You can see from the picture (below) Pendragon is a trade name of Papworth Industries now known as Papworth travel goods, it was originally formed as a Tuberculosis colony many years ago.
The colony made many items to provide activity for patients as well as income.
Over the years I have bought these case when ever I have had the chance and have occasionally restored them for sale.
As with many products there were options available to the customer as time progressed the options changed zippered pockets inside and out were my favourites so when I saw a case with these options I bought it. I have always planned on restoring it for myself but I have no use for it. So I have agreed to restore it and sell it.
The case is in fairly good condition well the leather is but the stitching has reached the end of its life.
Stripping the case to its component parts is not as simple as it sounds the joints are glued and stitched at least it has only been stitched once. I have had others that have been stitched over and over.
This picture shows the zippered inner pocket well almost.
This is the rear outside pocket.
I took lots of detail pictures especially of the zips and their fitting in fact I have decided to leave each zip attached as long as possible, I plan to replace the stitching one stitch at a time to make sure they are refitted correctly.
When I looked closely at the thread it was clear it needed to be replaced in some places it was quite good but lots of it was like this..
Obviously if you were looking to buy a vintage case or bag this is not what you want to see. This part of the thread is rotten if you pull on it with a needle bad thread will fall apart, better to check with a needle or put a laptop in there and pick it up from the floor.
Once all of the stitching has been removed I cleaned every piece and removed any trace of the previous glue.
On the left of the picture (above) is the back and front flap piece below it there is the inner lining of the rear pocket. On the right hand side is the front and the two dividers complete with zip. I have removed the straps from the flap and fastened them to the buckles to keep them in the correct orientation. I don’t think that they are different but I don’t want to find out by mixing them up. The gusset is in the centre of the picture.
I have lightly cleaned everything and applied a conditioning product. For this case I decided to use a conditioner made by J E Sedgwick’s who I believe are the manufacturers of the original leather used to make the case.
The conditioner does not change the colour or add a gloss finish I believe it has returned the case to as close to the original colour as possible.
I will be adding a suede lining and a shoulder strap to this case which will bring it up to date. I need to make the strap and its mounting points as well as a reinforcement panel for the gusset. the suede will be glued to the existing leather and stitched in place.
In order to fit the suede lining to the gusset which adds 0.3 mm to the gusset I have removed 0.5 mm from the edges of the dividers.
As you can see from the picture (above) the bottom corners of the dividers are 90 degrees when the gusset bends around it crushes the corner. As you can see bottom right corner has been damaged. I will round all of the corners before I re assemble the case.
As these brief cases are still available so are most of the parts this buckle is a close match not perfect as it is slightly larger and for some reason a slightly different shape.
I think it is best to be clear that there are new parts added to the case so rather than aging the brass it will be allowed to age on its own.
I needed to make mounting points as well as a transition piece to allow a buckle for length adjustment. the mounting points are based on the front straps that close the case. I had to reduce the size of them to fit into the gusset panel.
On a new case I would make a hole in the gusset panel and feed one side of the mount through to the inside of the case and stitch through the triple layer. I may still do this as it spreads the load through the side of the gusset.
All straps and belts are made the same way take a strip of leather and round over the edges.
The transition piece was first having the buckle and trigger hook fitted.
Mounts and transition piece glued ready for dye.
Dying leather is not an exact science in fact I would describe it as a “Dark Art” all leather workers have their own tips and tricks.
I start with light dyes and work through to darker the aging is done with a special acrylic antique stain. It is applied and then rubbed off it remains darker in the lower points of the leather.
I think the match is quite good the brass will darken in time I could have treated it to tarnish instantly but decided to leave it.
here are all of the components dyed and ready for stitching.
Oh and don’t forget the holes for adjustment
There are lots of little jobs to be done when restoring a briefcase before it can be re assembled.
As the lining for the front panel will cover the back of the buckle mounts it is necessary to stitch them back in place before the lining could be added.
The original maker had covered the back of the lock mechanism but had not covered the back of the buckles so I corrected that.
This restoration requires more suede that you might think there is 15 square feet of suede here and there will be very little left.
After cutting the suede I had to decide how I was going to fit the mounting points for the shoulder strap. I decided to use the traditional method of fitting adding a piece of leather to strengthen the area before making a slot and feeding one half of the mount through to the inside of the case, it was then glued and stitched in place.
With many years of wear the edges of the leather have become tatty and look a mess.
A little moisture and some friction from the slicking tool then a little leather dye and some bees wax soon returned them to looking tidy again.
In order to stitch the lining in place I needed to mark out where the stitching would go using a set of dividers which were set to the same distance from the edge as the original stitching. I will use a pricking iron to reproduce the stitching distance as close as possible to the original.
I am trying to do all of the little tasks that need to be done before I can reassemble the whole case. I call this piece the transition piece from the strap mount to the length adjustment buckle. It has now been stitched together.
Now both ends of the strap are stitched and ready to go.
The inside pocket has a zip which I left attached to the inside divider the idea was to make it easier to put back together. It worked I have replace the zipper stitching and added the suede lining at the same time. I have added an overlap in the suede to go under the zip to protect items like laptops in the pocket from coming into contact with the metal zip.
I have been looking at different types of padding there is of course the usual bag batting this is a yoga mat it is thin high density foam but is also waterproof and odour resistant there is no weight penalty either.
I am not sure which option to go with at this point.
Once I had the dimensions of the Mac book which is 1/2 an inch thick I decided to go a different route with the padding. There are two pockets in this case one on the back outside and another on the inside also at the back. I hope it will become clear as we progress ( I do say that a lot). The padding is now under the suede lining of the rear inside pocket. I have made a slip pocket with an elasticated top piece.
Once everything was decided I took a group picture of the components including the new pocket it is the one with the elastic along the top.
As you can see the suede is all over sized the front panel and the dividers have new stitching lines along the upper edges to hold the suede in place and create a detail feature.
Here is the stitch marking tool marking the stitch holes along the front edge which were also new holes.
The back side of hand stitching is very difficult to get right I have lost count of how many items I have scrapped or pulled out the stitching from. Anyway this looks ok.
The little hasp on this case did not have a cover so to prevent the rivets rubbing through the suede I made a small leather cover for the before applying the suede.
So far I have re stitched the zipper and the panel that covers the handle mounts which also connects the other part of the zipper on the inside pocket.
The stitching around the straps has been replaced the stitching around the edge is new.
I have started to trim the suede in preparation for re assembly.
I have started stitching the rear panel in place so this is the new edge that will need further finishing.
The dividers are another matter as the leather of the gusset wraps around the edge of the divider, It is not possible to see the holes in the edge of the divider.
As I have lined the inside of the gusset with suede this makes the process even more difficult. In preparation I have trimmed 0.5 mm from the edges of the divider and used an awl to make holes through the suede in an attempt to make this a little easier.
This is what success looks like you can see the thread passing through the original holes. Unfortunately I cant see this view while stitching I have to turn the whole case upside down. and pull the gusset apart to check.
It has taken a lot longer to restore this case than I had expected partially due to issues with my right hand it has taken almost a month to do what I would normally do in a week.
The first divider is now stitched in place I would normally stitch the dividers in place and then the back and finally the front panel. Because I added an extra pocket I had to stitch the rear panel first which made it more difficult to add the dividers.
After this I repeated the process to stitch the second divider in place I know it sound like a five minute job but it actually took over three hours.
Then all I had to do was stick the front panel back in place it still needs a stitch or two and about 28 ft of thread. tomorrow is another day.
Finally finished.
Believe it or not there are very few packing boxes available for briefcases so I made my own. The case and other pen cases ordered were all shipped together and have arrived safely with their new owner.
Thanks for reading.