Hi everyone! I was here recently asking for help changing the pattern on my knitted Frida bag. Everyone was so helpful, I’m in the process of planning out my design on graph paper and it’s going well. I started thinking about the possibility of an oval bottom and that led me to videos using premade oval leather bottoms, pre punched. I want to recycle the leather from an old suede leather coat, maybe 2 layers, maybe 1 (the suede is very soft and pliable). I may put a layer of thin plastic between the layers. (I’ve used stiff plastic before sewn inside the bottom of a fabric tote bag.) Maybe stitch around. Punch the holes, crochet around for a base and then pick up and knit stitches, increasing gradually to reach the 180 stitches of the body of the bag. I would make a paper pattern of the oval first in the size I think I need and draw holes, adjusting the size more or less. In my head this sounds do-able. I would be grateful for any suggestions or perhaps one of you have done this. Thanks so much!
Sounds like a great idea!
I’m not sure about having plastic between, thinking it might cause a mildew/damp problem if the suede can’t breath?
There is a method where you can punch a smaller hole, and use finer yarn if wanted, make a sewn chain stitch (with a sewing or tapestry needle) along near the edge of the suede, then you can directly crochet from this instead of trying to get a crochet hook through the leather. You can also directly knit through this placing the needle under the 2 legs of the chain stitch, depending on the gauge you need you can also pick up a second knit under just one leg, getting 2 or 3 knits per chain. There are various demonstrations of this on zips in knitwear (tops and bags), to me it seems much easier than trying to crochet directly into the punched hole. It is also possible to chain stitch both sides of the leather and double knit the first few rows to make a very neat edge.
I think I’d probably knit the bag first and join the leather base later rather than trying to knit up from the base as i feel it would be in the way and effect knitting gauge, but that may just be personal preference. I can imagine knitting top down and then figuring out the base size calculating how many stitches per cm, how many holes, if decreases are needed for shaping etc, that way i could focus primarily on the knit fabric being as i wanted and the main focus.
It’s very exciting, and i can’t wait to see your progress, it sounds marvelous.
The chain stitch sounds great. I watched some videos and it looks very simple. Fortunately I have lots of suede so I can do a lot of trial and error and get it right before I dive in. I found an inexpensive hole punch thing that works for leather. One of the pieces makes a 1/8” hole which would probably be good for a tapestry or yarn needle. Working from top down doesn’t work with my brain. I need to get the bottom done first, the rest is easy in comparison and if I did the bottom last I’d be worrying the whole way! 
As for the plastic, I get your point. What I may do is sew a stiff plastic to only one side of the suede. I found that my sewing machine handles the suede really well and I’ll experiment to see what works. Thank you so much for your suggestions, I’ll let you know how it goes!
Glad the chain stitch idea might be useful. It was something i only recently discovered and haven’t used yet.
I cant wait to see some of your work, i love these one off design pieces.