studs and squares

diy leather bag picture taken in Centre Pompidou Paris Susanna with her diy leather bag in Centre Pompidou Paris

Idea of this leather bag began when I found a pair of leather trousers second hand. I often buy worn and outdated but good quality leather clothes second hand…of course if the price is ok, under 10€ is still a bargain of a good leather.

In this case I cut out the front and the back pieces for the bag from the leg part of the trousers because leather on the legs were in good condition and I did not have to do any extra seams. I tryed out different motifs on the bag but finally I ended up playing with the swiss cross and by adding black leather squares the pattern looked deeper. Studs are there to “rock” the bag but the style is still versatile to combine with different looks and outfits: preppy, rebel, chic etc.

Because I wanted the bag to have “one piece look” so adding in handles was out of the question. Instead I cut out holes to the top part, folded the seam allowances from the cut out to the back and glued them with a flexible glue. Lining is done out of leather and denim, I repeated the same cut out hole and then I just glued the front and the back together. So more glue than seams on this leather project. Glue I used was BISON transparent, it was really easy to work with and now after carrying various loads in my bag for a week around Paris I can say that the glue hold the leather together super good.

Photoshoot is done in Musée des Arts et Métiers and Centre Pompidou in Paris. Thank you Paris!

monochrome with batwing sleeves

Super easy and comfy striped blouse. When I visit Finland I usually always visit Eurokangas fabric store. They have huge section for fabrics that are already cut on different sizes and priced by weight. It is exiting to dig into these big boxes cause you never know what to find. This time I was lucky to dig up a pice of black and white striped fabric and knew immediately what to do out of it. I draw the pattern using my old blouse as the base. These type of sleeves are called batwing sleeves.

cutting out the batwing sleeve shirt from striped fabric

The hem I left raw…it is actually the end of the fabric so it had already kinda nice structure in it.

 

diy striped batwing sleeve blouse with raw hem

Little X pouch is one of my designs to carry your smart phone in. Matching the stylish theme of black and white I included it in the photoshoot. Love the blouse- easy to mix and match.

diy striped batwing sleeve blouse with leather pouche X

 

diy striped blouse with batwing sleeves

pouches with art

For carrying mobile phone cross-body. All pouches are made from recycled materials; denim, leather and all the metal parts are from thrifted bags or jewellery. Lining is made out of old scarves, as long as they have silky and smooth surface to easily slide in and take out the phone. I used various type of cords for the strap…from shoe laces to self made ones.

Some of the pouches I painted and stamped with lines and circles and the swiss cross symbol was just perfect for the more simplified and sharp look. Love to use also washing instructions from old garments as decoration.

Now I just need to find homes for these unique pouches…

diy denim pouches black and white artsy picture

work in process stamping, painting and decorations