Hello everyone,
I've just finished my first-ever briefcase and would like to share it with you here.
I wanted to make a bag similar to the Cutler but didn't want to add piping, so I went with a turned edge. It was nice (and nerve-racking) to skive all the sides of the gusset by hand with a French skiver.
The pictures are of awful quality thanks to my old phone, but the colour is actually burgundy (buttero).
It came out about 90% right. Some things could have been done better, like the handles, which could have been a bit shorter, and I still need to improve on small details. I'll be adding a shoulder strap as soon as it arrives.
Overall I'm satisfied. I'm my own client for this one so can't complain much haha.
Any criticism is appreciated.
Great work! It's nice to see a variation on the Cutler design.
Design wise, I probably would have bought the handles up a tad on the panel, as well as shortened them. Construction wise, I would like to see a little more distance between the stitching and the edges in certain areas, just to add more strength to the seam (maybe the camera angle?).
I really like it though, the turned edge works well.
It would be interesting to see if the base could have wrapped around the turned edge of the zip gusset, blending them in a little more. I'd have to prototype that to see if it could work however.
A bit like this:
Since you asked for opinions about your work: I really like your bag and I wish I were able to produce anything like it. A few things that you might want to improve on:
- on the last picture with the gusset the stitching holes seem very big, probably owed to your pricking iron.
- the color of the zipper would not be my taste. I would have either chosen a color closer to the leather or may be a black one. But of course that’s a matter of taste and yours may not be like mine.
- I think I would have put the D-ring for the shoulder strap a bit higher. Being so low I would expect the bag to easily turn upside down while carrying it. Of course then the zipper would have to be shorter. But that also would give a chance to stitch the side gusset on top of the bottom gusset instead of vice versa so you would not see the edge of the bottom gusset.
Please forgive my criticism, it’s still a beautiful bag and I would be proud to carry it!