James, yes, having the original on hand can be highly instructive when replicating this one. I'm going to have to ask him what the sizes are as I'm just guessing now.
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Greg and Marc, I've been told by many leather masters that an awful lot of bags of yore had no welting have survived just fine. Like everything else, if one takes care of their equipment (proper cleaning, normal maintenance, storage, etc), their equipment takes care of the owners. Ask the Leatherman why they don't use welting on their products. When the sewing is done right, depending on the weight of the leather, the lines will survive and do quite well. In this instance, why did the edges mushroom?? Stored for a long time in the upright postion with heavy objects in it while it was wet??
James, on a second thought I see on Greg Hudson's copy what he did to sewing the top edging of the flap. I didn't notice that on the original initially. Perhaps the original maker did this to keep the flap down because of lightweight leathers? Greg also used a decorative button/medal where normally you see for a flap closure. I thought I see something on the orignal for holding something in that position. Great little example of 19th century craftsmanship and style.
