What you'll leave with
- A handmade leather crossbody or waist bag, cut and stitched by you in a single session
- Hands-on experience on a sewing machine, including guided practice before you start the real work
- An understanding of rescued leather: what it is, where it comes from, and how to care for it
Workshop in detail
Get your hands on leather with Margriet and leave with a bag you made yourself. The mini workshop runs for half a day in her studio in Amsterdam-West, and you start by choosing your leather. There are around 30 colors to pick from, all rescued from fashion house offcuts that were rejected for minor imperfections. You choose one color or combine two. Then Margriet and her team walks you through the sewing machine. You practice the stitching before you touch the leather for your actual bag, so by the time you start the real work, you already know what you are doing. You cut the leather, prepare the pieces, and stitch everything together step by step. Every stage is guided and groups are intimate. At the end, you decide how long to make the handles or the waist strap, sized to you. You flatten the seams with a hammer, turn the bag inside out, and look at what you have made. It is ready to use, and no one else has one like it.
Details
Duration
4 hours
Group size
2–6 participants
Language
English and Dutch
Location
Monsak Studio
Orteliusstraat 15-d, 1056 AR Amsterdam
Good to know
- No experience with sewing or leatherworking is needed. You practice on the sewing machine before starting the real bag. Wear clothes you do not mind getting glue on.
Meet your artisan
Margriet Meijer
I make bags from leather the fashion houses rejected. Come make your own.
Margriet Meijer is a bag maker and leather craftsperson working from her studio in Amsterdam-West. She did not come to this through formal training. She came to it through frustration: she could not find the bag she wanted, so she taught herself to make it. Her mother ran a sewing school, her father…
Speaks English, Dutch
Read Margriet's full story