Bonding The Two Halves Of A Bag Together

[ROSIE]

  Instead of a welt I would like to bond the two halves of my new bag together but I want to make the front half larger so it will have more room inside . I'm using veg tan and I think I can do it but I don't know how much bigger to make the front half. I would appreciate any advice

[Black Hand]

   I would suggest using a gusset.  It would work far better than trying to force/shrink veg-tan into a smaller space.  Just cut a strip about 1 to 1.5 inches wide and sew it between your front back pieces (which are the same size).

[Chris Treichel]

Make a tracing the size of the bag you want on posterboard... now place your hand on top of it as if you were reaching in (your hand is flat on the board not a fist)... now take a tape measure or another piece of poster board and place that over your hand and mark/measure it.  That will give you a sided to side idea of how much room you need.  You also want to remember to add enough for the seam say 1/4 inch should do to both the top and bottom.  The bottom edge of the bag can be the same for the front and back side. Sew from the bottom middle so that any extra can be trimmed off at the top and keeps things even. If your leather is thin enough or vegetable tan you can also gather or compress the top layer as well.

Its better to err on the side of making the bag a little bit on the smaller side to keep you from carrying junk you don't need.  My bag is just big enough to carry about 20 balls, a tin of grease, extra flints, a ball mold, ball puller, worm, turn screw flint hammer, pan brush, prick and a greasy rag. Patch material I pull through the buckle on the strap and doubles for wiping off the frizzen and flint. Patch knife is on the strap almost behind the bag. 

[ROSIE]

   I've built a few bags with a gusset and thought i would try something differant for a change.The hand thing sounds like a good idea.

[Black Hand]

Thanks for the heads up on the caps thing .I'm new to this and didn't know.

No worries!  Just trying to help.

[RoaringBull]

One thing to consider when making one side of the bag larger than the other, is to make sure that the number of holes punched in the back of the bag, is the same as the number of holes punched in the front of the bag. In order to facilitate this, you may want to use, say 8 stitches per inch on the back, and like 6 on the front. This will cause the front on the bag to pucker and take up the space. Does this make much sense? Anyway, it might work.

[Jerry V Lape]

I think if you proceed as you stated you will have a very awkward looking bag in the end unless you use a stiff leather, wet and mold it to the shape you want before hand.  The suggestion to use a gusset is the better option in my opinion and it gives you some interesting possiblities.  If you want the bag wider at the bottom and narrower at the top cut the gusset in that shape. Stitch the bag inside out and then pull it through.  This will give you smooth exterior at the seams.  And the bag will hang right.  Your design is likely to hang open at the mouth. 

[BrownBear]

While I prefer a gusset, I think I follow what you're asking- basically how to go about using a bigger front piece than back?

I've done lots of projects by "shaping" the leather first: cut an oversize piece, wet it, then mold it over something the right shape and let the excess extend beyond the anticipated edge of the smaller back panel. Weight it and let it dry, they use the back panel as a "pattern" to cut away the excess from the front.

For convenience I sew from the back, using a staking tool to lay out my hole pattern, then using an awl to punch for bastes every inch or two around the seam, followed by sewing it all up.

Never thought of doing a shooting bag, but it's been a good technique for everything from Leatherman sheaths to cell phone cases to GPS cases.

[ROSIE]

I,m trying to send pictures and can't quite figure it out .Can someone please help?I'm sorry to be so digitaly challanged [no kids at home].
DLR

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Here is the tutorial:  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=10.0