👜 Leather Purses & Totes by Lisa Galvin - Crafting Guide (2005-06-01) Review

Working with leather is very different from working with other materials. Not harder, just different. I'm excited to find out everything (I can't find any courses on the subject) so this book added to my experience. Easy to follow instructions. The styles are a bit dated, but the basics don't change.

This book is beautifully made but suffers from the problems I've seen in other leather bag books. Genuine leather bag samples are too small to use. Many of the bags shown only appeal to young girls who dress up. That doesn't mean they can't be made tasteful when they're little. Surprisingly, some projects focus on skin only, while the rest are store-bought bags. There are some good ideas in this book, but not enough to justify the price for an already experienced leatherworker. I do not…

If you are new to leatherworking this book has a very good section on tools and materials. There are high quality photos and good descriptions of the tools and how to use them. However, many of the real projects have disappointed me. I was particularly interested in the design for the curved top pocket on the cover, but to my surprise the materials needed for this project included a "curved top pocket" along with some trim. It's about sticking embellishments onto the bag you bought, not making…