Using a stencil to make a patch

I recently bought a really cool leather purse from the flea market. It was super cheap because It had a rip in It. No problem! I immediately knew I would use a stencil and create a patch for It. The rip wasn't that big, so I rummaged through my StencilGirl stencils and found the perfect one. 

I picked Seth Apter's 4x4 "Crossed" stencil  (M192) as I love the design and cool factor. Next, I searched through my bag of leather scraps, picking out a fairly soft piece and one that had similar coloring. 

Using Golden's Van Dyke Brown Hue, I stenciled the image onto the leather. And actually, I used the wrong side of the leather as I liked It better.  l love how the image looks like It was burned on. It didn't take long to dry, so I was ready to straight adding some stitches to jazz It up.

I forgot to take a picture of me hand-sewing the patch. But basically, I used a straight stitch with red floss adding stitches wherever I felt they'd look nice. I also made an x right in the center with the same cream floss I used to attach the patch to the purse. 

Even though the leather scrap I used was old and soft, leather can be really hard to sew through, especially by hand. So if you do ever try something like this, I recommend using a pair of pliers to pull your needle through so that your hands don't get overworked. Must protect our precious artistic hands at all costs!

                                                  

and here's the patch covering the rip. It looks like it's always been there and I love how It turned out.