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Learning to Love Leather

Whitefish woman finds success in creating line of leather accessories

By Molly Priddy
Tress Wambeke, owner of T Bird Leather in Whitefish, pictured Nov. 5, 2015. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

WHITEFISH – Sometimes, a calling rings as clear as a bell, leading someone to a job that becomes more than that, more than just a way to pay the bills. But usually, that call is a little muddled – you know it’s coming in, but you’re not quite sure what it’s saying.

For leathersmith Tress Wambeke, it was the latter.

“No matter what period of my life, I’ve always loved to sew,” she said last week as the first snows of the season began to fall.

Wambeke sat in her studio on Lupfer Avenue, surrounded by rolls of potent leathers, half-built bags, completed creations, and sewing machines. It’s a cozy space, full of hard work and warmth.

As the founder and only full-time employee at T Bird Leather, Wambeke is busy and almost in constant motion, and her business is thriving: “I just want to survive Christmas,” she said, laughing.

T Bird Leather bags went from being something she would make and gift to siblings to sought-after accessories, now available for purchase at The Toggery. Getting to this point, though, took a bit longer than a decade.

Originally from Arizona, Wambeke first moved up to Whitefish in 2001, in what she thought would be a one-off ski season before getting serious about college and pursuing costume design.

“I wanted to learn how to snowboard,” she said. “But I fell in love with Montana, and I never left.”

For the next nine years, sewing would be just a hobby, she said, but nothing professional. Then, in 2010, her husband Chris Wambeke brought her the tanned hide of an elk he’d hunted, and asked her to make something.

The hide became a pair of moccasins. Wambeke said she’d never worked with leather before, and was immediately drawn to its many properties – strong and soft, durable and variable, and, of course, a big piece of Montana’s history.

“I started accumulating tools, and I was hand-sewing,” she said.

For Christmas 2011, Chris surprised her with an industrial sewing machine. She started getting more creative and devising larger projects, and attended the Rocky Mountain Leather Trade Show in Sheridan, Wyoming.

While there, Wambeke saw all the traditional uses for leather – the saddles, the saddle bags, boots, fringed jackets, and more. What struck her, she said, was a dearth of female leathersmiths, and the lack of more modern, everyday-wear leather items.

“I realized there’s nobody doing cool, non-western-themed ladies’ bags,” Wambeke said.

She started making what she wanted to see in the market, a line of clean, classic bags in popular styles. Her most popular item, the one that had people seeking her out to buy one, is her tote bag, which comes in three sizes.

Other options include bags of all shapes and sizes and colors, which are gaining popularity. She also creates a wide variety of smaller items, such as earrings, bracelets, and leather lockets.

“I make smaller items because I end up with a lot of small pieces, and I hate waste,” Wambeke said.

Her current studio is more spacious than her first, which is an indication that business is growing. Wambeke estimates she’s sold a couple hundred bags so far, and hopes to branch out into online sales soon.

Doing so would give her the opportunity to try out a new business model, she said: working on pieces Monday through Thursday, then opening up the online sales for those unique pieces on Friday.

It would be a simple way to respond to the growing demand for her products; though her sales started out purely local, she’s receiving requests for bags from all over, the most recent coming from Australia.

Other than selling at the Toggery, Wambeke’s sales come from her open studio days, during which the public is invited to her studio to see her products and experience how they are made.

T Bird Leather will have eight studio days in the next couple of months to accommodate holiday shoppers. For scheduling information, visit www.tbirdleather.com.

While she figures out the next steps to take, Wambeke intends to fall back on the idea that got her here, that no matter what life is throwing at her, just keep sewing.

It is, after all, how her oblique calling became a passion for leather working.

“It kind of found me,” Wambeke said. “Leather is just so frickin’ cool.”