New Pochette From a Louis Vuitton Zipper

I save little bits and pieces from the vintage bags I've picked up. 

Certain types of vintage Louis Vuitton bags have super sticky linings. 

The Vuittonitte that they used 20 or 30 years ago breaks down over time and becomes sticky especially in humid climates. 

 A few years ago, I picked up a cute vintage brief case but the lining was trashed. 

Instead of trying to clean it I pulled it out and threw it away.  
The leather and zipper was cut away from the lining and saved for a later date.

I decided that the zipper would look cute on a pochette or pouch made out of denim. 
Louis Vuitton had a denim line for a while that I thought was darling.  

Yellow thread that matches a Louis Vuitton bag was a must. 

Joann's had a heavy weight yellow thread that was a near perfect match.

It took 8 hours of hand work to sew the zipper unit to the denim. 

My fingers were so sore even with the use of leather needles.  

The back is not pretty but it won't show. 

I sewed a rectangle around the new zipper to form the pouch.
I cut the opening and glued the sleveage with craft glue. 

A quick trip to Tandy Leather yielded the news that my sewing machine could sew through thin leathers. 
They had leather needles for my machine so I sewed a d-ring onto the corner of the bag. 
This piece was a leftover from another bag. 
The strap came from a vintage Louis Vuitton Pochette.

This was a Valentine's Day project since Bill was sick. 
Head phones and sewing helped me survive the 
Star Wars Trilogy. 
 

This holds my iPad or toiletries. 
It can also be used as a clutch. 
 I love Vachetta leather and denim. 
    

That is what I've been up to.
How about you?
Come back for more leather crafting.
I have been sewing leather with my machine! 
So fun. 
Katie 

New Upholstered Chair

Mr. Bill enclosed the porch and finished out the sunroom when the kids were teenagers. We had to have a quiet place in the midst of video games and garage bands. Bill did most of his T.V. watching out there but now that the kids are grown we could actually move back into the house for T.V. and movies. Bill had most of the say in the furnishing and decorating of his man cave.

He got a new media cabinet.

He built his coffee table. Read about it here.

 We found the leather loveseat and chair at an outlet kind of place called The Dump.

It matched an ottoman I picked up at the consignment store.

Perfect!

But, we had this old worn out chair.

You can see where our old dearly departed orange kitty used to sharpen his claws.

My sister had taken some of her old chairs to be reupholstered in leather and fabric. The transformation was amazing, so Bill and I wanted to do the same thing with this chair.

We bought our materials and then did nothing for a year.

We found the hide at Tandy Leather in Ft. Worth. It was 110.00. We found the fabric at Joann's. It was 130.00 for it and some supplies.

Now...

 you will think I have lost my mind, but I entertained the idea of doing this as a weekend project just the two of us. 
Have you seen the show, Renovation Realities?

Bill and I are a little like that sometimes in the midst of a project. We would never be one of the couples that cuss at each other but we have been known to snip at each other.

When it came right down to it, I just didn't think we could do a good enough job.

I dropped it off at the shop in August of last year.

It was supposed to take 8 weeks but it actually took 14 weeks.

I think the shop got backed up with other stuff needing to be re-done for the holidays. I liked the little shop we worked with, but I suspect that they had other orders that had to be rushed. I was patient and polite so I think we kept getting bumped. The owner of the shop dropped it off at 6:30 the night before Thanksgiving.

He was kind of enough to get it here for the holiday. 

He doesn't know that our only guest, my mother-in- law, would not have climbed the stairs to see it.

I love the leather and fabric combination. It has a southwest flair that we have seen around furniture stores in Dallas. Bill kept saying that he couldn't believe it was the same chair. 

I don't know if he had ever fully grasped the vision, but I am glad he trusted that it could look fabulous. It wasn't a very expensive chair to begin with. We got it at one point in the 90's at a Penny's outlet center.

 

 

     

The leather we chose matches the loveseat and chair perfectly.

                     

I think it looks so cute. If we had purchased retail, we would have had a tough time finding something that matched as well as this piece does. 

He calls this the mancave. I think that is stretching it a bit since it is so open to the stairwell. But it works for him. 

Katie 
Linking with,
Between Naps on the Porch  
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia  
Coastal Charm  
Savvy Southern Style  
The Farmhouse Porch for The Scoop