I built myself a sporran!

**HippieLee** · 28th October 13, 09:17 AM

I think it's pretty OK for my first one and for not having worked with leather before this summer. I plan to line my next one with scraps of tartan from my kilt-maker. She said she'd send whatever left-overs she had after making my kilt.

sporran_1.jpg sporran_2.jpg sporran_3.jpg

I plan to make a sporran strap for it but would like some guidance from you folks - how long should I make it? AM I right in thinking I should make two pieces with clips at one end of each for attaching to the D-Rings on the back of the sporran and a buckle in the middle to adjust for the upcoming dessert season?

As I mentioned before I gotta practice my carving and now I see I need to work on dyeing too lol. But over-all I am pleased with the results and look forward to many more.

It seems to be a bit of a tight fit getting my hand inside - is a wider gusset the best way to fix that or should I be thinking softer leather? or both?

Next I want to learn how to do that rolled front edge that you see on the really nice ones.

My daughter said she has dibs on this one once I make a new one for me.

**Tomak** · 28th October 13, 10:42 AM

This is your first effort? WOW...very nice. I look forward to seeing the next one.

**HippieLee** · 28th October 13, 11:00 AM

Thanks! Yep, some time this spring/summer I decided I wanted to make a sporran so I started looking on-line for some information. That lead me simultaneously to this site and to Tandy Leather. With a combination of reading every sporran thread here and going to some classes at Tandy I've managed to put this together. And got bitten by the leather-working bug. I have a crate of tools now (all beginner stuff but I can see where I will be upgrading tools along the way).

I don't think I'd be able to sew a kilt from scratch but I'll be able to make a lot of the stuff to go with one!

**Chas** · 28th October 13, 11:03 AM

WOW - I am so impressed!

Truly a work of art.

**Tomak** · 28th October 13, 11:15 AM

Did you get the pattern from Tandy? I checked the site and don't see one. I think I might like to give this a try.

**HippieLee** · 28th October 13, 11:32 AM

I took the class at at Tandy but the pattern was made by the guy who taught this class. He cut them out of stiff manila folder paper and we did the rest - cutting out the 2 main pieces and winging the attachments. I had done buckle/D-Ring straps for a previous project (gaiters for my daughter) so had a pretty good handle on that. I'd probably leave the belt loop in the back off the next one - it was optional on this but I wanted the sewing experience so I put it on.

When I get home I'll see if I can get a scan of the two main pieces and post it up here. I believe that is OK by the rules - the instructor said the patterns were ours to keep and do whatever we want with. He said he modified it a little bit from another pattern he had - probably to make it a littler easier on us.

The gusset was a 2.5" wide strap with fairly deep grooves a quarter inch from each edge (cut into the back-side) so it would bend.
The lacing took the longest but all told I probably spent about 18 hours on it across 2 saturdays at Tandy and finishing the lacing at home. I did buy their stitching and lacing book on sale for 3 bucks and it came in very handy late last night when I was finishing up. I used the double loop lacing. I imagine a more experienced person would have knocked it out much moire quickly.