I stumbled upon this Fendi Oyster bag on their official website the other day, and man, it looked slick. I’ve always been a fan of Fendi, and this bag just screamed “buy me!” So, I thought, why not try to copy it? I mean, it can’t be that hard, right?
First, I scoured the internet for good quality leather. Found a decent supplier online, and ordered a few different shades of brown. I wanted to get as close to the original color as possible. It took a few days, but the leather finally arrived, and it felt pretty good.
Next, I needed a pattern. I spent hours looking at pictures of the bag on the Fendi website, trying to figure out the shape and size. I sketched out a rough design on some paper, and then transferred it onto some cardboard. I cut out the pieces, and taped them together to see if it looked anything like the actual bag. It was a mess, to be honest, but it was a start.
- Getting the leather: This was the easy part, I found a good supplier and that was it.
- Making the pattern: This was a pain, took forever, and it still looked a little off.
- Cutting the leather: Scary, but I took my time and it was okay.
- Sewing it all together: This is where I almost gave up. So many mistakes!
- Adding the hardware: I found some similar-looking clasps and rings, it’s not the real deal but looks close enough.
I traced the pattern onto the leather and cut it out carefully. I have to say, cutting leather is way harder than it looks. Then came the sewing. Oh boy, the sewing. I broke so many needles, and my fingers were so sore. I messed up a few times, had to unpick the stitches, and start over. It was frustrating, but I kept at it.
Finally, after what felt like forever, I managed to sew all the pieces together. It wasn’t perfect, far from it, but it resembled the Fendi Oyster bag. I found some gold-colored hardware online that looked somewhat similar to the original, and attached it to the bag. I even tried to make a little Fendi logo out of some scrap leather, but it looked pretty bad, so I left it off.
The Result
In the end, my homemade Fendi Oyster bag was a decent effort, I think. It wasn’t an exact replica, the stitching was a bit wonky, and the leather wasn’t as high quality, but it was my version of the bag. I carried it around for a few days, and I got a few compliments, which was nice. It was a fun project, and I learned a lot about leatherworking, even though I almost threw the whole thing in the trash a few times. Would I do it again? Maybe. But next time, I might just save up and buy the real thing.
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