a comment below or send me an email!