Sami-style coffee bag in reindeer leather

[SaraR]

Just finished sewing this Sami-style coffee pouch in reindeer leather using a kit from Casström.

First time doing anything in leather in a long time and I've never worked with such thin leather before.

Luckily there is enough leather left to make a second one for when the appropriate tools arrive.

But I am rather pleased with how this one turned out in the end.

 

[TeeDee]

I'm trying to work out how the pattern would have looked before you started?

Would you have not achieved a near similar outcome with just a circle of leather ? or would it have 'bunched' at the neck?

 

[Nice65]

Nice little bag that. I’ve always fancied a coffee bag, but having had a fairly spectacular ground coffee accident in the campervan recently, I’m not sure it’s a great idea.

Until recently I had one of the little coin purses in the same leather, it’s lovely and flexible. Lost it though, no money in it, but it had a tooth from one of our dogs who died last Christmas.

 

[SaraR]

I'm trying to work out how the pattern would have looked before you started?

Would you have not achieved a near similar outcome with just a circle of leather ? or would it have 'bunched' at the neck?

It’s actually surprisingly straight-forward:
- Front and back are two of those filled in U-shaped pieces.
- Then there is a long rectangular strip that goes all around the bottom and sides (this can be made up of 2 rectangles sewn together with a seam on the short edge (which will end up at the bottom) if you don’t have large enough a piece of leather).
The long sides of this rectangle are stitched to rounded part of each of the front and back pieces.
- The neck is made up of a wider retangle that is sewn together into a tube, leaving a 1 inch gap at the top of the seam to make it easier to reach in I guess. You also make a small loop out of a tiny rectangle that’s folded double, stitched up and inserted into the seam of the neck. This was literally the trickiest bit of the whole proceedings.
-You then put the neck tube over the lower part of the bag (grain sides facing) and sew the seam around the whole bag.
-Twist a long strip of leather and attach to the loop to make the closure.

Everything, apart from the little loop, is stitched together grain sides facing.

ETA: If you make the bottom/side strip longer, you can gather it nicely to create more space and decorative gathers where you like them.

 

[SaraR]

Nice little bag that. I’ve always fancied a coffee bag, but having had a fairly spectacular ground coffee accident in the campervan recently, I’m not sure it’s a great idea.

Until recently I had one of the little coin purses in the same leather, it’s lovely and flexible. Lost it though, no money in it, but it had a tooth from one of our dogs who died last Christmas.

Thanks! Yeah, I don’t think I will be using it for coffee or at least not for ground coffee. Perhaps I could use it for whole coffee beans? I’m sure the coffee oils would treat the inside of the bag nicely. But I’m not sure the air would do the beans much good - although a few days shouldn’t harm them, I guess.

For actual ground coffee or other food items, I’d probably use a plastic bag as a liner inside.

To be fair, I’ve made some spectacular messes trying to open tins with airtight lids, so I very much sympathise with your van woes.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog and its tooth. Reindeer leather does make for wonderful purses. They feel like they would be too delicate but they do put up with a lot of use and abuse.

 

[SaraR]

These are often made with strips of folded colourful wadmal (the fulled wool fabric) sewn into the seams, for what I assume is decorative purposes as well as to give structural stability. I didn’t have any suitable wool fabric and this was plenty to get on with for a first attempt, plus I prefer the cleaner look of just leather. Perhaps you could use leather strips to make leather piping.

 

[SaraR]

And for very obvious reasons, I kept thinking of @Toddy the whole time I was twisting that leather thong into some sort of cordage.

 

[John Fenna]

I used to make and sell machine sewn versions of this kind of bag - in various sizes. A lot of my small kit, as well as coffee, is housed in leather bags. Sara - if you want to try a different size version PM me and you can pop round to look at the patterns I have

 

[Ystranc]

Well done for making such a beautiful coffee bag, I know a lady in Hay on Wye (we share a love of deerhound lurchers). She works really good quality reindeer leather bags but her products are quite expensive.

 

[TLM]

Yeah, I don’t think I will be using it for coffee or at least not for ground coffee. Perhaps I could use it for whole coffee beans? I’m sure the coffee oils would treat the inside of the bag nicely. But I’m not sure the air would do the beans much good - although a few days shouldn’t harm them, I guess.

As far as I understand in older days in Fennoscandia coffee was kept as beans and roasted and ground when needed. Lots of old roasting pans and grinders in museums.

#1 son uses and old grinder he kind of inherited from my grandmother. Works still well.

 

[SaraR]

Well done for making such a beautiful coffee bag, I know a lady in Hay on Wye (we share a love of deerhound lurchers). She works really good quality reindeer leather bags but her products are quite expensive.

Thank you!

I applaud anyone who can get a reasonable price for handcrafted items, it's not often people are willing to pay enough to cover the time involved to make such things. Although with a suitable sewing machine something like this would obviously been a lot faster. (orjust if made by someone who knew what they were doing. )

 

[SaraR]

I used to make and sell machine sewn versions of this kind of bag - in various sizes. A lot of my small kit, as well as coffee, is housed in leather bags. Sara - if you want to try a different size version PM me and you can pop round to look at the patterns I have

That's a very generous offer! I might take you up on that later in the year when things have calmed down here. It seems an easy enough a pattern to scale up and down and using some printer paper to make a mock up as a sanity check, but it's always easier to get something ready made.

I'm pretty sure I've got one of your bags made in sturdier leather (and slightly bigger) that I use for my flint and steel and tinder that I got at the bushmoot.

 

[SaraR]

As far as I understand in older days in Fennoscandia coffee was kept as beans and roasted and ground when needed. Lots of old roasting pans and grinders in museums.

#1 son uses and old grinder he kind of inherited from my grandmother. Works still well.

I've got (roasted) whole beans, so maybe I should try that.

 

[SaraR]

Somewhat related: I ordered a few leathercraft tools from Goods Japan on Monday night. They were shipped on Tuesday and arrived today! All the shipping options were rather expensive, so I went with the cheapest (Japanese Post of some sort) only to be informed after the fact that they were experiencing delays and were very sorry about that, so I certainly wasn't expecting it this week (or next...). I'm very impressed.

 

[FerlasDave]

Did this kit come as pre cut leather pieces or asa paper pattern? I’m curious if anyone has a link to a pattern, this could be a nice way to use up some leather scraps.

 

[John Fenna]

Pin on Saami

Jan 16, 2017 - The Sami peoples are the folk who inhabit parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Their livelihood ...

www.pinterest.ca

This is where I started my journey

 

[SaraR]

Did this kit come as pre cut leather pieces or asa paper pattern? I’m curious if anyone has a link to a pattern, this could be a nice way to use up some leather scraps.

I bought a kit from Casström that had a big piece of leather (enough for two pouches), thread and instructions plus the pieces printed on A4 paper. I then copied the paper pattern so that I had enough to lay everything out on the leather and cut the pieces out (and keep the original safe).

There are loads of (English language) blog posts about similar bags available if you do a google search, so should be easy to find.

 

[FerlasDave]

Had a Google and found a couple of things so I’ll see what templates I can come up with, however that sounds like a really good deal from casstrom!

 

[SaraR]

Had a Google and found a couple of things so I’ll see what templates I can come up with, however that sounds like a really good deal from casstrom!

Yes, I was really surprised when I realised I could get two bags’ worth out of the leather. I hadn’t expected that. But I’m not sure if that’s something they always do or if I was just lucky. And now I can of course use the pattern and instructions to make more in any thin leather or canvas type material that I want.

 

[John Fenna]

Charity shop leather jackets - get there before the rag man calls for those that have broken zips etc £5 for a jacket/coat is my offer - Sara ... Cardigan is my turf!