Fried Pie Purse and Wallet

I wanted to create something fun for Pi Day, and my favorite kind of pie is a fried pie. What could be more fun than to be able to carry your belongings around in a fried pie bag?

printed pattern (see attached)

If you have a laser cutter, you may prefer to use my cut file.

thin veg tanned leather

acrylic paint

paint brushes

small mixing cups

waxed thread in white, black, and yellow

large needle

purse chain

small chain

jump rings

small clasp

2 large clasps

4 key rings

pliers

Barge contact cement

lighter

nail and hammer

clamps

leather cutting tool

stitching chisel or leather punch

skill saw or other precise wood cutting tool

belt sander

felt

cotton printed fabric

double fusible webbing

hot glue/gun

rivets

router or laser cutter

Cut out all the pieces using the pattern provided.

Punch stitching holes according to the pattern.

Or, you could skip this step and cut all your pieces on a laser cutter using my cut file.

Because the colors needed to be so vibrant, I started with a white base-coat.

Add some acrylic paint to the bottom of a mixing cup and add just enough water to cover the paint. It's important that the paint soak into the leather or it's more likely to crack.

Mix well.

Apply thin coats of paint to all pieces allowing them to dry between coats.

When the white color is smooth and mostly streak-free, you're done priming.

To create the texture of the rippled edges, you'll need a nail and a hammer.

Use a paintbrush to wet the edges on the front and back. Make sure they're saturated.

Place the nail on the edge and tap it with the hammer a couple times.

Repeat every 1/4" or so apart.

Apply one more coat of white paint to the edges to cover scuff marks.

Paint the pieces the same way as the base-coat starting with the largest areas.

Once you get to tiny details, you can use pure paint.

Apply Barge contact cement to the back of each of the small pieces and inside of the stitch holes on the larger pieces.

Do not apply to the stitch holes or to the very edge. If some of the holes don't quite line up, you'll need to be able to lift up the edge to find the holes.

Once the glue is dry/tacky, stick the large "swoosh" piece to the main part of the bag. Use pins to be sure that the stitch holes line up.

Next apply glue inside the stitch lines on the "swoosh" piece where you'll place the Hostess label and the lemon.

Once the glue is dry/tacky, stick on the label, wording, and lemon.

Using waxed thread, stitch around the label, going through all three layers of leather.

Once you get all the way around, go back through the hole where you started and reverse direction.

Go back around again filling in the gaps from the first pass.

Tie off the ends and melt them with a lighter.

To create the mold for the wallet, first you need to create a center block.

Cut out the half circle from the pattern and trace it onto a 3/4" block of wood.

Cut out along the traced line.

Use a belt sander to shape the block as shown. The curved edge should come to a gradual curved point. The bottom should should be rounded off.

This part is more difficult without a laser cutter. If you have one, use the attached file to cut the rest of the mold.

If you don't have a laser, a router could be used to cut the "fork" pattern into a piece of wood. The pattern only needs to be about a 1/4" deep to be effective, and doing it this way means you don't need the second half circle part of the mold because the tines will not be so wobbly.

Cut a piece of leather using the large circle in the pattern and soak it in room temperature water for at least 10 minutes.

Fold the circle around the center mold piece and place the "fork" park of the mold over the leather: one on each side.

Lastly, place the plain half-cirle pieces on either side and clamp in place. Press the clamps as tight as you can.

Allow to dry for 24 hours.

Once dry, remove the leather from the mold.

To waterproof and provide a bit of that "just cooked" look, apply a wax or polish.

Apply Barge contact cement to the inside edges and use the inside of the mold to hold it open while it dries.

Apply Barge contact cement to the front edges of the zipper.

When dry/tacky, press one side of the zipper to the leather.

Unzip the zipper and press on the other side.

Using the large circle from the pattern, gather a piece of felt, double fusible web, and patterned cotton that are large enough to cut a circle from. Don't cut it yet though.

Apply the fusible web to the felt, then fuse the cotton on top.

Then, cut the circle from the fused fabrics. This will create some thickness to the wallet and prevent the cotton from fraying.

Use hot glue around the edges of the cotton insert to glue it into the center of the wallet.

Cut the small lemon and leaves from the pattern. You could use colored leather or paint them. Attach them to a small length of chain. Attach a clasp to the end and clip it onto the zipper.

Stitch the zipper onto the front and back of the bag using yellow waxed thread.

Use a couple small rivets to attach key rings to the pieces as shown.

Stitch these pieces to the back of the bag as shown.

Use two key rings to attach two large clasps to each end of a length of purse chain.

Add Barge contact cement to the inside edges of the bag.

When dry/tacky, press firmly to stick.