Skip to content

Cart

Your cart is empty

Article: Making a hand-dyed alligator bag

Making a hand-dyed alligator bag

Making a hand-dyed alligator bag

I've had this idea in mind for over a year that I want to dye an alligator skin like a mosaic. So that each scale of the skin is a different color. I think my new hobo handbag design would be the perfect  form to show off the hand-dyed alligator.

I have a beautiful purple lambskin to use for the lining, and I haven't made any bags with purple in them yet. So I'm using that as my inspiration. Also, I'd like to base the colors on something in nature, like a sunset or field of flowers. After going through hundreds of photos, I've landed on this beautiful sunset. Here's what it looks like after I Photoshopped it into a mosaic style. I love it!

Inspiration for hand dyed alligator bag

So, with this as my inspiration, it's time to cut my pieces. Here's what a whole alligator skin looks like. This one is white because it hasn't been dyed yet. In the leather world, that's called a "crust". You can see how I'm laying out the pattern pieces on it to efficiently use as much of the alligator as I can. My goal is to make this bag from just one animal, and fortunately I can just do it.

Alligator crust leather

Leave a comment

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

All comments are moderated before being published.

Read more

Orange hobo bag complete

Orange hobo bag complete

Here's the second bag I've made from my circular hobo pattern. All finished and I love it! I shortened the strap to a shoulder length which feels better than the too-long crossbody strap I made on ...

Read more
Hand dyeing alligator skin

Hand dyeing alligator skin

I've cut and skived all of the pieces for my alligator leather bag. Now it's time to dye it. If you saw in my last post, I'm coloring it to look like a beautiful sunset and I want to dye each scale...

Read more