Let's Make A Man Bag - Part 3

Time to start working on the body of the bag.  First, is to make the strap and attach it to the sides.  If you don't do this first, it's very hard to attach the strap later (I speak from experience).  Here are the pieces

Four pieces of nylon webbing cut to 4" each (cut from the 80" length), the shoulder strap thing, the strap adjuster, two rings, the remaining nylon webbing, and the two side pieces.

Thread one of the 4" pieces of nylon webbing through on of the rings and sew the ends together

Tip:  I hate it when the strap on a bag does this:

So I like to secure the webbing under the ring, using a zipper foot.

Repeat with the other ring so that there are two.

Take one end of the long piece of webbing and wrap it around the middle, fold the end under, and sew as close to the adjuster as possible (maybe sew twice, this piece can get a lot of stress).

To thread the strap, watch this

Now take the free end of the strap, thread it through the remaining ring, fold under the end, and sew (maybe twice, so it's very secure).

And, finally, end up with this (you'll notice I forgot the shoulder thing; that's OK I can live without it)

To attach the strap to the sides, use one of the remaining two 4" pieces of webbing and place on one of the side pieces.  Put one end of the shoulder strap under this piece, pin, and sew.

Repeat on the other side to get this

 Piecing together the front, back, and flap parts.  First the front:

Sew together on the long edge to get this

The back pieces

Attach the two smaller pieces

Now attach to the larger piece, like so

Same process for the flap, this

This

And this

Front, Back, and Flap, pieced together

Putting it all together, next.

Let's Make a Man Bag - Part 2

Here's the next posting of making a messenger-style bag from some leather samples I've had. Previously, I cut the pieces. Next step - and it's not the glamourous part - is working on the lining. Specifically, I want to get my lining pieces ready to go, which means installing zippered pockets on both the front and back pieces.

First, here's a shot of the sewing machine I'm using. Not overly fancy, but it gets the job done (not commercial-grade either, which would be really nice to have).







When I cut the dress shirt for the lining, I wanted to use the shirt pocket as part of the lining. This meant cutting one half of the lining in two pieces, like this







then joining them and notching the bottom. Dimensions are 16" across, 11 1/2" long total, with 2" x 2" squares taken out of the bottom of each side. Basically, the lining will be a simply constructed tote bag





You'll need two of these pieces to make the lining.

I want zippered pockets on both sides, so here are the pieces need






Two pocket pieces: one is 10" x 7" and one is 10" x 8" to make approximately a 9" x 6" pocket. One piece called a stay: 16" x 4". One zipper: this is a purse-type zipper 12" long (I would have preferred one 9" long, but didn't have one). The lining body piece.

Determine where the zipper will go and draw a slash line on the lining body piece. Repeat this line on the stay, then draw two lines 1/8" above and below the slash line.






Put the stay on the lining body piece, right sides together (draw your marks on the wrong side of the stay). Sew along the outer lines and make a stitched box around the slash line. Cut along the slash line (through both pieces), but at the ends of the box stop about 1/2" from the end and then cut diagonally from the slash line to the corners of the stitched box. It will look something like this:




Pull the stay through the opening to the wrong side of the lining, flatten and press. The result is a structured opening like this:





Position the zipper behind the opening and then topstitch the zipper and lining together. Be sure to use your zipper foot:





Now to make the pocket. Turn your lining piece over (the wrong side up) and position the shorter pocket piece along the bottom edge of the zipper tape, like so






This is where it gets confusing (at least to me). You want to sew the pocket piece to the zipper take and the stay, but not to the lining body. So, turn the lining body under so that it won't get attached, like this:





Once sewn, then it looks like this




Position the longer pocket piece with the top edge of the zipper tape, like this




And again, only attach the pocket piece to the zipper tape and the stay, not to the lining body. Once done, sew the sides and bottom of the pocket together (but don't sew onto the lining itself), like this





Flip the entire thing over and, voila, there's a zippered pocket






Clean up any loose threads and maybe add some extra hand stitches on the ends of the zippers (this will get a lot of use, so make sure the zipper is secure).

Repeat the entire process for the other side, then we're ready for the next stage. I'm not joining my two lining pieces right now, that will happen later, when I'm closer to attaching the lining with the outside of the bag.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Let's Make a Man Bag - Part 1

I've had some leather samples hanging around for a while - like this one:

 so I thought, how about making a bag.  The bag will be 12" wide, 9" tall, and 3" deep; lined, with one outer pocket, two inner pockets with zippers, and a flap.  Here are my drawings for cuttings for the outside (1/2" seam allowances):

Here are the cuttings:  The Flap

The Front:

The Back:

The Sides (I can't decide between gray or black, so I cut both):

And for a punch of color, the underside of the flap and a pocket:

For the lining, I'm using an old dress shirt.  Here are the cuttings:

And, finally, notions and accessories:  80" of nylon webbing (I like the seat belt type), thread (I'm going to topstitch with the orange), four small magnets (to keep the flap closed), two rings for the strap, a strap adjuster, and a shoulder thingy.

Part 2  - starting construction - next.