Attaching Pre Made Leather Straps to a Bag

I am going to demonstrate how to attach pre-made leather straps to a bag.  I prefer to use straps that are joined to the attachment piece with a metal ring of some sort.  The straps that are one piece do not give you the flexibility you need when finishing the bag.

I use heavy duty thread to attach the handles, and a needle with a large enough eye to handle the thicker thread.  Make sure you are using a polyester or nylon thread on your leather handles as cotton thread will rot out eventually and is not strong enough to use on leather.

I put a small amount of glue on the back of the strap piece to anchor the strap in the perfect position so it doesn't shift while you are stitching it on.  I use Beacon's Fabri-Tac, it is made for leather and fabric and remains clear when it dries.  Make sure you don't put too much on and fill up your stitching holes!

The straps are attached onto the exterior part of the bag before the lining is attached.I position the straps where I want them to be on my finished bag, having the top of the metal piece even with the unfinished top edge of the bag,  and then glue down the strap attachment piece.  I let the glue dry for a few minutes so the straps remain in position. 

I use a double thread in my needle (pull the ends of the thread evenly through the needle and knot at the end).  To start your stitching bring the needle through the fabric and the leather attachment piece from the backside of the fabric, up through the SECOND hole in the strap piece.

 

 

Go back down through your strap through the first hole at the top.  I then come up in the second hole again and back down through the top hole so that you have a nice secure stitch at the top of your strap.  Repeat these steps for the next hole, this time coming up through the third hole, back into the second hole and up again in the third hole, down into the second hole so that your first two stitches both have a double stitch in them.

 

 

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Check each stitch as you pull it through to make sure the threads are pulled through evenly and not leaving a loop of extra thread on either the top or bottom.  You may have to tug gently on the threads one at a time to get them even.

 

Sometimes when you begin stitching and your thread is long it may inadvertently get wrapped around the strap when you are fiddling around trying to get the needle up through the correct hole! Try NOT to have this happen or you will have to undo it and begin over again!

 

 

 

Continue stitching around the strap piece, each stitch coming up in the next empty hole and back down into the hole of the previous stitch.  When your thread runs out, knot it a couple of times on the back side of your fabric and then bury the tail of the thread by running it back and forth under the back of the strap and cut off the tail. Then start with a new thread, coming up in the next empty hole and down into the hole with your last stitch.

 

 

 

When you have reached the last two holes of the strap, finish it off by coming up in the second hole from the top, down into the third hole from the top, repeat and then move on to the last hole.  Come up in the  last hole, down into the second to last hole and repeat so that the last two stitches are doubled just like your two beginning stitches were.  Knot the thread securely and bury the tail behind the strap piece. 

The front of your finished strap should look like this.

Repeat process for the second strap piece. Making sure your straps are in the same place on the second half of your bag, stitch them into place just like you did for the first strap.

Simply fold the straps down and out of the way when you are finishing your bag and attaching the lining.