made a new ( bigger) sporran

[jhockin]

OK, "Riverkilt" Ron asked for "more"; I took some pics, as I made it, so here are some of them:

first, I cut out a ten and a half inch circle of deerhide

[jhockin]

using heavy leather ( 1/8" thick), I cut out a "tongue" shape, for the frontspiece, another piece for for the cover/"lid", that has a 'tongue', to attach to the back of the "bag", and a smaller piece that i will sew to the cover 'tongue', to be a 'loop', for the sporran belt.Next to the new sporran, you see the existing/purchased sporran, that I find too small, to be really useful, for all the 'stuff', I want to be able to pack into a sporran. Using this existing sporran, along with the pattern at
http://www.nwta.com/patterns/pdfs/291sporr.pdf
I "mixed and matched", to make this new one.

[jhockin]

checking the cover/"lid", to make sure it will be the size I want, and cover the "fronstpiece", AND the top of the bag:

[jhockin]

I've got the pattern on tracing paper,and have transfered it to the cover. Once the pattern is traced onto the leather of the cover, I got the leather nice and wet, and carved the pattern into the leather, and 'shaped' the surrounding leather into a bas-relief, so that the pattern ( a stylized thistle in a circle), stands out.

the pattern appears to be 'centered to low, but this is to allow for the bend, from the back to the front, once the lid is closed and fastened (still, I didn't get it quite right/centered - next time). Above the cover/"lid". you can see a small rectangle of the same leather. this will be sewn to the 'tongue', part, of the cover, to form a loop, for the sporran belt, before sewing the cover to the back-side of the 'bag'.

[jhockin]

check that everything looks good; the darkness on the top of the cover, is because the leather was still damp ( no dye yet). Checking that the large wooden button looks right proportions; you can see that I have made four holes in the 'fronstpiece', to take a lace, that will loop around the button, to close the 'lid'; one tassel done, on the lace for the closure; another tassel cut, for the other end, to the right

[jhockin]

On the deerskin circel, I clipped notches, then (on the sewing machine), I've sewn down a 1/2" hem, to strengthen the edge, for when I (later, after sewing front and back on) punch holes, through the hem, to take a long leather lace, that will close the top of the bag.

[jhockin]

with the frontspiece clamped to the deerskin bag, so that nothing will shift, I sewed the frontspiece on,by hand, using a leather awl.Note that closure lace is threaded through the holes, in frontspiece, before sewing it onto the bag (Darkness at top of cover is because the leather is still damp - still no dye)