Leather bag

“ Cut out your two main bag pieces, or top and bottom, to the shape of two large sleeve boards such as tailors use, now cut out two long narrow slips, about twenty inches wide, and long enough to go the whole length of both sides and round the tapered rounded bottom of the bag, and up to the end-borders of the mouth, these strips are sewn in exactly as the leather is attached to the upper and lower boards of a pair of common bellows. Sleeping-bags should be made very strong, in order that they may be used to carry a variety of odd articles in. ”

“ It pays to get a good bag of nice leather, conveniently arranged for carrying the articles necessary to one’s comfort. Such a bag, one that pleases the eye and in which one may find one’s things without a distracting search for them, gives an amount of satisfaction to a traveler beyond the power of words to convey. One of the most acceptable gifts that can be made to a person who is not of the stay-at-home type is a generously fitted traveling-bag. As thousands of bags are made precisely alike, the stamping of one’s initials at the end or side may save time and trouble. ”

“ The lining of this bag is sewn through the frame all round in the same manner as the side linings of the carpet bag.
I hope my readers will not think that I have gone too much into details. It is in small things that so many failures take place. As it is much easier to do anything when you are shown than when so much has to be guessed, it is my desire to make the road for beginners as smooth as possible, which must be my excuse if any is required. It is as well that those who intend to turn their attention to working in leather should begin by making a bag ”

“ It's awfully nice to do so, I think. It's like keeping the furniture in old families. And that big bag there, with the puckerin'-string run around it, is the bag to put china and valuables into and lug away."
"And your idee of an honor, is it," he sneered, "is that I'm goin' to put that dingbusset with a leather back-fin onto my head and grab up them two leather swill-pails and stick that iron thing there under my arm and grab that puckering-string bag in my teeth and start tophet-te-larrup over this town a-chasin' fires? ”

“ It will be better to use heavier material for shopping and school bags. Raffia makes a strong bag; silk strips are serviceable, and leather strips are good for school bags. For opera-glass bags, make two mats and lace or weave them together, or string a continuous warp. Use rope silk, chenille, or knitting silk with beads.
Borders for rugs or squares
[Pg 119]
When one has mastered the mysteries of weaving thoroughly enough to make a good mat, it is very easy to "turn them into" various articles. ”

“ The linings may be cut from the outside patterns by reducing them the 11⁄2 inches, allowed for covering the frame, and 1/8 inch for each welt. A lining of scarlet or blue roan greatly adds to the appearance and durability of a bag. A skin large enough for a 14 inch or 16 inch will cost about 3s.
Cow-hide for the outside is sold at 1s. 8d. per square foot, but the leather sellers frequently have pieces large enough for making a bag which they will sell at a slight reduction, and which answers this purpose as well as cutting a hide. In seaming the bag, take care not to wrinkle it in the clams. ”

“ And do not jump to conclusions; it is fatal in this business.”
I knew the bag at once when I saw it. Surely no other bag of that size in the city had two straps fastened with steel buckles. The handles of two of the other bags had been cut off, but the heavy leather handle of this one was entire.
“This is the one you mean, of course. Yes, it looks like the one the old lady carried; but there may be others. It is foreign, isn't it?” ”

“ To make a bag 36 inches by 12 inches by 8 inches requires a frame 36 inches long, the sides 361⁄2 inches by 14 inches, gussets 14 inches by 81⁄2 inches, bottom 361⁄2 inches by 8 inches. The lining will be 36 inches by 12 inches for the sides, gussets 13 inches by 8 inches, bottom 36 inches by 8 inches. For the handles two pieces of leather 12 inches by 2 inches. The straps and chapes are sewn on quite close to the frame, straps 10 inches long by 1 inch, chapes 41⁄2 inches by 1 inch. ”

“ They were all kept in this handbag”—she dropped a hand upon a rather small Lawrence bag of tan leather on the table before her—“under my bed, behind the steamer trunk. I told Jane to see if it was all right. ”

“ Nothing in a well directed family should bear the impress of neglect, or be suffered to assume an untidy appearance. Clothes bags of different sizes, should also be provided, of two yards in length, and either one breadth doubled, in [58] which case only one seam will be required; or of two breadths, which makes the bag more suitable for large articles of clothing. These bags are to seamed up neatly at the bottom, and to have strings which will draw, run in at the top. The best material is canvas, or good, strong unbleached linen. ”

“ Well, the men wore khaki riding-trousers and flannel shirts, broad-brimmed felt hats, army socks drawn up over the cuff of the breeches, and pack-shoes. A pack-shoe is one in which the leather of the upper part makes the sole also, without a seam. ”

“ Simultaneously, as the mouth of that valise yawned, the two men leaped forward so that their heads came together resoundingly and absurdly, but not before the bag had exposed its surface articles: a pair of tortoise-shell military brushes, a packet of documents, and a precious silver and lapis-lazuli box about the dimensions of a playing card, the kind usually dedicated to such elusive addenda as stamps, collar buttons, or sewing box in a lady's overnight bag. ”

“ It has been greatly improved by a new sleeping-bag with straps, and flaps that tuck in at the ends. But the obvious disadvantage of all sleeping-bags is that in rain and mud you are virtually lying on the hard ground, at the mercy of tarantula and fever.
The carry-all is, nevertheless, to my mind, the most nearly perfect way in which to pack a kit. I have tried the trunk, valise, and sleeping-bag, and vastly prefer it to them all. My carry-all differs only from the sleeping-bag in that, instead of lining it so that it may be used as a bed, I carry in its pocket a folding cot. ”

“ A flannel shirt and tweed trowsers secured by a belt and a light pith helmet, woollen socks, and a light pair of English walking boots cannot be improved upon as a travelling costume. A small knapsack or bag should be carried containing a clean dry jersey, shirts, socks, sarong, and light shoes; you are then independent of your baggage-bearers, who will often linger miles behind yourself and guides. When a fire is made at night, have all your clothes dried so as to be ready for the following evening. ”

“ Currying of the Lighter Leathers.—The duty of the currier is not solely directed towards heavier leathers; he is also entrusted with the dressing and fitting of the lighter leathers for the shoemaker, coachbuilder, saddler, &c. He has to pare the leather down and reduce inequalities in thickness, to impregnate it with fatty matter in order to render it soft and pliable, and to give it such a surface dressing, colour and finish as will please the eye and suit the purposes of its consumers. ”

“ The economy of space thus observed in the arrangement of clothes in a room will make it an easy matter when about to travel to pack one's wardrobe in a trunk.
A shoe bag is a great convenience. A simple canvas arrangement can be purchased very cheaply, or one of your fair friends can make you one. Your shoes should be placed in this and put at the bottom of the trunk in a corner. Otherwise you should wrap your shoes and boots in paper. If you travel with two trunks, one should be reserved for your outer garments and the other for your shirts and underclothes. ”

“ It remains only to add a word respecting the outer cover of balloon silk. Balloon silk, which in reality is a fine-woven cotton, is, relatively speaking, a delicate material, and furthermore it is not perfectly water-tight. The great advantage of lightness justifies its use. But the bag must be carefully handled, and after hard service the cover must be renewed.
Dr. Charles W. Townsend, of Boston, an experienced camper, writes:
“The sleeping bag is a home-made affair, that takes up only a small part of the room in a rucksack, and weighs four pounds. ”

“ Cut a slanting piece off each upper corner, leaving room for a small pocket six and one-half inches in depth by eleven inches in width.
Bind with braid, and sew large eyes all round the bag at regular distances by which it may be fastened with large tacks to the door or wall.
Every one who has to pack a trunk often, knows the trouble of doing up shoes comfortably. A number of small bags or cases made of any stout material will be found a great convenience. ”

“ These bags are capital things to save a shawl from the dust of a journey, and, if of good size, can be made to serve a useful purpose by packing into them dressing materials, etc., for which there is not room in your hand-bag. The best material for them is stout brown Holland. Cut two round end-pieces eight inches in diameter and a piece half a yard wide by twenty-four inches long. [page 50] Stitch these together, leaving the straight seam open nearly all the way across, and bind its edges and the edges of the end-pieces with worsted braid (maroon or dark brown) , put on with a machine. ”

“ Even if you have your baggage in a wagon, it is best to wear one, or some sort of a small bag furnished with shoulder straps, so that you can carry a lunch, writing materials, guide-book, and such other small articles as you constantly need. You can buy a haversack at the stores where sportsmen's outfits are sold; or you can make one of enamel-cloth or rubber drilling, say eleven inches deep by nine wide, with a strap of the same material neatly doubled and sewed together, forty to forty-five inches long, and one and three-quarters inches wide. ”

“ I ran to the entrance and nearly collided with the redcap.
"See anybody go out of here with a little red bag and an old battered suitcase?"
"Bag? Suitcase?" he mumbled. Then he became excited. "Why, a man just stepped out of here—" He turned to look down the street. "That's him." ”

“ Leather can be stiff as bone or supple as silk, nearly as waterproof as rubber or capable of sopping up water like a sponge, tough and unyielding or resilient and stretchy, smooth and translucent as paper, deeply grained in many patterns, or softly napped. ”

“ At certain hours, when the trains are due, the basket brigade is reinforced by the carpet-bag battalion; and a crowd of home-coming or out-going travellers is a never-ending source of sympathetic and imaginative study to the leisurely looker-on. What an anachronism that word "carpet-bag" has become, by the way! I saw not long ago on the ferry-boat a genuine and literal specimen, which carried back my thoughts for a generation to the day when bags were really made of carpet and the most fastidious social Bourbon did not disdain to carry them. ”

“ A broad leather belt, usually studded with metal buttons, confines the man’s garment at the waist and holds his knife; a gaily-coloured head-wrap, with long fringes, which replaces the hood in summer, falls down over the woman’s dress. ”

“ The diamonds in the cigar-case were in the inside pocket of my waistcoat, and as they made a bulky package, I took them out, intending to put them in my hand-bag. It is a small satchel like a bookmaker's, or those hand-bags that couriers carry. I wear it slung from a strap across my shoulders, and, no matter whether I am sitting or walking, it never leaves me. ”

“ Gambier and myrobalans form the main body of the tannage, together with a little quebracho extract, mimosa bark, sumach and extracts.
Upper Leather.—Under the head of upper leather are included the thin, soft and pliable leathers, which find their principal, but by no means exclusive, application in making the uppers of boots and shoes, which may be taken as a type of a class of leathers. They are made from such skins as East Indian kips, light cow and horse hides, thin split hides, such as those described under dressing leather, but split rather thinner, and calf. ”

“ It was the shabby leather jewel-case.
But now it bore many indications of extremely rough usage. It was not only open, but empty; the lid was bent, twisted out of shape, and hanging precariously by one damaged hinge. The leather was freshly torn and scratched, while the inner lining of faded blue satin had been slit in a number of places. I contrived after some manipulation to get the box into a semblance of its former shape, and then slipped it into a pocket of my coat.
Neither Maillot's room nor Burke's revealed anything of much consequence. ”

“ Instead of weakening the leather it simply makes it more beautiful. A handsome box is made of soft wood or cardboard and covered with tooled or embossed leather and is a possession that a queen might envy. ”

“ In Wet Weather wear Shoes with double upper-leathers—- two thin leathers will keep you much drier than one thick one, and are more pliable—the Currier’s Dubbing is the best nourisher of Leather—and renders it as soft as satin, and impervious to Water. ”

“ After considerable reflection and experience, I have concluded that the best bag for the foot-traveller is made with a handkerchief, or, if he study appearances, a piece of stiff brown paper, well tied up, with a fresh piece within to put outside when the first is torn. ”

“ Round the hips of every man is a leather belt, from which hangs a pouch or purse.
[Pg 106] Some of these purses are beautiful with stitched arabesque designs; some have silver and enamel clasps; some are plain black cloth or natural-coloured leather; nearly all, however, are black.
The hoods over the men’s heads vary in a number of ways: some are very full in the cape, which is jagged at the hem; some are close about the neck and are plain; some have long liripipes falling from the peak of the hood, and others have a liripipe of medium length. ”