5 things I like about leather

1. The smell. Everyone loves the smell of leather, right? And it's a smell that lingers, it doesn't really fade. Walk into the room where I store numerous hides (half a decent sized herd at the last count) and the smell hits you - boom! And I love it.

2. The perfect imperfections. No two hides are the same - obviously. This isn't a man made material, so every piece of leather is different. I love to see the natural scars and veining on a side of leather. The ragged edges. I study each hide I buy and it tells me what style of bag to make.

3. The substance. A piece of leather is not like a piece of fabric. It is thicker in places. Softer in others. That's why bag making is an art - it's knowing that parts of the hide should be used for straps, but never for gussets and vice versa.

4. It's green. Not the colour green, I mean it's environmentally friendly. Contravertial maybe, but no-one ever bred a cow for it's hide. Leather is a by-product of the meat industry (or fishing industry if working with salmon or carp leather - yes, really!) so using it is actually a form of recycling.

5. Its' versatility. Give me a piece of leather and I'll show you the bag, the journal, the belt, the phone case, the dog collar, the cuff, the manuscript cover etc etc. A good tannery offers a wide range of hides and with skill, the right tools, some creative flair and a bit of knowledge you can make all sorts of amazing things!

See our work in our Etsy shop - ScissorSistas.etsy.com

Busy, Busy

This has been a great week for us on ScissorSistas and we hope we continue to make things that you all want.

Only 2 weeks until ScissorSistas is down to 50% when I go on holiday. But don't worry, our Etsy shop will still be open and the other 50% will still be creating! In the meantime, in between holiday sewing & making sure the family have everything we need, we are still creating.

A friend is undergoing chemo and I made her a shaped cushion to rest her arm on, to alleviate some of the discomfort she is experiencing. She loves it so I will be listing some in early August - you can't beat a happy friend, can you? Her cat is being fostered until later in the year and the very kind lady looking after it is going to receive a couple of bandanas from me for her dog, Lemmy. He is very cool about having a cat around so it is my treat. Luckily, cats don't like bandanas so the fostered cat doesn't need one! Here is cool Bat Cat, as he is known..

So I will be listing some dog bandanas shortly as well as some baby bandana bibs too, to co-ordinate with some other baby items in the shop.

And I MUST stop buying fabric......

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