Professional Leather Handbag Design by Lili Storella

Learn the foundations of working with leather to create bespoke bags using professional crafting techniques
Leather craftwork allows you to sculpt durable, functional accessories that connect with the people who wear them. Leather maker Lili Storella uses it as a way to express herself and share her story. She designs and creates unique handbags that are sold around the world.

In this course, she teaches you the foundations of working with leather to create a bespoke bag using her 3D sculpture method. Learn to design functional accessories with your own two hands and share your style with the world.

What will you learn in this online course?
Begin by getting to know leather maker Lili Storella. She talks through how she went from a career in graphic design to crafting leather bags. Then hear about the influences which have inspired her career as a creative.

Discover Lili’s 3D sculpture method for creating handbags. Then delve into the tools needed for this course, from hardware to wax, and see how Lili uses them in her creative process. Learn more about leather, pattern making, saddle stitching, and edge painting.

Lili walks you through the steps needed to make your own handbag. Begin with a design that is both beautiful and functional before creating a drawing of the structure, making a pattern, and a sequence for assembling your parts. Prepare your materials and cut them, ready for assembling.

Learn how to crease, punch, stitch and edge paint your bag. Make your own unique padding details and closure design, which is the part of the course Lili considers the most creative! Then put all the parts together using your assembly sequence from earlier in the course.

Lili walks you through the process of embossing a logo or your initials onto the bag to customize it. Then, to finish the course, hear her tips and tricks for improving your designs, from stepping out of your comfort zone to practicing the techniques you’ve learned.

What is this course’s project?
Design and craft your own refined leather handbag with an invisible magnetic closure.