Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Chris!

Here's a 24incher Fatty I just made for my friend Chris. I'm calling it a Fatty 'cause it has a larger bottom than it normally would. I haven't made a whole lot of 24-inch bags...I think every one has been different...but a standard sized 24incher would have a 17x7 bottom, or 15x9. This has a 18x9 bottom. So with a standard or traditional messenger bag, it would usually have a 27-inch flap....blah, blah. It's big. Also: fourteen inches high, with a fourteen-inch flap.




Padded back & floating liner, of course.

Got me some fancy reflecto buckles from ITW Nexus. These are the only two I've got. If I want reflectors on the buckles I have some 3M trucker tape I slap on there. That way you can replace it when it gets all scratched up. But these are fun.


See that loop down there on the bottom? Last time I was in Chicago I saw this old army pack (a great inspiration for me) with loops on it like this. Hot damn, I thought. And here they are.
These'll come in handy if you want to carry a big box under the flap. There's one on the other side...so run a line across the box from loop to loop, and then close the flap over the box. If it's a real big box you might need extension straps.
Chrome has little loops like this under the flap on some of their bags specifically for box-carryin'. I think it makes more sense to have them on the bag. That way you can use 'em for other things. But that's just me.

I think I put them too far to the edge though. Next time I'll move 'em up a bit.

Action Shots!


How It's Done

Saturday, April 25, 2009

SquareBuilt Lance

Here's a backpack I made for Lance at SquareBuilt Bicycles in New York. (Check 'em out--great custom hand-built cycles.)
You can strap a bike frame to it and carry a shitload of whatever you want.
This is probably the biggest backpack I've ever made...or at least the heaviest...I think my backpacking bag was probably a bit bigger...
This bag tested the very limits of my sewing machine. Yikes.
The main compartment measures 18x16x11.

Action shots coming soon.

This is a new strap design from me. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Pads are 2.5 inches wide and half-an-inch thick.



Oh, where am I going to put this fork?


Oh, that's right, in the secret fork pocket. Ha.

Carry your guitar, if you like.


Phone Pouch!

I had an epiphany today and came up with a better way to make my phone pouches. This gives them a real clean flap. I don't know why I didn't think of this before--I use the same technique with my wallets. Oh well, now I know.





This is the reason Velcro was invented, as far as I'm concerned. You can put this pouch anywhere now. Sewing a bottom on anything less than two inches thick is a real pain in the ass. That's why I like this pattern...you only need to sew on the edges. Sweet. Here's what the pattern looks like for the bottom (this is a one-piece pouch, but I didn't think of how to do it till after I cut this out):

I came up with this genius pattern about two years ago when I was a desk attendant at a mental institution. Oh yeah!

Buckles

ITW Nexus came out with some new buckles a while ago and I finally got around to ordering some samples. My favorite of the bunch are the one-inch buckles in the Jet series. They're on the right. On the left are the buckles I currently use on all my bags...a member of the Trovato family, also from ITW.


The Jet buckles are a little easier to release than the others and they feed a little better, too, due to their curved mouths. I still think the Trovatos look better, though. The Jets are a little too fancy for me. Ha. But we'll see, I might order 'em anyway...they feel so nice.

To get your mitts on some, vist ITW's website at www.itwnexus.com.

Happy trails.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Cross Reference

I've been working on my Web site a bit lately. And while my page-designing skills are still in the Caveman realm, I think the site's close to doing what it's suppose to do. Take a peek:

I've also been putting photos up on my newly minted Flickr page. I imagine that'll be a nicer home for them, rather than just having them scattered about on this blog.