DIY box: The Business Bag *Square flap*

The Business Bag - here comes your masterpiece in handbag form, elegant and modern at the same time. Whether for everyday work or leisure, you'll always be stylish and chic with this bag. It offers plenty of storage space so that you can take a little more with you.
Thanks to the many different versions and style options (see next section), you can tailor the bag exactly to your needs and style.

Size of the bag
Outer dimensions: 38 cm wide at the base, 35 cm wide at the flap, 26.5 cm high, 12 cm deep at the base, approx. 6 cm deep at the top edge of the bag (flexible).
Inner dimensions of the base: 35.5 cm wide and 11 cm deep. The top opening is 28-34cm wide and 7-9cm deep, depending on how wide you open the bag (all measured without bulging the bag).
Handle opening: 22cm wide and 13cm high (at the highest point). The business bag fits laptops up to 15" screen diagonal (sometimes also 15.5"), a large water bottle (1 liter), a lunch box, an additional removable inner pocket such as a pochette or pouch, a large purse, and various other small items such as charging cable, keys, glasses case, etc.

Carrying options
The business bag includes a reinforced and padded flat handle that is attached to the bag flap. To ensure stability, this is processed with a stainless steel brace in the flap.

In addition to the fixed handle, you can attach other carrying options such as chains, leather straps or statement straps to the double D-ring on the flap.
You also have the option of attaching additional D-rings with edging pieces to the sides of the bag if you prefer to attach your carrying option there. To attach the D-rings to the leather, you need to pierce the holes in the leather of the side panels yourself (template provided in the instructions).

Interior finish
The canvas-lined bag has an inside pocket with a leather slip pocket and a leather-covered inner bag base.

Choice options:

• Pocket flap in round or square
• Various clasp options such as twist clasps, click clasps or magnets, optional decorative ornaments (if magnet selected)

Note: The screw holes and cut-outs for the different clasp variants must be made on the leather yourself. You will receive templates to print out to help you determine exactly the right position. At the end of this section you will find detailed explanations of the necessary work steps for each clasp variant.

Optional additions:

• Pocket feet
• D-rings & edging parts, e.g. for attaching an additional carrying variant to the side parts instead of the double D-rings on the bag flap, or for attaching in the bag as a key finder (small carabiners available in the individual parts store) > the seam holes must be punched in the side parts yourself
• Outer pocket with zipper (incl. leather parts, lining parts and zipper) > the cut-out for the zipper and the seam holes for sewing in the zipper as well as the seam holes for sewing to the bag body must be attached by yourself, templates and instructions are provided (increased additional effort, but easy to do). Alternatively, the outer pocket can also be used as a loose inner pocket or supplemented with additional D-rings and edging pieces to create a clutch bag.

Detailed explanations of the necessary work steps for each closing variant:

• On-edge turn buckle: pierce six holes with the awl (very easy)
• Landscape format turn buckle: pierce holes with an awl, cut out a rectangle with a cutter knife or slitting tool and cut slits in the leather (easy to do with a 4 mm and optionally 10 mm slitting tool instead of a cutter knife)
• Click buckle: pierce holes and make small cut-outs and slits in the leather (easy, especially with a 4 mm slitting tool)
• Magnets: Punch holes and make small slits in the leather (easy, especially with a 4 mm slotting tool)

You will find everything you need to make your bag in the DIY box: 

Leather, reinforcement and lining 

• Leather parts in the color and texture of your choice, cut out and provided with seam holes
• Tailored reinforcement parts made from leather fiber fabric 
• Tailored canvas lining pieces in the color of your choice 

Metal accessories in light gold or silver

• Selected closure variant  
• 11 book screws (6x for fastening the pocket base and 5x for processing the exchange flap)
• 2 book screws and stainless steel struts to stabilize the handle on the bag flap
• 2 double D-rings for the handles

Supplementary materials & tools

• Sewing thread in the matching leather color 
• Saddler needles
• Document clips to hold the leather pieces together when sewing 
• Leather adhesive for bonding lining and leather 
• Brush for applying the adhesive 
• Edge color in the color of the leather 
• Basecoat as a primer before applying the paint 
• Awl for applying edge color and basecoat and for piercing seam holes where necessary
• Sanding sponge for edge processing
• Mini screwdriver with slot for fastening the book screws 

Step-by-step instructions & videos

• Download link to the detailed, illustrated step-by-step instructions for making your bag (DE, EN, FR)
• Download link to the detailed instructions for the basics of leather processing (DE, EN, FR) 
• Access links to our three explanatory videos for the basics of leather processing (DE, EN)

You may receive additional optional items if you have selected them in the configurator. You can also deselect the reusable tools if you already have them.

Choose between embossing, the trapunto technique or use pocket patches and rivets to personalize your bag.

Embossing

We apply the embossing to the leather during production. Letters are clamped in our machine, heated and pressed onto the leather with or without foil. The letters/shapes are approx. 8 mm high.

You can choose:

• Color of the embossing: Foil in silver, light gold or blind embossing without foil
• Position on the bag: bag body front center or back center, inside pocket, statement strap (if selected)
• Text or motif (e.g. made by me lettering, our logo or an individual monogram)

Trapunto technology

In this process, shapes made of leather fiber fabric are glued between the leather and the lining and shaped against a solid base with an edge shaper. The result is a raised 3D effect that is more striking than the embossing due to the letter height of 6 cm.

The technique is implemented by yourself (video tutorial available) and is best realized with our smooth leather or another thinner leather.

Here you choose:

• Prefabricated letters or motifs with a height of 6 cm
• Alternative material in one piece to create your own patterns and shapes

Realizable for beginners with enough patience or for anyone who has already made one of our DIY boxes! 

Whether you're a DIY pro or have never worked with leather before, our step-by-step instructions and video tutorials on the basics of leatherworking will give you all the information you need to make this bag by hand yourself.

As the materials are already cut out and provided with seam holes, they fit together exactly. This means that nothing can go wrong and you can start making your DIY box as soon as you receive it.

Nevertheless, we only recommend this project to people who have the time and patience for this masterpiece.

We estimate the production time for this bag at 20 - 25 hours, including approx. 8 hours for the production of the bag flap with handle (rough estimate, difficult to make general statements). The bag is more complex in its construction and the number of steps involved than other of our bags. However, the individual steps are not complicated. So if you follow the instructions step by step, you can make this masterpiece even as a beginner. Let's go! 🙌🏼

Payment options

• SOFORT bank transfer (login via your online banking)
• Payment via PayPal
• Payment with VISA, Mastercard or Maestro
• Payment via ApplePay or GooglePay

Shipping & delivery time

The delivery time is between two and twelve working days.

Sounds long? It is!
As we produce most products manually to order with great attention to detail, we need this time. The made-to-order production process also allows us to offer you several products in different leather colors instead of just one pre-produced model. Furthermore, we only produce what has actually been purchased - for a responsible use of our resources.