DIY Dress Sporran

[ozmeath]

Geoff, I've made one and only recently. Good on you for wanting to give it a lash. Now there are no doubt plenty of other more experienced leather workers on this fine site but they appear to be less then forecoming, humble poppets they are. so here's the link to the thread that I have documented the process.
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=17283
As for a pattern you can just design one up to your exact specs I suggest. Symmetrical is about the only real guidelines I'd say. I drew it up, went over it in charcoal and pressed it against the leather. You can get symmetry similarly by charcoaling one half of your design and folding the paper to leave the reflection of it on the other side. Ta Daaa! perfect.
Feel free to ask me via post or PM about anything.I'll help if I can.
Erin.

[Bob C]

Ozmeath's pics are great for making a day sporran, but moovet is looking to make a dress sporran, as am I. I've got the cantle from Stillwater and I'm trying to decide which pelt I want.

Beerbecue's question about a stiffener for the front is good. You'd need one to attach the cantle to. I guess my biggest questions are, do you stitch the hide to the stiffener and is it best to have a plain leather back or to cover that with fur, as well.

Anyone wnat to chime in?

[bubba]

Best if the back is plain leather. The one I made the fur (faux fur, but it really doesn't matter) is cemented to a heavier leather on the front and to lighter leather for the gusset. I used heavier leather, like on the front, for the back. If you want more rigidity you can buy bag stiffener from outfits like Tandy Leather and sandwich it between two layers of leather.

[Bob C]

Thanks, Bubba. I would not have thought of glue, but it makes sense.

[Tartan Hiker]

I was in the craft shop a few days back looking at the "faux fox" material and realized two things.

1. It is a dead ringer for the real thing, especially at a distance, especially with a few tassles in the front, and most especially since it is worn where no one will be staring closely at it.

2. The backing on this faux fur is very supple. It would be easy to cut out a piece of this that is exactly the same size as the front of my black "semi-formal" sporran and stick it on with two-sided tape. That way I'd have a "convertible" sporran. The tape shouldn't harm the leather if not left on for weeks at a time or left in the hot sun. A bit of velcro around the edges may be usable as well. Still pondering this particular detail.

[bubba]

2. The backing on this faux fur is very supple. It would be easy to cut out a piece of this that is exactly the same size as the front of my black "semi-formal" sporran and stick it on with two-sided tape. That way I'd have a "convertible" sporran. The tape shouldn't harm the leather if not left on for weeks at a time or left in the hot sun. A bit of velcro around the edges may be usable as well. Still pondering this particular detail.

You'd be better off making it permanant and using fabric glue. I suspect the tape residue will make the leather look like hell in short order.

[cavscout]

TH, this is an idea I've been kicking around as well for sporrans like the Buzz Kidder's. It's a great shape and size and if you could make a "fascad" of fur to cover the front with three tassel holes to feed them thru you'd have a very nice semi-formal sporran or at least a variation on a day sporran. I think there is a market here to provide a person more sporran options without the expense of a new sporran. The catch is the design would have to be versatile enough to fit multple sporrans.

[Richland]

This Sporran I made had this convertable feature. I used Velcro on the flap to attach either the fur panel, or the solid leather panel. I am no Sporran expert but it works. I attached the Tassels to the body of the sporran because i have never examined a real sporran just photos on the web. certainly they dont get in the way when you open it up. Are they supposed to attach to the flap? This was my first attempt, so i an working on a better one. [IMG][/IMG]

[beerbecue]

Best if the back is plain leather. The one I made the fur (faux fur, but it really doesn't matter) is cemented to a heavier leather on the front and to lighter leather for the gusset.

Many of the dress sporrans have that fur edging that runs around the front edge over the gusset/front joint... did you just forego that Bubba?

[bubba]

No, I applied the fur to the gusset and front, then laid the fur sides together and sewed it down. Then I folded the gusset back and sewed it to the back. Here's a pic of the finished sporran.