HSM challenge 11 - an ugly leather pouch

During the summer I made three different bags, two of them historical. When the HSM November challenge: bags and purses rolled along I really didn't have any inspiration at all to make yet another bag. Still I didn't want to fail a challenge when there were only two left of the year. When I organized my attic storage I had found some scrap pieces of leather, and since I need a leather pouch to wear on my belt for my 16th century outfits I decided to try and make a leather pouch or bag.

In my mind I wanted something like this woman has hanging from her belt.

Soon I realized that I wouldn't be able to do that though. The scrap pieces of leather that I had were too stiff and also I didn't have enough to make that kind of round bag with extra pockets. I was down to basically just cutting out as much of the leather as possible and assemble it into a more generic viking/medieval pouch.

This was the size that I could get out. It was based on me wanting a pouch that was big enough to hold my phone and my insulin pen, and since the pen is quite long the pouch had to be long as well. I also cut out a long strip of fabric to use as the side and bottom of the pouch.

I first sewed on the strap that is going to keep the bag on the belt. Here I discovered how hard and difficult it is to sew on leather, especially if you don't have proper leather needles. For the rest of the bag I used an awl to first make the holes before going through them with a needle. I used waxed linen thread for the sewing.

It was also a lot easier when I started using my curved upholstery needle, compared to using a straight needle.

Once I had sewed all the pieces together I wet the bag and turned it right side out. I left it to dry with a lot of plastic bags inside, so that it would keep its shape properly.

After this I discovered that I didn't have enough leather to make a flap to close the bag. Thankfully Niklas in Cosplay Dalarna gave me a piece so that I could finish the bag.

When all was done I oiled the leather with olive oil to darken it.

For the closure I used a piece of scrap leather, fastened it to the front and cut a slit in the flap. If I get my hands on a nice piece of wood or bone I would like to switch the fastening.

All in all I can't say that I really enjoyed working with leather. It's noticable on the quality of the bag as well, in the end I just wanted to finish it. It's a usable item, but not one of the things I particularly proud of.

The Challenge: 11 - bags and purses
Material: a maximum of 0,5 m of leather scraps
Pattern:  My own,
Year:  medieval
Notions: waxed linen thread
How historically accurate is it? It doesn't really look like any bags that I have seen, but it is a generic leather pouch, I would be surprised if there aren't similar bags to this one out there, or that they were used. It is handmade with correct aterials. I'm thinking 30%
Hours to complete: 15 hours
First worn: I'm planning on wearing it next weekend
Total cost: Everything was from my stash, I even got the last piece I needed as a gift.