My brother informed me at Christmastime that I was expected to be in his wedding party – kilted! Unfortunately, I have never owned or worn a kilt; fortunately, I have desired one for many years, and this provided the reason to get one (long) before my weight-loss goals had been achieved! As I discussed this with my kilt-making Mother, from somewhere sprang the suggestion that I make my own sporran. I won’t blame her – it very well might have been my own idea!
I went looking online to find some sort of pattern for a casual, day-wear sporran, and stumbled upon XMTS. Those of you who share your thoughts and advice freely have my gratitude, as I found lots of ideas, and even a pattern I could play with and make my own. Last night I completed my 4th sporran, in a “Rob Roy” style pouch, having raided the local thrift stores for leather jackets in need of being “up-cycled” into something better. $15 for a brown suede jacket, complete with buttons I could re-task, and I was off to the races…

The first sporran (front view):


And Back view:


And a look inside at the heavier leather (from an old couch) I used to stiffen the front and back panels:

(The heavier leather is about 10 oz, but on close inspection I can see that it is a layer of man-made fiber sandwiched between 2 layers of leather for strength. I had intended to stitch it into place, hence the multitude of punched holes, but found the contact cement I used left no doubts about its ability to hold fast!)

The “flap” is two layers of the jacket leather (3-4 oz, I think), stitched together then turned “inside-right” to hide the stitching. The buttons on the inside and flap were from the original jacket, and were made with strong wire loops that are pushed through the layers of leather and attach with small (1/2”) split rings to the lobster clips I will use to connect to the sporran chain or hangers.
Add some leather lace from the local leather shop, and some very simple knots, and I am left with a plain, very casual brown sporran that will go nicely with the casual wedding attire – Kilt, hose, sporran and Jacobite styled shirt – that my brother has requested we all wear.

Now this, of course, left me with extra leather... what could I do with that? How about tweaking the pattern size a bit, adding a bit of decoration, or - what about the other jacket I picked up for $5 - the black one?

Enter sporrans # 2 and 3 -

The larger one on the left features a snap closure instead of thong-and-button, and is slightly larger than the first sporran I made, about 8" high and 9" wide. When fully open, I can wear it as a(n) (ugly) hat, so that will give you some idea of the holding capacity!
The smaller sporran was by request, as the ring-bearer for the wedding is only 10, and too large for the children's sporrans available to us, and too small for the full size sporrans we have. It is about 6-1/2" tall and wide, and features a pewter Celtic knot concho on the flap, serving as a more "traditional" strap and button closure.

Here's a view of the large one's interior - (try not to get distracted by the adorable "helper"!)


The split rings on the interior are looped with steel swivels to lobster clips on the back, which allows me to attach it to my sporran hangers:

(the belt and buckle I posted about in an earlier thread!)

Here is a shot of the back of the small sporran showing the belt loop I stitched on:


And the front and rear of sporran #4, made with the last of the brown suede:




I found some glass and silver beads at a rock and gem show last weekend, and those are the adornments on the large black and last brown sporran thongs.

This is a ton of stuff you have just waded through, so if you are still with me, let me know what you think!

~Steve