Notice that I have folded under the bottom edge of the leather facing. The handle ends are just a raw edge but I am going to cover them with zipper tape so they won't show. The folded edge of the leather will get sewn to the lining when I sew on the zipper.


  Ok, I have sewn on the zipper. Notice how it is folded and the small facing on the right hand side. I will trim the outside edge of the facing later.
  Using my same pattern I now cut the leather for the bottom front. I want this piece wider to allow for the gusset so I mark one side of the pattern, slide it over 2" and mark the other side.

  This shows the top part of the bottom front from the back side. I've sewn on the other side of the zipper to match what I have on the lining. I've  folded back the extra that I added for the gussets and top stitched it part way down. I buy this nylon coil zipper on a roll and cut lengths as needed.
  Next I assemble the 2 parts by putting on the zipper slider. It's necessary to move it a few teeth one way or the other till the corners line up properly. Then the ends of the zipper are heat sealed together. I can then sew the gusset edges and bottom to the lining. We will see that assembled in a later photo.
  Now the other side...

  This starts off the same as the other side except that this time I fold over the handle ends and sew them into the seam.  I didn't do that on the zipper side because I didn't want the extra thickness in the seam. This side has an open pocket that closes with a magnetic snap. I put 1/2 of the snap on the bottom center of the facing and above that I add the 2 dee rings for the backpack straps.
  The bottom part of this side is easy. I cut it with my same one pattern, minus a couple inches at the top. The top edge gets the other half of the magnetic snap applied to a leather tab that is then sewn onto the center top. The top edge of the pocket then gets folded down to the inside and sewn.  A dee ring is put on the bottom corners to complete the backpack attachment.

  Here it is with the edges and bottom attached to the lining with seam tape. I cut two more pieces of lining and on the one for the front I sew on credit card pockets a pen holder and 2 clips for key rings. The lining for this side gets padding sewn to it to protect the laptop computer that goes in this compartment. Here it is assembled.


 Now it's time to make the dreaded middle part. This is where I hope I have it figured out. Time to use the one pattern again to cut out 2 more pieces of lining. On the top of one I insert a long zipper 1" down from the top, and running almost the entire length. Putting the two pieces back to back and sewing on the #2 compartment top zipper and leather facings I have this.

  I have notched the top center of the facings and use this to align it to the top center of the lining. I will do this when sewing on the front and back also. Next step is to sew the facings and zipper for compartment #1 to the other side.
 
  Here is the center with the bottom lining attached to the center divider. There is a seam going all the way around the center as shown in drawing one at the top of the page. What you see in this view is compartment #1 for the laptop computer with the long zipper  installed in the center divider. This makes a compartment between section #1 and section #2 where padding can be added if needed. You will also see the three tunnels in which I will install padding  for the bottom and sides of the laptop after final assembly. What we need to do now is cut the leather for the outside bottom. It will be the full width of the two compartments. The outside pouches are positioned on it and sewn on the way we did it on the handbag we made from a photo. It is then attached to the bottom lining with seam tape and the top edges are folded and sewn over the bottom edges of the top zippers. Before looking at that, look at the photo above to see that I have installed black binding on the center seam between the two zippers.


  Notice that  I can't sew across the binding on the center seam because of the compartment divider. Above the pouches I have added solid brass dee rings for the shoulder strap attachment. This completes the center section and it's time to sew on the front and back. The binding on that flap looks great doesn't it. The flaps are douple thick leather so that the magnetic snap on the under side doesn't show. This pebble grain chocolate leather looks really nice.


Here's the back installed

  Here's the front installed showing the tapered zipper pocket and gussets. After binding the two seams all I have to do is make the shoulder strap and backpack straps. You would be surprised at the amount of leather goes into the straps. You have to cut them 3/4" wider than double the finished width if you make them double sided with turned in edges.
  This is where the drawing turns into reality. I wonder if customers realize how the dimensions they give me affect the shape of final product. I guessed at the final proportions when I made the sketch and it looks to me like I wasn't too far off.  When they add a feature they want to know how much it will cost, but do they realize that every time you add a feature you add weight.
   This pebble leather is thin and strong so it isn't as heavy a bag as it would be using a thicker leather and it isn't so soft that it can't do the job of keeping it's shape and carrying the heavy lap top computer. This was the right leather for this bag and it looks really nice. The straps were made using this same pebble grain leather in black. I think the black looks good with chocolate brown. The thread is almost black, it isn't really this white, it's just reflecting a lot of  light from the flash.


  Check out the other backpacks available from LeatherGoodsConnection

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