I have had a whitetail deer hide that I processed into rawhide with the hair on for several years now. I made a nice arrow quiver out of most of it, but I am wanting to make a nice dress sporran out of it. I have most of the pieces cut out and ready for the black dye. The main body is 8-9oz veggie tan that I did some experimental dyeing on. I just rubbed black walnut hulls over it to get a nice brown color. It is a little too splotchey for a dress sporran, though. Here is where I am having difficulties: how do you sew the bottom part of the hide to the body(front)/gusset without messing up the hair? I should have taken a picture of the back of the hide for reference...the hair goes past the edge of the skin by about 2 inches. Do I just trim this hair back so that I can sew on the gusset? I have done plenty of leather work, mostly "Rob Roy" type sporrans that I used to sell in the SCA. Here are some pics of the parts:
Body:


Possible cantle:


Strap keeper (I am wet forming this to go around the strap):


Strap attachment:


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