One of the obvious weak points in most bags is the loops used to attach straps or handles, due to the leather rubbing on the mounting hardware. I’d been asked if I could make a repair to a Mulberry Anthony bag where the strap loop had worn through. It’s not a particularly difficult repair although the cotton webbing was also showing signs of wear and tear. I contacted Mulberry to ask if it was possible to purchase a 2m length of their matching brown webbing. As expected they wouldn’t supply the webbing but kindly offered to do the repair for a mere £210!!!

So I ordered in a couple of lengths of webbing from Abbey England at £0.80 per metre! Unfortunately I couldn’t get as good a colour match as I was hoping. As the bag would have sentimental importance I didn’t feel comfortable making the change so opted to keep the original webbing.

A well used Mulberry Anthony bag in Oak
Over time the strap loop had worn through on the mounting D-ring. It’s worth noting that Mulberry had used a strengthening, non-stretch fabric sandwiched between two pieces of leather to make the attachment loops.
One loop had almost completely failed whilst the other was intact but heading that way. The webbing had also started to fray at the edges.
New loops would be needed so the first thing to do was to replicate the non-stretch strengthening material. The material is a self adhesive very thin nylon so two pieces were stuck together
The nylon piece was then bonded between two pieces of leather. I had managed to source some original Mulberry Oak leather so, apart from the patina, should be an exact match.
Fortunately one of the original strap loops was still in one piece and used to make a paper template
As well as proving the shape to cut out the replacement loops I’d also marked and punched the stitching lines into the template so these could be accurately transferred to the replacement loops.
The stitch holes were made before fitting to avoid needing to use an awl which would have cut the cotton strands in the webbing
Securing pins were used to hold the leather loop and webbing in place
The stitching with the traditional diagonal stitch lines is achieved in one run by stitching around the perimeter (1 – 4), then the first diagonal (5), overlaying another stitch lines (6) over the previous stitches, the second diagonal (7) and finally over stitching again (8) to give a strong join.
The completed repair