Our Studio
"Where are these bags made?" "What country are these bags from?"
"You mean you actually made all these bags?" …We hear these questions all
the time when people walk into our booth at craft shows. Well, so here it is-the studio of
Latigo Bay, located right across the driveway from our house. Grandpa built this back in
1936 to use as a chicken coop. We moved it to it's current location in 1984, when
developers were going to get rid of it to make room for houses. We cleaned it up, painted,
insulated, roofed and replaced the chicken-sized windows and door. A year later, we were
able to move out of the basement workshop to this bright, airy studio. A great environment
to work in.
The Studio
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| Now, it's about 100 feet from our back door across the driveway to the
studio. This is normally a leisurely thirty second commute (can be done in under ten
seconds in a sprint) unless we encounter traffic delays. Gapers delay can occur when some
new flowers opened or new birds at the feeders…sometimes there may be a detour that
forces one to travel by the pond or through the vegetable garden…neighborhood kids
wandering by…sometimes that commute times can be really long. |
Sue at the Sewing Machine
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| Sue has been working with Barbara for about ten years now. So every single
bag will have been sewn by Sue or Barbara or by both. Like Barbara, Sue's grandmother
taught her to sew when she was nine, now this is kind of scary: we added up both their
years of sewing experience and we came up with eighty years. Customers at our craft shows
who are seamstress are always complimenting us on our beautiful stitching. They are in awe
of the nice straight stitching on straps, zippers, pockets, around curves on pockets, the
x- stitched handles, the clean, turned French binding…! Every where you look on the
bag, our craftsmanship and years of experience is evident-even on the inside where it
doesn't really show (but you know it is there). |
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Barbara cutting out a Bag
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| This is where it all begins. We start with a premium aniline-dyed
cowhide-the finest leather available. It has oils tanned into it to give it a nice soft
feel and it is dyed all the way through, so scratches can be blended into the leather.
Every hide is different, so Barbara carefully selects the hide, depending on what type of
bag she is making. A large travel bag or a briefcase calls for heavier leather, while a
small purse needs softer, lighter weight leather. Barbara cuts out every bag by hand, no
"cookie-cutter" dies or machine stamped out pieces used here. Each pattern piece
is carefully laid out before cutting. Straps and bases of bags are cut out of a firmer
area of the hide, while binding is cut out of the softest, thinnest area. |
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Barbara at the Glue Bench
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| After several bags are cut out, they move over to the glue bench. Barbara
lays out each piece to be glued and turned before sewing zippers, bases, pockets, pocket
flaps, handles, and straps. Every piece is glued, edges folded over and pounded. A simple
step, but extremely important to the finished look of the bag. Look carefully at the
finished bag, as there are no exposed raw edges. Turned edges are one of the elements that
contribute to the clean lines of the finished bag. |
Visitors To Our Studio
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Here are Nephew Adam, Rhonda Raccoon and Eliot at the
sewing machine. We encourage the neighborhood kids to visit our studio. It's fun to have
their company and if just one of them may be inspired to create things, that will be
great. We have a scrap box by the cutting table, where all pieces of leather go when we
can't cut anything else out of it. The kids all go through it when they are doing a school
project or just to make something for fun.
Adam has been visiting since he could toddle over here (he lives nearby). We never know
who or what he may bring with him - his dog Lucky, lizards, an iguana, snakes, squirrels,
a raccoon… |
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