My first sporran, and a desperate plea for help!

[Lea Evans]

Hello everyone!

First time post for me, but I have been lurking around your site here for quite some time admiring the fantastic work you all produce.

I've recently made my first attempt at a hand made sporran.

I have sent it off to the Highland cattle rancher from whom I acquired the fur from to sell this weekend at an event he is attending. And not long after he began getting feedback... mostly bad.... regarding my sporran, forwarding it to me. "It is too small", "The stitching is bad", "It is a hunters sporran and people wont be willing to pay much for it", "The attachment in the back is wrong", etc, etc, etc.

I know very little of Sporran making, or the anatomy of a sporran, it seems books on the subject are all but non-existent. I quite literally wung it when creating this, comparing to Sporrans I had found online, and have recently ordered a cheap sporran to reverse engineer.

I have no machines, and hand stitch absolutely everything... also, being that I am a leatherworker (masks mostly), I take pride in hand tooling and carving all of my work. I really dont want to go the route of stamping, machine-work or making it "easier". But rather clean and professional. You know?

So my question to you all is this.... could you please offer some constructive criticism to this sporran? What will make my future attempts "right"? Any tips on stitching? I do know the rough edges are an eyesore. What are "correct dimensions"?

Any help at all would be so greatly appreciated.

[Tartan Hiker]

Well, considering what you've told us, I think you did really well!

Here are a few things I noticed, in no particular order:

Size. It needs to be large enough to hold a wallet and car keys, and it must be large enough to get a "man hand" into it to fish around for your stuff. 7" wide is probably a good minimum width, and 8" or 9" would be a decent depth.

Stitching. Hand stitching is always going to be a bit messy, especially when it is as large as yours. Smaller stitches with black thread would help. Do you use a star wheel to mark your holes? If you used one of those and a double-needle saddle stitch it would look much more "finished".

Overall appearance. I like the tooling. I like the use of the hair. I think that combo works really well. I think the tan side gussets are a bit distracting and would look better in brown or black.

Overall, a good effort in my opinion.

[Tartan Hiker]

I forgot about the hanger on the back. It is too narrow. when you run a belt through it it will serve as a pivot point, with the sporran tending to swing to and fro when you walk. Just widen the hanger by a factor of about three and it will work better. Sporran straps are never more than about an inch, so if the hangar had an inside opening of 1.5 inches it would be more than adequate.

And I like the use of the magnetic clasp.

[Lea Evans]

Thanks so much Bill for your prompt reply and encouraging words.

I have been using a star wheel, though looking back should probably have used a smaller one, it seems the distance between stitch holes are a bit long to me looking back at it now. As for a "double-needle saddle stitch", I'll be honest, Greek to me. I've ordered a book on stitching leather and hope this will clean my work up greatly. All the stitching I have done so far has just been me literally just figuring it out on my own.

Thank you for teaching me the term "gusset".

My next sporran I plan to make black, so the leather and gusset will all be dyed. My sinew is natural.... will have to look into finding it in black if it exists.

Note taken on the hangar, I would have never thought of that. I was also told I need to add D-rings for chains, so that will be another thing to add to my next project.

Thank you so, so much.

[Ryan Ross]

I think the sporran is quite interesting, and I've always wanted to see a hairy cow sporran, as well! The tooling is quite effective, and it's a very good first attempt!

I'd reccomend a couple things for your next one:

Consider making the gusset in a heavier leather, and sew a bead trim around the outside perimeter, where the gusset attaches to the front panel- this will hide the stitches and look quite nice. Use the thinnest leather you can for this purpose and stitch with a dark colored, finer thread.

Also, think about keeping the width of the sporran the same, and making it a bit longer.

For "hair sporrans", the hair usually spans the entire front panel, rather than being framed on three sides by leather. That's another possible design consideration.

As for the loop on the back, I find that the more tightly it fits the sporran belt, the better the sporran hangs. With that in mind, the loop could possibly be a bit shorter and wider. You could, alternatively, use two loops of about the same size as the single one above.

Keep tweaking the design, and make another one as soon as you can (and post pics)! If you have no use for a sporran, I'm sure that you could find a client in one of our fellow board members.

[davidlpope]

My advice:

Avoid trying to make a hand-crafted sporran too flashy- i.e. contrasting leathers, fur/hair, tooled leather, etc. All this tends to make such sporrans look like a Boy Scout craft project rather than a proper sporran. if you really want to find a niche market, make something similar to current sporrans, but make it in much, much better quality.

For example, consider Lamar Britt's sporrans:
http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/sporran_fb.html

and sporrans by McRostie Leather:
https://www.said.net/secure/mcrostie/index-shop.asp

Excellent materials and superb craftsmanship beat "funky" designs IMHO.

Cordially,

David

[Wompet]

7" wide is probably a good minimum width, and 8" or 9" would be a decent depth.
... Smaller stitches with black thread would help...

... widen the hanger by a factor of about three and it will work better. Sporran straps are never more than about an inch, so if the hangar had an inside opening of 1.5 inches it would be more than adequate.

And I like the use of the magnetic clasp.

... sew a bead trim around the outside perimeter, where the gusset attaches to the front panel- this will hide the stitches and look quite nice. Use the thinnest leather you can for this purpose and stitch with a dark colored, finer thread.
...
For "hair sporrans", the hair usually spans the entire front panel, rather than being framed on three sides by leather.

Those would be the same recommendations that I would make - smaller stitching, bead trim on the front with hair across the entire face, and widen the hanger while reducing the size of the opening.

[Bigkahuna]

I like your sporran very much. I think it was very creative in the use of the hair and I personnally like the stitching. How much for a slightly larger version??

[azwildcat96]

I think Tartan Hiker nailed it with his suggestions. It is far better than anything that I could attempt. The leather work is quite good from the photos, and I really like the long cow hair. The rustic stitching is OK too for a casual sporran (I've seen similar at Ren Faires).

Just a thought...Have you considered marketing this one as a childs sporran, as they are typically smaller in size?

[Scotcop]

Its a piece of trashy looking junk, and therefore you should send it to me for free......

To be quite honest with you, I love it, the only thing is that hanger on the back, and make sure its big enough for a guys hand, and you are set.
Good Luck on your next, and make sure to show us pics!!!!