Up-Cycled Leather Leaf Bucket Purse

When I came upon a great quality leather coat that deserved a second life I had a unique idea... Leaves! It's a great & easy theme for this simple bucket bag sewn on a regular home domestic sewing machine. It’s amazing how a cast-off can become something beautiful. Meet my new ‘almost free’ UpCycled Leather Leaf purse.

Leather (jacket, pants or skirt)

Sewing machine with good thread

Leather Sewing needle

Zipper (can be oversized)

2 D-rings

2 Strap clasps

Rivets (and tools to set them)

Double-sided tape

It’s my mothers fault… When I was young I observed how she would often take older style leather jackets and fashion them into something better and modern. Some leather is so luxurious and some isn’t. When you love the feel of it and its has some softness but also some stability it warrants becoming a purse. Mostly garment leather can be sewn with a home sewing machine if you have an older metal kind. My old Kenmore machines are quite the ‘work horses’.

The Simple Design

I prefer a simple purse design that also has a secure closure like a zipper. This ‘bucket style bag is a simple design. The rectangle side(s) need to match the circumference of the oblong bottom piece at the stitching line. That is the basic concept for inside lining as well, except that the narrow strip near the top will have the zipper side tabs sewn into the seam.

To make a sturdy bottom I doubled and top stitched through the 2 layers. A random design makes it not so fussy. If a design is random then mistakes don’t really happen.

Embellishing the outside

After cutting the major leather outside side pieces (even some with existing seams) The leaves are cut to sewn onto the up-cycled leather leaf purse.

Since pinning is not possible, I use small tabs of double sided tape. Since it may get the needle gummed up I try to keep its' use at a minimum. Test to see how your tape works on a scrap. I place them in a pleasing asymmetrical design avoiding the seams (less bulk)

The leaves are stitched quite easily since the line shapes are pretty simple, pivot and sew and pivot…

Zipper installation scares a lot of people. I completely understand. So to make it even easier I noticed this design on some bags. It is not a completely closed design but the slight openings on the end will not lose anything important. The zipper can be shortened at the bottom. To make opening easier an end can be left a bit longer to use as a pull tab. I even made a leaf by sandwiching the cut end of zipper it between 2 leaf shapes.

UpCycle Leather Leaf Purse Assemble

• Assemble the bottom to the sides after closing the side seams. (clipping the bottom every 1/4″ helps sew the curves of the bottom shape.
• The lining is the same as outside but a tiny bit smaller. Leave an opening when attaching the bottom (for later turning). Sew on any pockets to organize the inside .
• The zipper side-tabs are sewn into the lining seam near the top between the lining and a narrow strip.
• Make a couple loops of strapping (with D-ring) or desired leather strip and attach between lining and outside leather. These can be reinforced later with rivets

Easy Zipper Install

The zipper is slightly recessed since is sew into the lining via the narrow top strip The lining is sewn to the outside (right sides together), tabs with d-rings in place.

• The whole thing is then flipped right side out and lining is pushed inside and hand-stitched closed at bottom inside.

For some extra fun I made a few leaves and then used rivets to attach them to the side, also with a rivet loop. There is a jump ring so that I could swap out the leaves.

When making separate leaves only cut the top one first. Then after sewing cut the bottom layer to match top. Cut after sewing. They can resemble feathers as well.

I love 2 part rivets! They are so easy to use since they just hammer together using the proper tool.

The top edge can then be top stitched around. Since it lining inside there isn’t excessive layers/bulk. It worked out nice for my machine.

Cross-body is my preference. Using some hardware to attach the strap to the D-rings. You could piece some strips together for the strap but I like the kind of woven strapping that comes by the yard. ‘And of course I added some leaves.

You can make this purse in alternate proportions, larger or smaller or even narrower, the basic design is the same.

I’m quite happy with this! The jacket would possibly be in a landfill by now but instead it is a great upcycled leather purse! It will accent all the Eco prints so well, maybe even tie a silk scarf around the strap. Keep an eye out for those leathers heading to the trash…

I do have some other purse designs that are also quite unique!

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