DIY hide sporran help

[T-Bone]

I have had a whitetail deer hide that I processed into rawhide with the hair on for several years now. I made a nice arrow quiver out of most of it, but I am wanting to make a nice dress sporran out of it. I have most of the pieces cut out and ready for the black dye. The main body is 8-9oz veggie tan that I did some experimental dyeing on. I just rubbed black walnut hulls over it to get a nice brown color. It is a little too splotchey for a dress sporran, though. Here is where I am having difficulties: how do you sew the bottom part of the hide to the body(front)/gusset without messing up the hair? I should have taken a picture of the back of the hide for reference...the hair goes past the edge of the skin by about 2 inches. Do I just trim this hair back so that I can sew on the gusset? I have done plenty of leather work, mostly "Rob Roy" type sporrans that I used to sell in the SCA. Here are some pics of the parts:
Body:


Possible cantle:


Strap keeper (I am wet forming this to go around the strap):


Strap attachment:


T

[Pleater]

I made a white rat skin into a purse and to get a close seam I used the very tips of nail scissors, and snipped away the fur from the roots right on the edge of the skin, so as to make a narrow bare strip without cutting away or damaging the skin or any of the fur which would be visible.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[artificer]

It depends on the amount of overlap you want. You might wish to use a trimmer (like Wahl) to shave between 1/8" and 1/4" of the fur. With VERY soft fur, I usually trim the smallest amount possible. A stiffer hair might require more cutting.

[T-Bone]

A-ha! Lightbulb comes on. Thank you, both. Now it seems so simple.

I have also found something to line the inside with. I have had this yellow, really thin, tanned deer leather begging to be used. I think it will look pretty good with the black. I will post more as I progress and finish.

Thanks,

T

[Tartan Hiker]

I know I'm a bit late to this party, but when I did up a goat hair sporran I didn't want to trim the hairs, either, so I used a piece of light leather for the front of the bag, stitched to the gusset in the usual way, then used contact cement to attach the goat hide. Been using it for years with no problems.

[Squeaky McMurdo]

l made my husband a moose hide sporran with deer tassels and I didn't trim the hair at all. I used a thick needle and a comb to pick and pull the hair out of the seam until it looked nice. That's the same thing they do with faux fur stuffed animals and it worked nicely in this case as well.

--Chelsea McMurdo--

[T-Bone]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I ended up trimming the hair from the edge back about 1/4in with scissors. This worked out pretty good. Here is a link to the finished sporran: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...sporran-62100/

T