mom's super tote

For my mom's birthday, I made her a Super Tote. I knew I wanted to make it mostly, if not all black. I found this Andover Fabric, Downton Abbey fabric, black on black design. I love it! And my mom and I love the show! So, perfect fabric to use! However, I could not find a black that matched to use with the Downton Abbey fabric. Most of the solid blacks were too blue and totally clashed. Well, then I thought I could use leather. Yeah! Leather! That would be awesome! ... or a total fail! (sewing leather can be scary!) I looked in my leather stash and I had some black I could use. Here goes nothing.....

And I LOVE how it turned out! 

Why was I so afraid? 

And the black went along great with my fabric. 

All the leather I use is recycled leather jackets from Good Will. I've scored a couple of different colors at around $15 a coat. Look for men's jackets, long men's jackets or long women's jackets to get the most leather. If they are older they tend to be softer, worn in leather.... which I think is the best. 

Anyways.... here are some pictures. 

I inserted a zipper instead of a snap for the outside pocket. I plan to do this on my next super tote too (a gift for our nanny).

I also did not top stitch the leather. It gets pretty thick on to with all the folded layers.

I still used interfacing on the leather as the pattern suggests. The leather was still pretty thin and I wanted to give it more structure.

On the other side I used some leather to make a trim detail.

Blocks make good bag weights to make pictures! :)

I am super happy that the leather turned out the way I envisioned!