Lederhosen Bags

Today I will disclose why I am in a Bavarian mood this week :) It all started two years ago, when I found two vintage kid's Lederhosen on a flea market. They were so cute ! I remembered my little brother wearing one in the sixties, although we were living in Holland, and not in Germany at all, quite apart from Bavaria. I think it was the fashion in those days :) I don't know if my brother liked it; next time I see him I will ask him if he remembers it ....

Well, I bought them, but without any idea what to do with it. So, I put them in my traditional costume collection (although only existing out of adult women clothing). But a few weeks later I suddenly thought that I could maybe use the leather for making leather bags, which I was longing to do already for quite some time. But then I would love to keep the cute pockets, and the stitched flap, and the beautiful special Lederhosen buttons....

So, I started to fiddle around and tried to sew it on my sewing machine. But my, otherwise splendid, sewing machine did not like it.... and simply refused to do it. OK, the leather is quite thick, I confess. Buying a special leather foot and leather sewing machine needles did not solve the problem. It wouldn't do the trick. Then I tried hand sewing, making holes and with special thick leather thread bought from a shoe maker on Ebay, I struggled on. My fingers became red, sore and with many pinholes after 60 cm of sewing, so I gave up. Till my hubby gave me some day an old sewing monster ! He had discovered an old man in a neighboring town who collected old sewing machines from the former GDR sewing industry and repaired them. And there he bought me this leather sewing monster.

I was pretty afraid for this monster to begin with; it made quite some noise and went at an enormous speed, with a giant needle through 3 cm thick layers.... And I was fearing for my fingers a bit :) So, it took quite a long time of practicing, and lots of fiddling around with machine parts by my hubby, to get it in a state that I could do my "thing". Three months ago, I finished my first Lederhosen bag, and started to wear it myself to see if everything was ok. Changed some bits and experienced this first bag as pretty practical, sturdy and stylish; got lovely comments on the streets too. 

So, I started to search for vintage Lederhosen on flea markets everywhere, on line and off line. I even found red and green ones ! And Lederhosen specially made for girls with little hearts on it. So, I was hooked. And this week I could finally start listing 5 Lederhosen bags in my P8 Accessories Etsy shop !!!! I invite you to go there and have a look how wonderfully variable and cool these bags have turned out.

So, this is the story of my Bavarian mood, and I am afraid it will hold on for some really long time too .....

Button Wednesday : Lederhosen Buttons

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I wrote on Monday, I am in a Bavarian mood :) And I will explain the reason for this later this week .... 

So, my Button Wednesday is also in a Bavarian mood. Did you know there exist special Lederhosen buttons ? The buttons on Lederhosen are to close the front flap that forms the closure of the Lederhosen and to hold the suspenders. They are typically sewn on, not by means of thread, but by means of a small leather strap. Therefore these buttons have 2 elongated holes for the leather straps to go through and a bar in between.

(German Wear)

They can be made of plastic, plain or to imitate deer antler buttons (like the ones above), of buffalo horn, or of real deer antler.

(Stoffcorner)

(Licht Imports)

(www.knopf-shop.com)

(Stoffcorner)

And here these lovely buttons in full action: 

(Amazon)

Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here in the comments so that everybody can enjoy it !!

Monday Mood Board : Bavaria

I am in a Bavarian mood. Why ? I am not living there, but at the other side of Germany, along the Danish border. So why ? Maybe because this month is the Oktoberfest ? And maybe because I love traditional costumes ? You will find out soon !!! Later this week I will explain my Bavarian mood :)

In the meantime, some lovely Bavarian items from four of our European Street Team members on Etsy.

For more monday mood boards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. ancienesthetique

2. reevpapercuts

3. oraber

4. TheGreedyCrocodile

Button Wednesday : Coins

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


This Button Wednesday is about coin buttons. There are real coin buttons and fake coin buttons.
Many coins were made into buttons. If the dates of the real button coins are a criterion (some dates go back to the 17th century), this is already a very old habit. The face side of the coins is the front of the buttons, and a shank was soldered onto the reverse side. This can still be seen in the traditional men's costume from Zeeland in The Netherlands; the men wear trousers with a flap in the front, and the flap is closed by large silver coin buttons; often 18th century old silver guilders or English coins. See this lovely old postcard from my own collection:

Later in the 19th century, small silver USA coins were made into buttons for use on men's vests and given to young men reaching their 21st birthday, the so-called "Freedom Buttons". The earliest silver buttons made by Native Americans in the American Southwest were made from silver coins and they were often used as currency too.

Metal buttons made to resemble coins were made in the 20th century; they are often Austrian in origin, and they are very popular in Bavarian and Tyrolean traditional costumes. These buttons have blank backs (see the picture below). Some coins even depict antique Roman and Greek coins. I only have some fake coin buttons in my collection, but I must say that some are really pretty.


And here two lovely DIY's for coin buttons:
Craftzine: Coin Button
curbly: DIY Coin Buttons



!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Button Wednesday : Oktoberfest

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.



Last week the Oktoberfest in Germany ended, so I thought I will do a Button Wednesday around the Oktoberfest. As an unknowing and straightforward Dutchie I do this in October and not in September, as I never understood why the Oktoberfest was held in September..... On Wikipedia I read that the first Oktoberfest occurred in Munich, on October 12, 1810; so they had it right once :)
I digged into my buttons and made a selection of real Bavarian specimens, starting with the Dachshund.

The first three buttons are from metal, showing a man in traditional outfit with a goat (maybe more Swiss than Bavarian....), a rucksack and a ram's head. They are followed by two real horn buttons, a lederhosen and one with Edelweiss. The last button in that row is a typical Bavarian glass heart. Then three fake horn ones, with Edelweiss, flowers and stag antlers. Can it go more kitschy ?


!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!