I've been in search of the perfect messenger bag for quite some time now. Ever since my Cal Pak crapped out. It was more vertical than horizontal, and had lots of pockets.
The first messenger bag I ever had was one I made from an old sugar sack back in high school. This Feed Sack Messenger Bag tutorial (not mine) shows how. I wish I would kept the printed part, or put that inside the bag to prove it was upcycled from such a utility fabric.
But I also like the look of this one. She used waxed fabric -- I found tutorials to DIY, which will require going to St Vinny's in search of a mini crock pot that can be dedicated to melting beeswax. I have some experiments planned. [I did do some experiments with this, but I did not like the results enough to make an entire messenger bag out of it.]
She used this pattern (which I purchased from Michelle Patterns), and used to make the messenger bag at the top of this post. It's a decent pattern. Some patterns do goofy things with the flap, and it looks oversize or too floppy, or not right in other ways. This one has a really nice cut to it. The pattern was well done, and easy to follow. My only advice is to take your time, and go through each step ...
I used purple ultra suede from my stash and gray/purple wool from St Vinny's, dirt cheap!
I also thought it might be a good one to try in wool with a little ultra suede.
Here's a detail shot of the proposed fabrics. If I still had a sample book, I'd have tucked this away in that scrapbook. The ticking is repurposed from something else, and is used for the lining.
The pattern recommended fusible fleece for additional interfacing for some pieces. That seemed to work up too stiff. I wound up using some scraps of silk batting and stitch wichery, along with the Pellon SF 101 for other pieces, and that combination worked out just fine. The bag is solid enough to stand on it's own, but not so stiff as to be hard to work with. With using wool for the body of the bag, it seemed more appropriate to use the silk batting instead of fleece.
The pattern called for a strap and buckle closure, but I went with a button and loop closure instead.
The loop is made from leftover fabric from the sling backpack from last weekend. That woven rayon skirt from India. Though I could have used more of the purple ultra suede.
The button is from my friend Karla, who collects buttons. She could say more about it -- bakelite and shell, or whatever. I auditioned a few other buttons, even purchased a fancy new button (just because almost everything else from this project except hardware came out of my stash). The gold in Karla's vintage button just worked better than the new metal button, or anything else I had.
Looking down into the outside pocket. That little bit of thread tangle is where the button was sewn on for the outside closure.
Here's a shot of the lining, using the re-purposed ticking. It has an inside pocket that mirrors the one on the front of the bag. 2 pockets in total. Though when a project like this is all done, my mind churns through how I could add more pockets next time around ...
There is also an extra piece of fleece quilted to the bottom of the bag to give some support to the bottom. That is the one place I did use fleece, not batting.
It's so nice to have smaller projects that can be finished in a weekend, or two, vs the quilts that can take years to complete! Here's to another bag completed!
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