I'd like to start with a bit of background before I dive into the technical details of this one.

A few months back I had sent a message to our own Ryan Ross about custom yarn colours for the amazing bonnets he hand knits, seen HERE. I'm not one of nature's "hat-guys", but his work has intrigued me from the start, and the more of them I saw, the more I knew I would have to have one.

In our conversations Ryan mentioned that he'd be interested in a trade, and the process of sporran design soon started.

He wanted a very basic black 'regimental' style sporran, with a plain top flap with a Sam Browne stud closure. I wanted to see just how far I could push the 'plain' envelope.

I thought "if we are going plain, why not go PLAIN?!" The edge of the flap and bag front was to be burnished rather than have a fold over trim piece. I was wondering if I could actually make the bag with NO visible trim edge of leather showing for the gusset.

This means that the bag gets assembled fully while inside-out, then turned right side out and the gusset is stitched through blind to attach it to inside face of the rear panel.

I'll be the first to say that it's going to be difficult, and may not work...
We'll have to see if I sew myself into a corner and have to tear the bag back down to the start (or start over).

We start with the veg tanned interior panels, dyed red, oiled, waxed and hand burnished. Ryan liked the red look from #11 seen HERE, but suede wasn't an option, as it doesn't burnish.


Ryan wanted a nice smooth, not too glossy leather for the exterior. I managed to get some that was similar to the brown used in #5-10. It isn't as lush, which is good. A pull-up leather in black can get very ashy and grey in a hurry.

After the interior panels were glued to the outer leather, I burnished the edges with canvas and wax until they were smoooooth, and nearly one-piece.
Everything is then edge-dyed for uniformity.


The gusset is then attached to the front face, with the top edges 'hemmed'. I really don't like the raw edge of leather to show on the gusset. I know lots of people don't mind (or even notice) but it always strikes me as unfinished.


The bag front, prior to attaching to the rear panel.

Sorry for the blurry shot, but you can see how large the gusset is right now. It needs to be as it will be turned over itself 3 times and wrapped around the rear panel's edge then stitched- assuming I can make this work

With a bit of luck I'll start the rear assembly this evening.

ith: