Leather working

Is there anyone at Make who does leather working? I have an antique leather purse which needs a new strap. I’ve hunted on line and also spoken to folks (who work in leather shops) here in Wichita but have been unable to find anyone who can replicate the small piece of strap that still remains.

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@james.a.seymour @Malissa

I don’t understand. Are you responding to my query about leather working?

Hi Cindy,

Can you post a photo of the strap (or what you have of it)?

If you’ve talked to leatherworkers in Wichita but they can’t replicate it, I doubt anyone here could either. But maybe we could come up with something similar.

(Oh, and Patrick was tagging James and Malissa to see this thread, in case they have input about a replacement strap for your bag.)

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WHO HATH SUMMONED ME

Lol

Toss a pic up dere and let’s see what your looking at.

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I’ve tried attaching photos but keep getting a message that says new users can’t upload attachments.

Try again, it should work now.

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My phone took the pics and they aren’t ending the way you want and I’m not a computer whiz and I’m just pissed by thie shit. I’m going to bed.

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I took the liberty of converting your video to MP4 so that most folks can see it.

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I’m an electrical engineer and I get frustrated like that too sometimes.

This is a beautiful piece! I love the carving on it. I haven’t seen the video yet but it’s a gorgeous purse!

Thank you so much for doing this. That was very kind of you and I deeply appreciate it.

Thank you for understanding my extreme frustration. And thank you for the kind words about the purse. You can see why I am trying to save it. I found it at an estate sale. The leather was completely dried out - more like thick paper than leather. I purchased products to restore old leather and have worked very diligently to re-hydrate the leather so that it would not deteriorate. I’d really love to find someone who could replicate the strap so that I could occasionally carry the purse because it is so lovely and so unique.

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It looks like a single strip of leather fed through the one eye on the side and stitched to itself then attached to the other.

Have you reached out to Tandy leather? They might not have a ready replacement but they might know of someone who’s experienced in restorations like this.

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Yes, I did quite some time ago. I visited every leather shop here in town and showed them the purse but each one said they didn’t know anyone who could do this type of work. I’ve considered replacing the strap with some type of chain (if all else fails) but really would prefer to have a new strap that replicates the old one. It is fine detailed work.

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Hey there. It looks like a simple fix to the strap. That said, one side of the strap looks to have a different stitch than the other, so if you’re wanting one particular stitch on the strap, it wouldn’t be hard to do. Or at least that’s what it looks like. I would have to take a look at it in person. I am in a pretty hectic month, so if you’re not in a hurry, I could look at it in a couple weeks.

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Hi, Rhonda. Thank you for responding. Believe me, I’m not in a hurry. I’ve been trying to find help for this on and off for 2 - 3 years. I look for a while, then get busy with other things, and forget, and then run across the purse again, and think, “I should do something about this.” And so it goes. I look forward to hearing from you when you have some free time. I’m happy to bring the purse to Make so anyone who’s interested can take a look. Thank you.

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It does look like there was some areas on the edge of the body where the holes are pulled through too. I will look at it and see how we can reinforce it to repair that area. I will yell at you in the upcoming month and we can look at it together.

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Hi, Rhonda. Another Make member, Tom (don’t recall his last name) also contacted me earlier today and we met at Make. He took photos and measurements and believes he will be able to make a strap for the purse. So I think this is going to be taken care of.

I’m very grateful to all the Make members who responded to my request. Thank you all for your gracious replies and interest in helping me.

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