Merchant and Mills, The Field Belt.... The Fold Line

The weather was glorious Saturday, so of course, I spent the day inside cleaning.  I found this pattern under a stack of fabric.  Originally I had read about this indie pattern company on patternreview.com, went to the Merchant and Mills website, and found this little bag.  I investigated..... with the shipping from the UK it was not worth it to buy the pattern, hardware kit and fabric.  Purl Soho started carrying Merchant and Mills, and voila!!

The fabric is a stiff oil cloth, that is allegedly not supposed to rub off.

The hardware kit includes, two buckles, rivets and leatherish straps..... the straps were a bit of a disappointment, but we'll see how they wear.  It saved me from buying everything from another provider, but I won't be buying it again, I found it a bit pricey for what I was getting, explanation below.

There is a Barbour jacket in my closet that is reserved for wet cold weather, I thought this purse might be a good match.  Ok, I know what you're thinking, the Barbour has so many pockets why would you need a bag?  Good point.... I could also wear this with jeans. 

So far so good, the back loop is in place for the "leather" belt... then the tricky part.... there is no recommendation for how to open the holes in the leather.  First I tried my die cutter from the corset grommets size 00.  That did nothing.

Then I moved onto an awl and hammer, which worked best for me.... however when doing this, choose a nice sturdy piece to put under your wood block.  I hammered through the wood block and into the book.  Fortunately, it wasn't a book I paid a lot for, and it will probably be reserved for this kind of activity in the future because, the awl went straight through the wood, and into the book, pierced the cover and into the pages. (insert smile emoji here)

They don't give you any extra rivets, and if you don't have the exact setter for these rivets, you will need to pound them together with your hammer.  Not having the setting tool, means that the rivet, looks like it's been pounded, and has dents from the hammer. 

One of the rivets, went in sideways and did not hold.  This means I am short a rivet for the belt portion.

Fortunately, I had a belt in my closet that measures 1 1/4" wide, it slid in the back channel with no problem.  The belt strap they give you is 1", I think the wider is better.

Here it is, stuffed with my phone, a card case and my keys. It looks a little untidy here.

Points off for

1) Vague instructions -  not recommending a hole size for the rivets and buckle prong... stating, "make prong hole larger than rivet" is not clear 

2) not stating that you need to punch a hole in thick leather, or cut leather, and the tools to do that

3) not providing extra rivets, or leather to practice

4) not stating that the leather is "bonded" instead of real leather

5) The expense.

I had said before that buying it from the UK, was cost prohibitive, buying it from Purl Soho, is a pricey proposition.  All told, if you buy it now, it will cost $69, pattern $11, hardware kit $25, 1 yd fabric $33 + lining fabric (but I used scrap).... if you get free shipping.  Now, I will say, that 1 yard of the fabric, will make at least 5 bags.  So if you are creative with closings, you can make the bag without buying the hardware kit.  So, pattern $11, fabric $33 - $44/5 = $8.88 per bag, if you have friends ....  It's just an idea. You could go with another fabric, that would be less expensive.  A bull denim might be good, canvas or raincoat fabric.  I used the leftover from the corset for the lining, a lightweight denim.  You could run a muck with the variations. 

The bag, is too small for my phone, which is one of the midsized iPhones.  If I were to make the bag again, I would make it a little wider, put a divider in it to save my phone from being scratched by the keys, or make a pocket somewhere to put the keys in.  There is room to make it your own.

Now if I could make a recommendation to M&M, include the leather straps with the shaping at the tips and the holes prepunched.  Since there is no sizing involved, it would be a really good idea.

I am happy to discover the fabric, because.... I need to replace the body of a carry on bag I have that has delaminated from the fusible they used, and I might be able to use this fabric to replace it. It might turn into a market bag, if it's not careful.... more to come on that.

Enjoy your Sunday!

If you're looking for a way to preview Indie patterns and iron, I recommend the Fold Line youtube channel.

If you're looking for Indie pattern releases, I found this youtube channel called The Fold Line, click HERE.  They have an online store, youtube channel, website, sewing forum.... I have only seen the videos, the presenter is lively.