POPSEWING® Top Grain Leather Inspired LP Backpack DIY Kits

To sew the little backpack together the maker needs to learn how to make a “saddle” stitch (which in some parts of North America is known as the “leap frog” stitch). The first ten minutes of the video offers a pretty good demonstration of how to create the saddle stitch. That said, absolute beginners may wish to search online for a slow-motion, up-close & really detailed demonstration of the stitch before getting started on the backpack. Note that the video calls the saddle stitch a "double needle cross sewing method" which is a pretty long-winded description and one that will not help when searching online for a slow-motion demo of the saddle stitch. As for the construction of the bag, it is my opinion that this is the perfect place to start learning how to hand-stitch a leather bag. There are several reasons for this, the primary one being that the bag has very few pieces and the main seams are inside the bag. Those stitches inside the bag will only be seen by the maker; meaning, if there are tiny imperfections while learning how to saddle stitch, no one will be the wiser. The only exterior stitches that are easily observed are on the bottom of the bag. No one will see those stitches unless they flip the bag upside down! As for function, this little backpack is awesome. It is the perfect size to store the phone, kindle, glasses, sunglasses, facial sunscreen, lipstick, pens, tissues, and anything else that is needed in an everyday bag. I’ve been using this daily since I completed it two weeks ago. I love it so much I intend to make another in a different color.

Loved it, was a good quiet time craft for us to do.

This was a birthday gift for my daughter. I understand that she like the gift because she is into sewing

While this tiny grey backpack is really cute, too much of the work had already been done for me (the straps and the zipper were already attached, the hardware was already attached) so I didn't feel that I got the value I get from actually doing the work it takes to put together the whole bag.

It's absolutely worth it, tho, for beginners who just want a bag they can say they made themselves....the easy part is still work that needs to be done!

Overall, I love POPSEWING - the quality of the leather, the hardware, the patterns, and the video directions is top-notch, best of all the ones I've experienced in all the DIY Leather kits I've done. Great Company!