Experiments in Bag Making

8 07 2008

So I am done with the Mark8 bag for now ,and odds are it will be a bit before I make a new bag. The unfortunate thing about bag making is you really don’t know what you did wrong as far as ergonomics go until you are done with the bag and have weight in it. There are some things that just work and some things that just don’t and those you can tell on paper. But when you are trying new things, well, you takes your chances.

Well 8 generations and somewhere around 17 bags later I am coming up on a concrete design I finally like. The Mark8 has the shape of my all time favorite bag, but it is built like the 1 of the most durable bags I ever made. Plus I tried a few new tricks.

In the end I combined this shape.


	the outer flap of the twin arrows bag

But I built it like this one. That shape is also a lot easier to embroider, but a bit harder to assemble. But bags made from this shape tend to last longer


	the stripped bag laid out

So I ended up with this


	the flap on the mark8


	the inside of the mark8

This time I also tried a fabric that I haven’t used before called Sunbrella. It is a waterproof canvas that’s worlds cheaper than Cordura. But it lacks that nice shine Cordura has. It was a just a little hard on the knuckles to, but over all I am a pleased with the results over all.

I also made shoulder pads for this bag that where separate. That was a new thing for me.


	all the pieces before I put it together


	Two completed shoulder straps

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Date : 8 July 2008
Categories : General

One response to “Experiments in Bag Making”

14 07 2008: BK (10:22:00) :

I found out about your blog after you donated a bag to the tres cafe alley cat here in Birmingham. On the fabric you use, what denier Cordura were you using? I don’t know what the cost on Sunbrella is, but you can find some generic nylons/polyester in the higher deniers (200 - 1000D) for much less than Cordura ($5- $10/yd vs. $10+ for Cordura). Don’t get me wrong, Cordura is great stuff, but for your applications, and since you are kind of in the “development” phase , it couldn’t hurt to give some of the generics a try. If you are comfortable with mail order, these are some places that have a good rep amongst the DIY backpacking community:

questoutfitters.com
Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics (owfinc.com)
Seattlefabrics.com (not quite as good as the others, but worth a shot)

Hope it helps!