Leif Labs

Leif Labs Action Shot

2012-01-24T20:57:00.002-06:00

Some friends of mine rode their bikes from Columbia to Salt Lake last September. I made a handlebar bag for the trip. I finally got around to procuring a picture:
The bag was in charge of holding the camera. You can see it open there on the right. Woo.

Sneak Peek: Juki Serger

2011-12-10T20:05:00.003-06:00

Amazon just had a smokin' deal on the MO-654DE. I've been wanting a serger for a good long while and this seemed like the best time to buy one. 2 to 4 theads, differential feed, heavy to lightweight fabric. Aw yeah. Time to make some full-face fleece cycling hats...when I have time. It's house-repair season...sigh.

Innards.

Time to research serger thread...

Simple Bag

2011-11-27T23:36:00.002-06:00

Real nice, simple shoulder bag. 16-inch flap (across). For the right-shouldered individual.

Kyle's Bag

2011-11-27T23:31:00.002-06:00

Here's a bag I just made for my friend. 17-inches. Built around an LP.

Thanks for modeling, Bernie.

Leatherman Sheath

2011-10-22T14:57:00.003-05:00

Just made this for my friend. I suppose it should be made out of leather, but I haven't started working with that yet.
This is about as small a case you can make using this kind of construction. It took me about three hours to turn this right-side out. Ha.
Belt loop.
Snap.
Thank you low October sun for the shadows.

Carry-on Bag

2011-09-28T13:53:00.005-05:00

Popping up to New York for a bit next week and thought I'd make a real simple carry-on bag. It's based around Delta's max bag dimensions: 22x14x9". 1000d Cordura nylon. Unlined.

Should've made the handles a bit longer.
Simple straps.
One compression strap.

This is my first zippered backpack. Usually I'm not a big fan of this design because zippers are pretty fragile, but since the zipper doesn't go all the way around this bag it can totally fail and the bag will still function. And, as you can see, it opens plenty wide.

Man + Bag

2011-09-05T16:13:00.002-05:00

I was going through some old photos the other day and came across these that I never put up.
24incher, oversized.
I made the bag a while ago. 10oz cotton canvas, 1000d nylon bottom, ACP 3D outside pockets and liner.

Yep, that's a big bag.

The Sheesh Handlebar Bag

2011-09-05T15:51:00.004-05:00

I just smashed this out for my friend's ride from CoMo to Salt Lake. It sits on her Surly front rack. Xpac shell + military tent fabric liner (floating) = light and pretty darn water resistant.
My first bag with a covered zipper...I think.

Those loops go around the handlebars.
Velcro'd. Quick 'n' dirty.
Side pouch for snacks or bottle.
There's some padding in there too.
Roll down.
Hope it holds up. Stay tuned for photos from the trip.

Uprise Bakery Banner

2011-09-05T15:35:00.004-05:00

Just finished this sweet banner for the best bakery in Columbia.
~109x34 inches. SolarMax nylon flagcloth with Isacord poly thread.

Double-stitched applique.

Lots of pinning and folding. Maybe I need a long-arm machine...
Just kidding.

Stuff sack.

Drink Pod Action Shot

2011-08-22T01:04:00.003-05:00

A single drink holder. Twenty-four ounces of fun.
I'm still thinking of a good name for the single bike coozie, so if you've got any lemme know. I'm leaning towards The Shotgun...as in "riding shotgun." Thanks, Bill.

Boone Dawdle Bag

2011-08-19T14:46:00.003-05:00

Well, looks like I haven't forgot how to make a bag...
This 19incher is a raffle prize for the True/False Film Fest's summer event, the Boone Dawdle...which happens tomorrow.
I think the bag turned out pretty nice.
Goldberg reel + chain ring.

Photos from the Dawdle:

Rails to Trails.

Burr.

Busk.

It was a fun-filled fifteen-mile ride out to Missouri wine country. There was a nice light rain most of the time, which magically cleared for a screening of Last Days Here, a Sundance doc about the ups & downs of doom-metal rocker Bobby Liebling. Lights passed silently behind the screen from Interstate 70, cell phone towers did what they do, the engorged Missouri River flowed east, we ate corn on sticks and drank beer, and we all laughed when Bobby lost a crack rock in his parents' couch.
Good times.

PFAFF 335

2011-08-19T14:36:00.006-05:00

...and then there was Pfaff...
I can't even remember when I bought this thing it's been so long. It was cold, I know that. Probably the winter...definitely the winter. Anyway, I've been busy with things, and there have been complications with this machine and so on. But! I have built a table for it and I am using it now...so that's a step in the right direction, as they say.
So let me show you what I've got...

This is what is known as a narrow-arm cylinder-bed sewing machine. Cylinder bed (aka cylinder arm) sewing machines are good for sewing hard-to-reach or difficult-to-sew things like hats, bags, golf bags, what have you--anything that's a real bitch or impossible to sew on a flat bed machine. [See also post-bed sewing machines.]
It is my understanding (which is limited) that there are two varieties of bottom feeding on cylinder machines: horizontal and elliptical (they might be called something else in the industry...). Horizontal is what you find on narrow arm machines like the 335. The feed dogs are attached to an arm that goes forward and backwards and that's all. Elliptical (and its fancier square variety) go forward, up, back and down. This is what you see in all (or most) flat bed machines. Unfortunately, you can't fit this mechanism in an arm this skinny...at least I don't think so.
I guess then there are patching machines, which are like super skinny arm machines, and those only have top feed. But that's a machine by itself as far as I'm concerned...
Back to the 335. It has horizontal feed on the bottom and compound feed on the top: needle feed with a walking foot, which makes it feed pretty well. It's not a champion climber like my compound feed flat-bed machines, since it's feed dog doesn't go down and can get stuck on stuff, but it does alright.
This variety of 335 has a synchronized binding arm, which you can attach a binding attachment to. This binding attachment moves with the walking foot to make a real nice binding. I'm still working out this aspect of the machine, unfortunately.
You can see the two bolts just to the right of the feet...that's where the folder attaches. Farther down the binder plate are rods to thread the binding in.

Special feet and needle plate to accommodate the folder/binder. My binder doesn't fit right in there (it's too fat), so I've been working on grinding down the needle plate. Pfaff parts are hella expensive, but fortunately this machine is pretty popular so there are generic parts available for it. I'm grinding down those.
The 335 has horizontal-axis hook. Other popular cylinder-bed machines like the Consew 227 and Juki 341 have a vertical-axis hook. FYI.

Here're some of the off-the-shelf binders I have. I've had good results with them off the machine, I just need to get them in the right place on the machine so they can do their job.
I still haven't felt like ponying up the 400 dollars for a custom-made binder. And I don't think I've spent that much money on eBay binders yet...but I think it's getting close. Ha.
The rub is: I bought one when I bought this machine and it didn't fit. Ain't that a mother...
The 335 uses these fancy aluminum G bobbins. In the middle (with the holes) are M bobbins, which my other upholstery machines use. Maybe I should've got a Consew 277RBFS so all my bobbins could be the same size. Ha. Next time.

The feed dog on this machine came with a surprisingly small needle hole for a machine that's been touted (on some sites) as a leather machine (light weight leather...it's an upholstery-weight machine). I was having trouble with my T90 thread getting caught in the thread slot (not pictured). Or at least that's what I thought was happening. I was having trouble getting proper top tension...as in the knot wasn't being pulled into the fabric. The test piece of faux leather that came with the machine looked perfect, but I couldn't replicate the stitches. Weird. I must be doing something dumb. I got a generic feed dog for it though, with a larger needle hole, and it's been working a lot better.

QR code on the hook. Pretty cute.

Right now what I've been using this machine for is sewing the top stitch around the edge of my bike coozies...something that's really aggravating to do with a flat bed...and will never look as nice. I've also been using it to sew parts of my bags that are a real pain to sew flat.
Yeah.

Other things about this machine:

These machines are made in China. Pfaff's been producing machines in the East for a good nine years now. I believe they're running their own factory there and are not just contracting another company to make them. The build quality is excellent...so far. Some sellers will try to tell you these are still made in Germany. Not true. The users manual is all in German, though. I believe Pfaff still makes machines in Germany, but I have a feeling they're of the high-tech variety.

I chose this particular model because a lot of the smaller sewing machine companies have copied this machine almost exactly. I hope this means that parts and information will be readily available forever. Companies like Juki, Seiko, Consew and Adler all have similar machines.

I had to build a table to sit on another table because I'm nearly out of floor space in my workshop. Pretty crazy. One day I might buy another machine and that'll probably be a Juki 441 clone...but we'll see.

I have a servo motor with a 2" pulley. It goes nice 'n' slow, the way I like it.

I'll try to put some better photos up some time. This post'll be a work in progress till I get the binding issue sorted out, so if there's anything you'd like to see in detail let me know and I'll put it up.

Happy trails.

Bicycle Seat Covers

2011-06-15T14:39:00.011-05:00

I've had a couple people ask me about seat covers recently so I thought I'd sit down and smash out a real nice design. This is what I've got so far: No Velcro, no elastic, no top seams, no coming off and no water getting in.
It's made from two pieces of Gore-Tex-like fabric*, where the water-resistant laminate is facing inwards to reduce wear. So it's ready for all day in the rain.
[*It's really nice fabric, but I bought it off eBay, so it could be Gore-Tex, or it could be a generic. I've been using my seat cover for a few years and it's going strong.]

Real simple cord-and-grommets tightening action. You can wrap that cord back under the seat to keep it outta the way.
I'm still working on how best to reinforce the grommets since this fabric is kinda slippery and stretchy and I don't want the grommets popping off. I've been sandwiching stiffer material in between the fabric and that's been working pretty well. Though, it doubles the sewing time. So I'm still working on the construction logistics.
If you're interested in one, you can send me an email for updates: coryleif@gmail.com

This was built around a Brooks B17 leather saddle. It fits smaller saddles just fine and will fit wider ones like the B18 Lady, but the nose might not fit that snug...but you'll get full coverage.

If you're looking for something a bit fancier than this, jump on over to Randi Jo Fabrications. Their seat covers are pretty sharp.

Woo-hoo!

Leif Labs: Where you sit.

Drink Holder Installation Guide

2011-06-15T14:19:00.006-05:00

These're pretty easy to install, so you'll be on the road to carrying whatever you want in no time.
The trickiest part of this is attaching the strap that loops under the down tube--the chin strap of the rig, if you will. I've used a tri-glide (or double-back) buckle here for its simplicity, low profile, and relative theft-resistance compared to Velcro or any other standard buckle. I have full confidence that you will be able to install this without a problem.

First let's go through buckling it off the bike:

Doublin' back.

After you tighten the chin strap, wrap the other two straps like so. The red dot in the middle is where the head tube will be.

Okay, now here it is on the bike.
I know in the picture below it has the straps going into the cam buckles, but they should be loose...I forgot to take that picture. But that's where you put it--right up against the head tube (the tube the fork goes through).

The webbing goes up.
And then goes down.
Here's how the other webbing wraps around the front.
Into the cam buckles.

And you can tuck the loose webbing into the side there.
Happy trails.

Bicycle Drink Holders

2011-06-15T14:07:00.003-05:00

AKA Double Troubles.
Maybe you'd like to hold more water bottles, or just have your beverage in easy reach. If so, the Double Trouble is right for you. Ha.
Anyway...1000d CORDURA® shell, nylon packcloth liner, quarter-inch foam for rigidity & insulation, cam buckles for perfect adjustability.

The top. Round construction.
Cam buckles from ITW Nexus.
Front.
Bottom.

Throw me an email for quotes, availability, or questions. Singles coming soon.
coryleif@gmail.com

Singer 15-90

2011-05-14T18:08:00.003-05:00

I've been lusting after an old Singer for quite a while--just to have one. It's not like I need any more sewing machines. But I saw this on eBay for a decent price and swooped in and bought it.
It's a 15-90. The fun thing about old Singers is that you can look up the serial number and see when and where it was made. This one was born June 6, 1946, in Jersey, exactly two years after D-Day. It's a Baby Boomer machine!
This is what sold me on it: the scrollwork faceplate. So cool.

Sister machines to the 15-90 are the 15-88 and the 15-91. The 15-91 has a "potted" motor and is gear driven. You see this model the most on eBay. I've read that the gears are fairly fragile, so beware if you plan on sewing thick denim, I guess. The 15-88 is for treadle-use only.
And the 15-90, as you can see, is belt driven. You can also use it as a treadle or handcrank machine.
This has a vertical oscillating hook. It's my understanding that this kind of hook is less finicky about thread size so you can run heavier threads no probs. I still need to clean and oil this machine before I really see what this can do. Though it does make stitches. I tested that. And it makes a very nice reverse stitch, which is always nice.

This machine is pretty similar to the Singer 99 (another ubiquitous eBay machine), but the 99 has a horizontal rotary hook and different bobbin. And the 99's tension knob is on the front, not the side.
It's also kinda like the 221 featherweight (the machine I learned on), but the 221 has a rotary hook and smaller bobbin...and is portable.

If you're in the market for one of these you can usually get one for under a hundred bucks, unless it's a rare one or something. But they made like a trillion of these so they should be pretty cheap. This one was from a batch of 250,000. I think they pop up on eBay in waves...probably depending on garage sale season.
People do sell these on eBay for $200+ as industrial strength leather machines, which is sorta a scam. They will sew soft apparel leather and they are really tough little machines, but in no way are they true leather machines. If you're in the market for a leather machine, take a peek at Leatherworkers.net and see what's out there...or just buy a Juki 441 clone and call it a day.

Other old Singers that I haven't mentioned that would make good beginner/general-use machines: the 201 and the 66 (the full-size 99), and probably a handful of others that I don't know about.
Woo!

I just remembered that Sailrite used to offer a basic canvas machine years ago...
Looks a lot like the 15-90.

Sorta Simple Bags

2011-05-14T17:57:00.004-05:00

Wow, I guess I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy overhauling my workspace...tinkering with machines and organizing stuff. Still got lots to do, unfortunately.
Throughout the years I've cut pieces for bags that I've never used. So I used them.
These are simpler versions of my bags. They have sliding shoulder pads and no zippers. They still have floating liners and are expandable. I'm going to take these to some local shops in Columbia.
Nineteen inches.

Twenty-two inches.

Twenty-four inches, oversized.
3D front pockets.
This bag is tooo big.

Barista Apron

2011-03-29T12:37:00.002-05:00

Here's my friend's competition apron.

Pretty ridiculous print.
Boom city.

New Wallet Design

2011-03-23T14:56:00.002-05:00

This is more of your standard bifold wallet.
First of all: Coffee bag burlap is the worst fabric ever. It sheds and its weave is too loose for anything. I don't even think it's good for holding coffee beans.
Anyway, it's the fabric my friend wanted to use for her wallet project, so here it is.
I sprayed this with some acrylic to keep it from fraying.
Burlap.
Burlap.
Pretty simple tire tube pockets.

Woo.

Jess's Li'l Backpack

2011-03-16T21:03:00.004-05:00

Here's a small waxed cotton backpack I just made for my friend. 12x13.5x4 Lined with Cordura nylon.

Nylon reinforced bottom.
Back pad doubles as magazine pocket.
Pretty cute.

Needle chart

2011-03-10T17:46:00.002-06:00

I found this fun needle chart on Weaver Leather's website.
Most of my machines use a 135 x 17 needle system, so it's interesting to see how they compare to leather-machine needles.

Here's another neat chart that lists some popular leather machines with their needles.
The needle sizes are in metric. A size 20 needle is 125, and a 22 would be 140.

Thanks, Weaver!

Jellyfish Camera Bag

2011-02-18T17:24:00.002-06:00

Here's another sea creature...this time on a 15-inch bag. 15x11, 11.5x3.5

Removable padding for cameras 'n' stuff.

The Singer 20U is pretty good at making squiggly lines.

Shopping on eBay

2011-02-02T17:45:00.003-06:00

Do you need to sew through three inches of material with glass thread?
Do you need to do it in space?
Well, look no further...
That's a monster!
Apparently it was made to sew insulation panels together for the shuttle program.

Good luck finding a needle that size.

Pretty sweet.

True/False Wallets

2011-01-24T20:41:00.004-06:00

I just made some limited edition wallets/change holders for the True/False Film Festival (get your pass now!) 1000d Cordura nylon. They'll last for years.

If you want one, you can get it at The Butterfly Tattoo, downtown Columbia, Mo. I think they'll be up on the website too. There are only twenty of 'em so there may or may not be ones available during the fest--March 3-6.

These are the best things ever for carrying change. Tip the wallet forward so the change slides into the lip and pick out what you need.

Kelsey's Octobag

2011-01-21T14:27:00.003-06:00

This is a 19" right-shoulder courier bag with detachable waterbottle holder.
My friend'll be using it as a laptop bag.

Ooo, pen pockets.

Sneak Peek

2010-12-29T21:13:00.001-06:00

Oh boy.

One More T/F Bag

2010-12-20T19:45:00.002-06:00

Here's a standard 19-incher I just made for my friend.
The T/F patch is from the True/False Film Fest, one of the best documentary film festivals in the US. It's coming up this March. Read about it here.

Bird Bag

2010-12-08T21:32:00.003-06:00

Here's the first bag I've made since October. I thought I'd forgotten how to make bags.
Very Etsian, this.
This is a new 15-inch simple-musette pattern I'm trying out...if you can tell.

My model, trying to true his wheel and work for me.
Pretty cute.

Roofin' a Shed

2010-12-08T21:26:00.011-06:00

I am well aware that one of the rules of the universe is that every project takes twice as long as you think...but sometimes you forget about that rule, or you just want to believe it doesn't exist.
This project was a cruel reminder.
But it's over (for the most part) so now I can revel in photo-sharing. So here's what I just made: a new roof for an old (very old) shed:
Ain't it pretty?
I more or less dropped the ball on capturing all the construction steps, but you can probably guess 'em. First of all, that's what the old roof looked like (above).
It was shingled with 30-year-old fiberglass panels:
Mmm, lichen. Taking this off was a nightmare in itchiness.

I had to do a lot of concrete work on this thing before we could start building. When they built the shed they did a crap job around the windows and doors so the walls have buckled out. We poured about 25 bags of concrete in the walls to shore 'em up (I hope that works). Before we could do that I had chisel out the old concrete on top. Of course, there was usually only about two to three inches of concrete and some filler (but it still took forever):
Life Magazine from the late 40s. Pretty keen.

Testing the limits of what you can carry in a toy pickup. 14-foot 2x4s for the trusses.
Yep. Built 25 trusses (Jenny painted them, though). I increased the pitch a bit for better snow-sloughing performance. I have a feeling that this winter's gonna be a real mother.
Whole lotta ladderwork for this project. I think like 90 percent of my time was up on a ladder during this project. Not fun. But you get good at climbing ladders...
Here comes the wind! This tarp's like 30 feet by 16. We had some close calls with storms coming in while it was untied. Yikes.
I put all these up and spaced them by myself. That was dumb.
Putting some of the last polycarbonate roof panels up. That felt good. I consider it a miracle that the roof is square and the edges of the panels sit where they do in the front.

The panels are a little clearer than we thought they'd be...
The shed's about 24 feet long and 12 feet wide.
There's still quite a bit of finishing work and painting to be done, but that can wait till springtime. It's time to get back on the bag train.

Winter Update!

We've had a couple big snows this winter and no cave ins!

Dad Bag

2010-10-14T14:05:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time coming, but I finally finished my first diaper bag--for my friend Jay.
The usual Cordura outside and ACP inside. About 15x11x6".

Trying out a simple sliding shoulder pad.
Two 3D pockets in the front. One for wet wipes.
Pretty snazzy.
There's a little frame in that special pocket to keep it rigid.
Collapsible dividers, padded back and bottom.

One cute bag for one cute baby.

Citizen Jane Pouches

2010-10-04T17:12:00.002-05:00

Here're fifty pouches I made for the Citizen Jane Film Festival (October 15-17).
I believe they're for passholders...

Cotton duck (#8) lined with nylon. Velcro closure. Side loops for doing whatever you want with 'em.

The linen patches were made for me, using a stamp bought on Etsy (I think).

Woo!

Tiny Camera Pouch

2010-10-04T17:09:00.002-05:00

Just a li'l guy.

Tim's Backpack

2010-09-20T12:06:00.002-05:00

Just like Keaton's backpack below, but a li'l bigger and no waist strap.
15x17x7" Cordura nylon lined with ACP.

Floating liner.
3/8" fleece-lined curvy shoulder straps.
Cam-buckle loops for polo mallets.
Quick-open d-ring.

Keaton's Backpack

2010-09-01T12:51:00.004-05:00

14x16x7" Cordura nylon lined with ACP (acrylic-coated polyester).
De Luxe version...floating liner and some other fancy things.
Love the greyscale look.
Zipper pocket, loading handle.

Attached hip belt, curvy shoulder straps.

Action Shots!
Compressed.

Thanks for modelling, Keaton!

Market Bag

2010-08-24T14:57:00.002-05:00

I've been helping with my friend's farmers-market stall lately and I've noticed that a lot of people struggle to put their produce (or whatever) into their tote bags when they're wearing them, so I'm seeing if I can make a better bag for market shopping...
It's like a little mail carriers bag. It hangs open for easy loading.
12x12x6" This is cotton duck lined with rubbery fabric.

I put some buckles on the top so you can cinch it closed, but they just get in the way and do nothing so I'm going to cut 'em off.

David's Backpack

2010-08-24T14:34:00.002-05:00

Here's a fully custom backpack I made for my friend David.
13x17x5"
Floating liner, padded back and bottom.

The screen and print were made by a local shop. The image is from Nation of Ulysses' first 7", Sound of Young America.

Snaps! do the compression work.

Yep.

Camera Pouch

2010-08-23T13:59:00.003-05:00

Here's a tiny padded case for a point-and-shoot camera.

Snap! I think this might be my first case with a snap...lemme think....
I like to have the male part of the snap on a strap instead of attaching it to the bag. That way you don't have to press on what's in your bag to close the snap. Important if you're carrying fragile things.
One-piece shell. Two seams.

Ultimate Pannier

2010-08-17T13:20:00.002-05:00

Just made this pannier for my dad. It's probably the fanciest pannier I'll ever make.
(Sorry about the hazy images. It was hotter than the Devil and my camera lens fogged up.)
Floating liner, 3D pocket. I lined it with the last of my vinyl-coated poly.

Expandable sleeve. I hadn't put the draw cord on when I took this picture.

Drink Pod

2010-08-17T13:11:00.003-05:00

I finally got some more thin foam in, so I've been working on the Double Trouble design some more. This one's just a single, though.
Working on making this without Velcro. I need to get some cam buckles, though. I think those'll work best for this design.

Woops...didn't make it big enough for a water bottle. Back to the drawing board...
Stay tuned.

iPad Case

2010-08-17T12:37:00.004-05:00

Here're some prototype iPad cases I've recently made.
My friend was looking for a case that had a greater range of angle adjustment than other cases. Few, if any, commercial cases can go from a small angle to a large angle while maintaining rigidity.
My friend uses this as a laptop, so a small angle for typing is important to him.

Here's my latest effort:
Apple kindly put most of the buttons near the corners, where you'd want to put retention straps, so getting the iPad to attach to the case was the first challenge.
As you can see, I've used a series of loops with paracord to hold the iPad in place. It's secure and none of the buttons (and speaker) are covered (mostly).
Not the prettiest thing, but it works. Has a sort of tactical look, I suppose. Ha.
The next challenge was making it adjustable. I'm pretty happy with this system. It's a hinged sliding piece that you can shape into various triangles to get the desired angle. It needs to be cleaned up, but the concept is good.

Here's my second effort. Had two pieces that slid into the case and would sit in the slots on the right. Never have loose pieces.

This is my first case. Another picture-frame design, but with Velcro. I'm not a big fan of Velcro...

T/F Boone Dawdle Bag

2010-08-16T17:06:00.004-05:00

Win this bag at the True/False Boone Dawdle raffle on August twenty-first.
The Boone Dawdle (not to be confused with boondoggle) is a two-hour bike ride to the nearby town of Rocheport (Missouri), where the documentary Best Worst Movie will be shown at a bluff-top vineyard restaurant. Should be good times.

The bag measures 19" at the top, 13" at the bottom, and is 6" thick and 12" tall.
It's made of 1000d Cordura nylon and acrylic-coated polyester for maximum water repellency.

Pockets: it has a few.
The padded back doubles as a document pocket. [Man, it was too bright when I was taking these pictures. Ha.]
Fully adjustable padded shoulder strap with stabilizer strap.
Expandable main compartment.
Here's what it looks like on a pretty small lady.

Photos from the Event:

Random party time.
MKT Trail.
Burr oak.
Best Worst Movie, a Troll 2 documentary, shown over the Missouri River.

Watch Battery Changin'

2010-07-29T12:07:00.005-05:00

My watch crapped out on me a while ago and I've had this Wenger watch sitting battery-dead for a few years so I thought I'd give it some new life.
I usually take it to a downtown jewelry shop, but that shop is long closed...and, besides, jewelry shops give me the creeps. It also gave me an excuse to buy a cute new tool:
Here's the tool:
It's a case-opener wrench...or watch wrench...or whatever you want to call it. I call it 99 cents + shipping from China. Awesome. And it's surprisingly well made. All those doodads around it are different tips, to fit all your various watch crevasses.
Adjustable.
Here's the back of my watch. Pretty typical, I think, for a water-resistant watch. Lefty loosey.
Unscrew that thing!
Funny, it says "SWISS MADE" on the back of the watch, but the inside says "CHINA." Go figure.
Pop that white plastic case off and there's the battery.
Boom. Working watch.

Bike Snob Evaluated

2010-07-28T09:27:00.006-05:00

So I just finished reading Bike Snob's ode to the bicycle, and it's kind of a weird book. It's mostly written for the benefit of newer riders, but I imagine that most people who read his blog are pretty familiar with bicycles and cycling. But I could be wrong. I guess I'm a little more bike-literate than most people....
The book pretty much reads like this:
Lemme tell you a li'l bit about New York's cycling history [which is the best part of the book]. Bikes are sweet, you should ride one. Bikes are sweet, you should ride one. Some riders are weird. Bikes are sweet, you should ride one. Hipsters are fucking assholes. Bikes=good.

And I found this paragraph on messenger bags to be a little weird, too:

"However, for the on-the-bike use, messenger bags aren't always the great choice everybody thinks they are. This is because they're designed to swing around from rear to front quickly and without being removed. This is great when you're stopping every two blocks to deliver a package; but it's not such a great thing when you're just going from one place to another and you keep having to push your bag back around every five minutes. If you're not constantly going in and out of your bag, you very well may be much better off with a regular backpack."

This is a pretty cheap dig. Stabilizer straps (which prevent the swing-around effect) have been on messenger bags for at least a couple decades, and every respectable messenger bag has one. I imagine Bike Snob needed some more ammo for his Hipsters Suck chapter so he made a factual omission. It happens.

I did appreciate his calling huge empty messenger bags "hipster capes." He's forgetting, though, that hipsters rarely wear appropriate clothing, so their bags actually do keep the chill off their backs.

But really, can you even criticize someone (Bike Snob, not hipsters) who hides behind the mask of curmudgeonry?

Anyway...so, if you're new to cycling, give this book a look over. It's accessible and pretty funny. Otherwise stick with the blog: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/
(If you haven't read the blog, it's awesome.)
Also, thanks go to Daniel Boone Regional Library for procuring this book for me.
Woo! libraries!

The Babbitt (Laptop Bag)

2010-07-22T14:07:00.006-05:00

Prototyping a 17-inch bag. This'll be a good laptop-, work-, or school bag. I hope.
I still need to tweak the dimensions a bit. This is 13" high and 4 inches thick. I think it could be shorter...though the thickness is good.
It comes with a padded back.

This bag is, of course, named after the Babbitt in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel--that indomitable businessman and ultimate conformist, Mr George F. Babbitt.

"They admired and loved one another now. They went profoundly into the science of business, and indicated that the purpose of manufacturing a plow or a brick was so that it might be sold. To them, the Romantic Hero was no longer the knight, the wandering poet, the cowpuncher, the aviator, nor the brave young district attorney, but the great sales-manager, who had an Analysis of Merchandizing Problems on his glass-topped desk, whose title of nobility was 'Go-getter,' and who devoted himself and all his young samurai to the cosmic purpose of Selling--not of selling anything in particular, for or to anybody in particular, but pure Selling."

"'At that, though,' announced the first, 'they're selling quite some booze in Zenith. Guess they are everywhere. I don't know how you fellows feel about prohibition, but the way it strikes me is that it's a mighty beneficial thing for the poor zob that hasn't got any will-power but for fellows like us, it's an infringement of personal liberty.'"

"Silent, they loafed on the edge of the wharf, swinging their legs above the water. The immense tenderness of the place sank into Babbitt, and he murmured, 'I'd just like to sit here--the rest of my life--and whittle--and sit. And never hear a typewriter. Or Stan Graff fussing in the 'phone. Or Rone and Ted Scrapping. Just sit. Gosh!'"

Improvements

2010-07-22T13:52:00.004-05:00

Things are finally starting to come together here at Leif Labs.
I finally put a table extension on the 1541S table. And a pencil organizer. Pretty sweet.

It'd be nice to have an even bigger table extension...but I'm low on space and high on junk (that's in my room). Ideally, I would've got a 4x8 sheet of plywood, cut a sewing-table-sized hole in it and plonked it right down. Would've been awesome.
The 1541S has been sewing better since I replaced the hook assembly, though not perfectly. It still chatters sometimes when going over seatbelt webbing. Makes me nervous. Hopefully it just needs to break in.

Finally got rid of that black-tar belt on my 20U. Not only was it stinky, it was a little uneven, so it made the machine shake. This should be better.
Size 3L PowerTwist Plus link belt.
Extra-pocketed wallets.

Leif Labs in Africa

2010-07-06T18:08:00.002-05:00

My friend Linds sporting her hip pack in front of Murchison Falls in Uganda.
That's the Nile when it gets real narrow. Pretty cool.

Bind That!

2010-07-06T17:35:00.004-05:00

Finally getting my Juki 241 set up as a binding machine. I still have to order a motor belt and get my thread guides (which were mysteriously missing), but we're almost there. Woo.

This is a right-angle binder. These are good for attaching binding around curves.
Needle plate, folder, feet and feed dog.
This is the only off-the-shelf binder set I saw on the Internets for my type of machine (the Consew 206/Juki 241 unison-feed school). It's sold by a few different people out there, but I got mine offa eBay. I have no idea who makes it. Totally generic.

All the sewing shops I talked to only make custom binders (or order custom binders from somewhere else). You send in your binding and materials and samples of your sewn goods and they make you a binder. That's pretty cool, but it's also 3-4 hundred dollars.
Check out Atlanta Attachment Co. and New York Sewing Machine Co.
I was also told by Juki Am. that Bill's Sewing in NC is a good place to get attachments.

My intended usage is probably a bit more varied than a sewing factory's, so I thought I'd risk getting an off-the-shelf model. The risk, of course, is that it'll be a little too big and won't work properly with thinner material.
If that's the case, I'll order another folder and try my hand at soldering. Ha.
But I'm hoping that with this machine's compound feeding action it'll handle thickness variations better than other machines.
Needle plate recess makes things flush.
Get in there, grosgrain!

I was worried that my thicker 4088 binding wouldn't feed properly, but it's not a problem. Yeah.

Wallets!

2010-06-28T16:21:00.002-05:00

Just made a whole messa wallets/coin pouches. If you want one, send me an email or take a trip to Maude V or The Butterfly Tattoo, downtown Columbia.
Sorry about the solitary so-so photo. I had to catch a World Cup game and then drop these off.
As you can sorta see, I've been doing some embroidering with my 20U. Got some neat designs, I think.

Also, here's another shot of my new card wallet:

With recycled bike tube pockets. Leif Labs cares.
Ha.

Deep Mud Banner!

2010-06-20T19:12:00.005-05:00

Whew! I finally finished making my friend's farmers market banner.
It's about 22 inches by 9.5 feet and made of nylon flag cloth, which is uncoated and radiation-proof.
He'll eventually have it in front of his stall so people can tell where he's at. The Columbia Farmers Market is kinda screwy in that you can get a different spot each week.
All applique, all the time. This is the first project on my Singer 20u and it worked great.
And from behind.

Here's his original sign. I traced this and then standardized all widths and angles. Then made patterns for all the letters, and then cut 'em out and pinned them in place. Whole lotta work. I think there must be faster ways of making banners. I've seen pictures of people sewing first and then cutting out the letters. I didn't want to risk cutting the banner, though...
Here it is laid out sans thread.

Speaking of thread...
I bought a 65-piece set of Isacord polyester embroidery thread (by Amann) before I started the banner, assuming that there'd be a plain yellow in the lot, but no: apparently no one wants plain yellow. Just creamy golden yellows. Luckily there're people on eBay who have just about any color you'd want--and the shipping's cheaper. So now I have like nine different yellows. Yep.

Seems like I spent about a week researching thread before I bought this. I knew I wanted polyester thread (for strength), but there're a bunch of different brands out there, so it took me a while to sort 'em out. Isacord seemed like the best so I went with it. A&E and Coats make pretty good embroidery thread, too.

If you're looking for the stuff, I thought these two places had pretty good kit deals:
www.embsupplies.com & www.threadetc.com
And if you just need a 1000m tiny cone, eBay's the place to go.

And here's what 100 size L bobbins looks like.

Mmm, produce.

New Wallet/Random Stuff

2010-06-20T19:00:00.003-05:00

I've been working on a card wallet with my friend Diego, and it's starting to look pretty sweet.
Bike tube pockets.
Acrylic-coated polyester outside.

Sewing table pockets!
This should've been the first thing I ever sewed. Ha.
And one for my cutting table.

Drilling stuff!
Another thing I should've done a long time ago...
I found a hand auger at my girlfriend's...so I made a hole for my machine rest peg (or whatever that thing is called). I think it was a 5/8" bit. In any case, it fit perfectly. I used a spade bit the same size for my 20u table and it was a little big. I had to shim it with cardboard. Nuts.

Leif Labs on the Katy Trail

2010-06-10T12:11:00.002-05:00

Dennis's waxy pannier.

Steve's Backpack

2010-05-26T00:29:00.004-05:00

I think I'm getting pretty close to standardizing my backpack design. This one's a little bit better than my last one, and there's only so much further I can go. Ha.
15" across, 17" high, 7" thick. 1000d Cordura, acrylic-coated poly.

5" of fold-over. Loading handle: I've been loving mine on my pack. So convenient.
Three compression straps on the sides. We all know how well two straps worked on the bottom of Timbuk2s (when they had compression straps)...why would only two work on the side of a pack?
This has a chisel bottom (aka a wedge bottom). This directs the load towards your back, and keeps the bottom from sagging, so you don't need any compression straps on the bottom.
D-rings on the top compression straps for easy opening. I haven't yet put these on my own pack. They make life a lot easier. Ha.
Curved shoulder straps, removable/adjustable sternum strap. I personally like my sternum straps sewn to the pads, but this is a more adjustable system.
One-piece floating liner. Small inside pocket. Removable back pad/document pocket.

Removable side pockets:

Open bottom: fits the bottle better, and allows any water in the pocket to drain.

I like removable side pockets because they allow the compression straps to function independently from the side pockets...if you want 'em to. Some times your pack it going to be empty save for two water bottles (and you'll want to cinch it tight). And some times your pack is going to be completely full, and you'll still want to fit water bottles in the side pockets. And some times, you won't even want the side pockets there.
Leif Labs: we're all about the straps.

And Dennis, modeling the pack in the clover patch.

Juki DNU-241

2010-05-25T23:28:00.005-05:00

I know I just bought two new sewing machines, but I was looking at used machines on eBay...and I bought this 241 to use as a dedicated binding machine. It was a deal.
I think I've developed a bad sewing machine habit, though...
The sad thing is: this machine's seen years of manufacturing, yet it sews better than the 1541S...though that's not a hard feat, I suppose, considering the 1541S doesn't sew at all.
Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this. I love the look of these older "gold" Jukis.
The 241: the father of the 1541. This model is no longer in production. I'm not sure when they stopped, but there are white 241's out there, too. They also made one with a safety clutch and some with other doodads. Sadly this does not have the clutch.
This machine has a li'l story. It used to belong to the Bestop company in Colorado. They make tarps 'n' things that cover your pickup truck bed. They've recently moved production to Mexico and left all their machines in Colorado. A liquidation company bought their old machines. And I purchased one from them. A blow to US manufacturing, and a boon to Leif Labs (and Mexico, I suppose).
Not too bad down there...
No timing belt like on the 1541.
Dirty, dirty.
And, sadly, it's been touched with stupid hands:
How did this happen?
Yeah...look at the area around the top screw...

It makes nice stitches, though. It was pretty banged up when I got it (more on that later), but I made some adjustments, and unbent some things, and now it sews pretty well...
But not in the longest stitch. I still have to tweak some things. Ha.

And I did have half of an electronic needle positioner, but it was totally destroyed in shipping. It was sticking out of the box when I received it...
I don't really need one, but it would've been kinda cool to have one that wasn't all smashed up. At least I have some cartridge bearings, I guess.
If you don't know what a needle positioner does, let Cobra Steve explain here.

And here's how it came:
This is absolutely the worst packing job I've ever seen. I think this machine was boxed up by four-year-olds after huffing spray paint. Seriously. It's not even one whole box. It's two, shoddily taped together. I think a burlap bag would've been a better shipping container than this box. At least the machine wouldn't've fallen though the bottom with a bag. Damn.
Hats off to FedEx, I suppose, for not cracking the machine casing. The EPS was destroyed, thread guides were bent, and the feed base was knocked outta whack, but at least it sews now, I guess.
Stay tuned for the binding part of this machine...after I get around to ordering it. Ha.
Happy trails.

It's a Juki Disastro

2010-05-25T17:08:00.005-05:00

Well, not really a disastro...I've just been listening to CocoRosie lately...ha.
Though, my brand new Juki DNU-1541S is still not working and that's close to a disaster.
After hours of contemplation and watching the hook spin round and round I've figured out that the hook assembly is most likely defective, or was damaged somehow at the factory. Either way, there's a rough spot in the rotation of the hook that causes the assembly to seize up when there's enough pressure applied to it.

Hook assembly. The inside part with the post is called the basket. It rocks back 'n' forth slightly while the hook rotates around it.

The first time I was sewing with this machine, I was sewing slowly along, over some number-eight cotton duck, everything's going well, beautiful stitches...sewing over a few more layers of duck on top of that, then boom! the machine jams up.
I thought it must've been a bad needle strike, or something like that, and the safety clutch went off. But it wasn't that at all. It took me a while to figure it out--days--but here's what's going on:

When there's force on the basket, such as when the machine is handling heavy material, the basket and hook lock up. This makes the basket pop outta place and rotate with the hook. (Note the top red arrow above: This is the li'l nubbin that keeps the basket in place. With the second arrow, you can see the needle coming down through the slot in the basket.)
Here the basket has popped out of place and is rotating with the hook. The needle is continuing to descend...
...and will collide with the basket...now!

The great tragedy of this is that Juki sewing machines have such a good reputation that no-one believes me when I tell them that I'm having trouble with my hook assembly. They usually try to blame the problem on me, or tell me to call someone else...in circular fashion.
And since this only happens with heavier material, it wasn't caught at the factory during the final sew off.
Fortunately Juki America has been fairly helpful, and I've sent my hook in for inspection.
[Note: I've received my replacement hook and I've just installed it. So far so good. Thanks, Juki!]
Though, I swear this machine must be cursed. First I received a defective table leg, then the motor belt was too small to match the drilled holes, now a crummy hook assembly.
Sheesh. Give me a break.
Lucky I still have my 111. Almost half the price and sewing strong.

So here's me taking the hook assembly off:
I was hoping to just move the feed base up a bit and slide the whole assembly out, but the thing's so complicated on the 1541s, I just took the assembly apart and got it out that way.
[Note: I figured out you can just loosen the bobbin finger/holder (that piece with the nubbin on it) and swing it out of the way and that leaves just enough room for the hook assembly to slide out. That's when the feed dog is at its highest point.]
Above and below is the hook with no basket.
Made a li'l mark on the machine so I can roughly line it back up...though there's a groove in the hook shaft...
[Note: Lucky there's a groove 'cause I forgot what position the needle was at. You need another reference point, otherwise this is useless. Ha.]
Needle plate removed. The hook just about to come back up. This is where the hook would snatch the thread loop.
No more hook assembly.

Win a Musette Bag!

2010-05-03T15:41:00.004-05:00

>>>Update<<< The bag has been spoken for.
You may now continue reading the post:

Well...maybe "win" is the wrong word...
My friends are raising money for their friend's son, who has a rare respiratory disease. The money will go towards medical travel expenses.

Learn about their efforts here: Running For Ayrie.

So...the first person to donate 50 dollars gets a coupon for one free musette bag (aka a tiny messenger bag) made by me.
This is a semi-custom bag, so you get to choose the fabric color (from what I have on hand) and something simple to be appliqued on the bag's flap. I'm thinking simple shapes, like stars, clouds, squares, half moons, and such. No names or anything too complicated...unless your name is Al, or Oz.

Your bag'll look something like this:
Sans horse.

These are nice little everyday bags, for when you don't need to carry too much stuff.
They measure about 15" (across the top) by 11" (deep) by 3" (thick, at the bottom).
They have one outside front pocket, and one inside pocket with pen slot.
If you ask nicely, I can change up or add more pockets...within design reason.
They will be made outta Cordura nylon, or cotton duck--your choice.

I'm not taking orders for custom bags right now, so this is a unique opportunity to get a semi-custom bag.

Again, visit Running For Ayrie to support a good cause.
Learn about how these bags are made and designed here.
And if this is your first visit to this blog, learn about Leif Labs here.
Thanks.
cory/Leif Labs

Xtracycle Upgrade

2010-05-03T15:27:00.003-05:00

Just got some sweet new parts for my Xtracycle...
Yes! wings. Hopefully these will allow me to go even faster.
And...
Awesome handlebars!
And thus ends this chapter of my quest to make the most awesomest (or goofiest) bicycle in town.
Oh, I also put a shorter stem on this thing. I had to get a downhill stem, though. Why is it so hard to find short "regular" stems (for cheap)? Hmm...
I'll be on the lookout for some sweet fenders next. Maybe those hammered-metal ones from Velo Orange. Mmm...

Leif Labs Goes to Boonville

2010-04-27T17:09:00.003-05:00

My friend Tim and some other peeps went on a bike camping trip last week, and he just sent me some photos of his panniers in action. They're the waxed cotton ones on the front.
The older super-capacity pannier...for carrying as much shit as you possibly can.

Lookin' good.

Singer 20U73

2010-04-27T15:59:00.006-05:00

Okay...the last sewing machine I'll be buying for a while...unless I see a sweet deal on an old industrial that I can use for a dedicated binding machine...but that's a ways away, methinks...unless I decide I don't want the 146B anymore...and an industrial serger would be nice, too...
Anyway, behold! the Singer 20u73:
Bring on the mother-effin' applique! Ha...
The 20u class has been around for quite a while and I've been looking for one of those nice blue ones from Japan on eBay with almost no luck. I was close to winning one last month, but I wasn't paying attention at the end...so it goes. The seller said nothing of the condition of the machine, so maybe it was for the best. Though, what I really want is one of those clear-coated laminated sewing tables. So nice!
I never thought I'd actually ever buy a new Singer machine, but I did. There are so many copies of this machine, it's crazy. I think Industrial Sewing Machine Man has at least eight machines on his website. Consew, Tacsew, Reliable and Artisan all have copies. Artisan has one with an oil pump, which looked cool. And the Reliable seems like a real good deal...if you order it from their website. You get a plywood table, their servo motor, and a pretty swift light. I'm not sure if it's the same deal if you order it from Sewing Man...though maybe.
But I decided to go with the original...it was just a little bit more.
I have three other machines that do zigzag...my 146B, Ultrafeed, and Kenmore. The Kenmore's not industrial, so throw that out. And the other two are too clunky to do applique for any length of time without going crazy. Plus they're way too heavy for lighter stuff, like 200d nylon.

My back is pretty pissed that I helped the FedEx man carry this onto the porch. I was too excited to think of taking the head off the pallet first. (This photo was obviously taken after I cut the plastic off and removed the head.)
I usually prefer to set up my own table, but it was the same price to have it shipped assembled (somewhat). It probably would've taken just a little bit longer to put it all together outta the box, though. I still had to adjust the height and move the pedal over and drill holes for the knee-lift mount and thread stand. And the rest-peg hole isn't drilled either. But I guess it's nice that they put the motor on there for me. And the drawer.

Box.
Oh sweet, I get some fancy feet. And just two extra bobbins? What the hell. I guess a lot of people probably use prewound bobbins...
Oh nuts, is that the knee-lift mount there? I already turned the table over...
Thanks, K, L, M!
The bobbin (left) for this machine is strangely slim...though not as slim as, say, a Singer 221's. I was hoping my cache of extra bobbins for my Kenmore and Ultrafeed would fit, but they don't. Boo.
Some test stitches, by me--not Tang. I'm excited about on-the-fly width adjustment. Yeah.
Oh, the hook's made in Japan!...as with most every other Asian-made machine. This machine (and all 20u copies, I believe) was made in China. You can see that real small on the back. Ha. The quality of casting and machining looks pretty good on this machine, though. I'm not thrilled with all the plastic levers, though. C'mon. I have to say, though, the action on the stitch length- and thread tension knobs are the best of any of my machines. So nice.

This machine is soo simple compared to my upholstery machines. I like that.
Top.
I think this is a Family brand servo motor...something like that. I think it must be a Tacony house brand. It seems okay so far. It's the most growly of all my servo motors, though. And it has a brake...but it doesn't work as well as the SewStrong's, so it's okay. Ha. (I don't like brakes on my motors--I live dangerously.)
You'll notice I don't have the belt on here. It's outside airing out. It's made of that same gross black tar as the SewStrong's. Boo. I can't stand that smell.
You can either have the knee-lift lift the foot or change the stitch width (bight). I have it set up to lift the foot. I don't plan on doing any intricate embroidery at the moment.

Under.
Hook.
Gears.
Lab 2.
A Singer copy and the real thing.

Juki DNU-1541S

2010-04-25T18:02:00.009-05:00

Well, I finally bought one: the mother of all sewing machines--the Juki 1541S (the "S" stands for safety clutch).
As far as I can tell, the Juki 1541, the Consew 206 (Seiko STH-8BLD-3) and the Tacsew 111w (modeled after the Singer 111w) are some of the most popular machines in the bagmaking and upholstery world. Of course, there are about a million other machines out there similar to these (Pfaffs are big in the upholstery biz, but new ones are ex-pen-sive!). All of these machines have compound feed (needle-feed, walking-foot...aka unison feed) and a large bobbin, making them awesome for sewing medium-heavy materials. (In the world of industrial machines, there are even heavier machines, for sewing leather and thicker upholstery and webbing.)

I was using the Tacsew 111w before and it's a great machine. I love its simplicity and (mostly) smooth operation. The only thing was, I wasn't able to adjust the foot lift and sew over thicker materials, which I've been doing more with the #8 cotton duck I've been using. When you adjust the foot lift, a part on the foot bar (I don't know what the technical name is--my manual's over across the room) runs into the thread uptake mechanism and jams when you sew over a certain thickness of material. This sucks. I like to have a higher lift on my feet because I need to sew over a lot of uneven material, and when the feet don't lift high enough they drag on the material and foul up the stitch length.

Hopefully this won't be the case with the Juki, as it has a higher lift (I'm excited about sewing through foam) and being able to adjust the feet lift/alternating-movement is one of its selling points.
I wonder if the body on the 111 was designed for compound feed or if they just took it from another machine. It's a pretty popular body type...but the Tacsew 111w is the only compound machine with this body. Every other compound feed has a larger area for the needle bar, feet bars and thread uptake mechanism...even the Singer 111w, which the Tacsew ostensibly replaces (I don't know when Singer stopped making this...their compound machine now is the 4411a).
If they did skimp on the body, they've severely limited an otherwise great machine...bastards. But it is a relatively inexpensive machine...
Anyway...on to the Juki...

I'm pretty happy about having a legible and informative manual and parts list. The 111's manual barely makes sense...and one of the pictures in the parts list isn't even the correct machine (!). Ha.

Please don't throw away your Juki.
Thanks, M.

All right! Juki-brand wrench!
The Juki comes with Groz-Beckert needles, which I've been using lately. The sewing kit from Westchester comes with Organ, which I've used in the past. Before I got G-B needles, I was using Schmetz. It seems like the G-Bs hold up a little bit better if you're sewing #8 cotton duck all day long...but other than that, I can't tell that much difference between the three.

By the way, I ordered my machine and table from Westchester Sewing. I'd ordered some other things before from them and decided to see what ordering a machine was like.
I've also ordered two machines from Industrial Sewing Machine Man, which has been pretty good (they're drop-shipped from Tacony in the Midwest). Their 1541 price is almost the same as Westchester...which is to say it's cheap.
I've also heard good things about Keystone Sewing Company. Of course, as with the choice of brand and machine type, there are about eight million places to buy one (though I'd guess they probably come from only a handful of warehouses).

Putting the table together...that looks about right...

A servo motor comes standard with the Juki. I love punny sewing products. Ha.
Unfortunately, the motor has a brake on it, which I don't like. I use the hand wheel a lot when I sew, so to do that easily with this motor you have to press on the pedal a little bit. (I fixed this by just taking the cork brake pad off.) It makes me uncomfortable to have my hand on the wheel and on the pedal at the same time, so I slapped on my brakeless SewQuiet servo motor:
The SewQuiet has a smaller pulley, anyway, and I'm a big fan of sewing real slow. Ha.
Ironically, the Sew Strong seemed a little bit quieter than the SewQuiet (though I've used neither motor very much...and never on very thick fabric). The SQ has developed that annoying high-pitched electronic tone (it's really not that loud, though). Maybe it'll go away...

Puttin' in the drip tray. One thing that irks me about this setup is the space under the machine where you reach in and get the bobbin out is super small. I feel bad for anyone with larger hands. Maybe it's just the table, though. I'll have to file some of the wood away.
Oil collector bottle. This is a different design from what's in the manual. This is the time where I go, "Oh shit, I'm missing parts!" But everything worked out. Ha.
Okay, how am I going to get that out of the box and onto the table? This box weighed 110 pounds! Damn!
Come on out, you!
So Westchester drilled all the holes in the table for me, which is awesome (they did an okay job...I had to widen the light hole a bit). Last time I ordered a table from Sailrite: no holes drilled = no fun. You need a pretty big bit (which I don't have) to drill the thread post and the little peg the machine rests on when you tilt it back. Unfortunately where they put the motor meant I couldn't use the included belt. Too short! by an inch. That's okay...it smells like tarry marijuana (that's bad). "Hey! why's my room smell like weed!" It's that black belt up there. I was hoping the white belt would work, but it's too long. And I had a piece of this magic belt that came with my Sailrite 146B copy, but it was too small too...so I ordered a bit more offa eBay.
This is Fenner Power Twist belt, size 3L...that's 3/8" at the top.
It's pretty crazy stuff. Read what they say about it at Lee Valley.
It's suppose to be the absolute shit for running high-speed woodworking tools. I don't know it the benefits translate to the sewing world, but it is adjustable, strong, and cool-looking.
The Lee Valley stuff is the wrong size, though. Sailrite does sell it, but you can get it for half the price on eBay...from ohioblademan...or something like that. Ha. It's still three-times the price of a regular belt, though.

Drink up, little machine. I knew this funnel would come in handy some time...
That's a little oil-filled gear box. The 111w sits in a vat of oil, which gets messy sometimes.

Nuts! I've already fouled up my machine somehow. That little lever betwixt the red arrows is the bobbin case opener lever (aka the opener). As you can see, it's nowhere near the tab on the bobbin case/inner hook (left arrow) that it's suppose to press on. It got knocked out of place when the hook assembly locked up...so I reset it:
Loosen up the lever bar...
And move it to where it's suppose to be. The instructions aren't entirely clear to me on how you're suppose to do this: it mentions "clicks" and stuff...which I'm not certain of. I guess these are the clicks the inner hook makes when it opens and closes.
So, if you don't know what this is (like I didn't--this is my first machine with a case opener) a case opener makes sure the bobbin case is open at the top when the thread loop is coming out and forming the bottom stitch. Sometimes on a rotary machine, when you're using heavy thread, the bobbin case doesn't want to open and you can get a jam. So the opener, well, makes sure it's open. Some machines (like some Singers) have timing marks on 'em so you just line it up with the marks if it comes outta time. I just eyeballed it. As you can see above, the thread is moving around the bobbin, from left to right. It has to make its way between the lever and the case, and then the lever has to push on the tab to keep the case open:
Like so. Press on that tab! You can see the black thread on the upper right about to go up and form the bottom stitch. Hopefully I did this right. There's suppose to be like a 0.8mm (!) gap between the lever and the case tab at the lever's leftmost position. I think I left a slightly larger gap, so we'll see how it works. I still haven't sewn a bag on this yet, but I'm about to make a backpack, so we'll know soon.
Though, my 111 doesn't have one of these levers and it makes out okay...and I don't think the 1541 (no "S") does either (based on the one photo I've seen). So who knows...

I like the Juki's open design...unlike the 111's. Who knows what goes on in that machine. Ha.
As you can see on the right side, the Juki has a timing belt (that thing with yellow writing, which connects the top and bottom shafts). This gives it a somewhat sluggish action, I guess you would say. The 111 has a gear drive and feels somewhat looser while hand turning the fly wheel. Not a big issue... Also, the Juki is wick-oiled, while the 111 has a pump (plus wicks).
Ah! it's full of goo.
And this is what makes the Juki really nice: the little details. Look at this cute head cover!

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this machine. I hope it's everything I've dreamed of--and more! (Meaning: hopefully I shouldn't've got a Seiko instead. Ha.)
I still have to build a table extension, too. And I think I'm going to move the light to the front. The light neck's not long enough to shine on the front--where I want it.

Up next: my new Singer 20u73. Maybe tomorrow...

Looking at Machines

2010-04-22T16:15:00.003-05:00

I just bought two new machines (I'll put 'em up here once I've finished assembling them), so naturally I've been spending way too much time online looking at sewing machines. Ha.
One of the pages that caught my eye was this one:

This is from http://seikomachines.com/ It's interesting 'cause it's a totally slick site (with some awesome music, I might add--ha) advertising vintage-looking industrial machines. I want that beige one with the racing stripes on it! Unfortunately, it doesn't tell me where I can buy one (not that I've looked very hard)...but I don't really need any more machines. Ha.
It's also weird because they seem to be an Indian company and they use the Seiko name. In my understanding, Seiko is one of the Japanese sewing machine super powers. They used to make Consew's machines (or at least some of them) before Consew moved their ops to China.
Here's Seiko's website: http://www.seiko-sewing.co.jp/english/index.html
And on Seiko's page is says: "Important Announcement, March 1, 2010. We noticed that a company who sells industrial sewing machine [sic] is using 'SEIKO...' in their company name. But,we have no relationship to that company. "
Ha.

I also got an email offer for this weird machine:

It's an ultrasonic "sewing" machine for welding plastic together. Awesome.
Anyone wanna make some dry bags? You can contact 'em here:
Wuxi Meizhidian High Frequency Electronic Equipment Co., Limited
Address: No.35 Furong Industry Park, Bashi Town, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China.

Dennis's Waxy Pannier

2010-04-21T16:02:00.003-05:00

Just made this for my pal Dennis.
Number 10 Waxwear waxed cotton duck, lined with Top Gun poly. 9x6x13".
This is what a pannier would look like if you made it out of a fireman's uniform. Ha.

Li'l pocket for a pump and some tools.
Full up.
Still need to make the shoulder strap for it...

USBC 2010 Apron

2010-04-19T10:34:00.004-05:00

My friend Mike just got sixth in the US Barista Championships.
Here's the apron he wore:

Yep.

Camera Pouch

2010-04-13T13:38:00.004-05:00

I know I swore never to do another camera case...but I lied. Here's another one. And it's pretty damn cute to boot.

I really like little military pouches with the 3D lids, so this pouch is based off that idea.

I usually don't like sticking shoulder straps in seams, but this is such a small bag it doesn't matter.
Woops...guess I should've used a flash. The bag is padded on the sides and bottom with three pieces of foam. The white piece you can see there is sewn to the side seams, while the back and bottom pieces are fitted into pockets. This allows me to turn the bag inside out without losing too much coverage.

Prototype!

As you can see, this is a one-piece pattern.
Here, relax under this tree...

Let's Get Organizized!

2010-04-12T11:33:00.002-05:00

Just built this hot li'l cubby for all my plastic bits.
Eight pieces of cardboard from sewing machine table boxes.
I'll show you what was in the boxes (and what goes on top) after I put it together.
And below that: my attempt to organize my thin fabric...doomed from the very beginning. It started off okay, but soon devolved into a hot tangled mess. I need to put some dividers between the rolls to keep my webbing from miscegenatin' when they unroll. Hmm.

That'll Be Two for the Road

2010-04-08T16:51:00.005-05:00

I'm sure you've seen Freight Baggage's Road Soda...but what about a double?
Done!
The Velcro'd straps wrap around the head tube and pouches so you can cinch 'em down if you're running bottles--or if you're riding on cobblestone.
I couldn't find my thin foam, so I sandwiched some fleece between the Cordura and oxford nylon...for insulation.
This doesn't come off as fast as Freight's, and it'd be awkward to use as a standalone koozie...but really, who uses a koozie? Ha.

See also Blue Lug's version (of the Road Soda, not the Double Trouble).

More people have got to be making these...but I couldn't find 'em...

See also Epic Designs and Carousel Design Works for other crazy bags you can strap onto yer bike.

Backpack

2010-04-05T17:26:00.004-05:00

I finally made myself a decent everyday pack. I mean, the Moon Bag was okay...but it wasn't really water resistant. [On a side note: Blue Lug is making a similar Moon Bag called the Owl. Get one here.]
This one is almost identical to the Rex, but slightly smaller (14x16x7" vs 15x17x7") and with a floating liner, curved shoulder straps, and without some other things--just the essentials here.
1000d nylon outside, Top Gun poly inside. The middle compression straps are side-release buckles so it should be pretty easy to strap wheels to this pack.
Added a loading handle to the front, which really comes in handy when getting anything in your bag. I'm a big fan of handles on backpacks. But really, who isn't?
Half-inch curved shoulder straps. This is a new pattern for me (old shape). It was a little too hard to make, so I'll be trying something different next time. It turned out pretty okay, though. If you're making your own backpack, the trick with shoulder straps is in the spacing. Too close together and you can get neck rub if you wear the pack real high. Too far apart and your bag'll want to slide off your shoulders. I've made some packs where I did this and it's super annoying. These are spaced at about 3 inches.
Laminate construction.
I think I used five shades of blue on this pack. Ha.

Action Shots!
This is the pack almost fully loaded: a lightweight sleeping bag, pad, and three days' clothes.
It'll expand five inches upwards with complete coverage.

Pedal Straps for the 21st Century Bicycle

2010-03-23T17:22:00.004-05:00

Okay, here's my third attempt at pedal straps. I just got word from my official strap tester and strap N° Two (aka Death Shackles (aka Leif Grabs)) did not hold up to the rigors of hardcourt bike polo. Mostly it was too hard to get in & out of the straps in the heat of play. So, that's pretty bad if you're playing bike polo. You know what it's like to crash playing polo...now imagine crashing when you can't jump off your bike. Yikes! Look at my other pedal straps >>> here.
I hope these hold up a bit better.

I'm also documenting the Great Fixie Pedal Strap Boom on this post. Look for it after the pictures.

I'm trying a diagonal strap this time. But a diagonal strap with a little leg to keep it sticking up. Both the main strap and leg are reinforced with plastic--to keep 'em stiff. In theory, since they're orientated diagonally, there should be a larger opening for your foot to get in and out of. And like Power Grips, you can twist your foot to tighten them. We'll see if that actually works with these.
And ten degrees to the right...
My foot.

Underbelly.
And this is how you make a little adjustable loop.

Okay, on to the...
Great Fixie Pedal Strap Boom!

With the burgeoning popularity of fixed gear bikes in the past decade has come a veritable efflorescence of fixie pedal straps. In the past year alone it seems like I've come across about eighty people selling pedal straps. Though, I do spend a lot of time looking at bike stuff on the Internets...
Anyway, here's a list of pedal strap makers, and some other related stuff...you know, for posterity (or maybe I just like making lists):

I haven't come across a whole lot of extended reviews about these kinds of pedal straps. Most makers say something like this: "We sent 'em off to the four corners of the world to have our friends destroy them doing hot wheelie bar spins and they said they fucking rock!" Maybe they do. Though I do wonder how well they'll work after six months of being brutalized by feet, rain, grit, ice and road salts...especially ones made largely of Velcro.
I recently came across this review by Doug D from Hardcourt Bike Polo. Definitely worth checking out if you're going to be using straps for polo.

Archie's Grobags (via Pedal Consumption)

AURORA Collective (btw, they're not in the Chicago burbs)

Bisbane Outdoor Gear

Blaq Design

Burro

Chicago WIG

Crank (great bags, too)

Dualism

Feetbelts (why use Power Grips when you can use the cuter-sounding Feetbelts!)

Handworks (If you go to the front page of the blog you can see photos of someone doing tricks not strapped in. Ha)

Hold Fast (or die)

Huge

JOL

Newcastle Fixed

Pinzat

Polip

Power Grips ("the original")

R.E.Load

Resistant (Check out his bags too--they're great)

Re-Strap

Veganski

Zlda♥

DIY proto pedal straps on Flickr. I like the added finger loop.

DIY leather straps (a la PG) on Flickr.

WIRED has a pedal strap how-to on their blog.

Okay, I'm tired of doing this...more will be added when I come across them. Ha.

Buck, Broncho, Buck!

2010-03-19T13:11:00.002-05:00

This bag is being donated to the Lee Expressive Arts Elementary School benefit showing of Buster Keaton's Go West (1925) with live soundtrack by Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra (out of St. Louis). That's going on tomorrow at the Missouri Theatre. I saw Go West with Rats & People accompaniment some time last year at our local art house theater, Ragtag, and it was a lot of fun.
And, yes, we have an elementary school named after Robert E. Lee. But we also have one named after Ulysses S. Grant. Sometimes they have fits.Trying out another pattern for my 15" musette bag. This one is sans binding. Since both the outside & inside fabrics are pretty light (for bags) this works out okay. Otherwise, the bag would be too thick where the flap and body meet at the corner...making it hard to attach the shoulder strap the way I do. This is also ~10oz cotton, like the previous musette bag on this blog.
The shell is one piece, but the liner is two...a necessary concession for a bindingless bag.
Another Muppet-mouth front pocket. This is just like my zippered front pockets, but with no zipper.
No binding! Thank god. Ha. Binding is a real pain to attach on lighter fabrics.
Oh, this bag is dedicated to my sister. She has a real horse obsession. Ha. This is a pastel piece she made for me a couple years ago:
Sorry about the glare. I hope she took a picture before she framed it...

Catchin' a ride.
As you might expect, I was extremely tickled to see the Bruce McCall painting "Chimp Rides Goat" in Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World (2007). Ha.

Musette/Tiny Messenger

2010-03-17T16:56:00.003-05:00

Trying out a new pattern for my musette bag. 15x11.5", 11.5x3.5" bottom.
10oz cotton outside, nylon inside. With some paint.
This bag is now available at Maude Vintage, downtown Columbia, Mo.

Muppet-mouth front pocket. Inside boot-shaped pocket (includes pen pocket). Floating liner.

Flats Straps

2010-03-04T17:33:00.003-06:00

Seems like everyone with a sewing machine and a pair of scissors is selling pedal straps these days. Hey! I've got a pair of scissors.... Plus one of the como polo players asked me to make him some. Here're my first two efforts:
If you're not familiar with this kind of pedal strap setup, it's pretty simple: it's like you'd find on an exercise bike. Ha. No...straps kinda like this have been used for a while by bmx riders (in the 90s, I think), but with the explosion of fixie "trick" riders and bike polo players looking for something other than your standard track cage (which can get broken pretty easily), the flat (bmx) pedal strap has experienced a renaissance of sorts.
I won't go into all the different kinds out there right now--there're about a million (you can see them on Prolly's blog, or Pedal Consumption)--but they either bolt onto the pedal or thread through the two side holes (sometimes you have to enlarge those), and then usually have some sort of adjuster...or you twist your foot to tighten 'em.
I like the adjustable ones...

This is my first try. It's a design you see a lot.
It has two 1" straps that thread through the pedal and are attached to a 2" piece of webbing that goes over your foot, which has a loop-loc on it that allows you to cinch it down and Velcro it in place. The 1" webbing is attached to the other side of the 2" webbing with tri-glides.
I found that the 2" webbing had some slop in it around the loop-loc and would stick out and hit the crank. This would make it difficult to flip onto your foot without having to use your hand (boo). I sewed some more Velcro on there to stiffen it up, which fixed the problem...but you can still adjust it fairly easily.

I've been using this right one for the last week and it feels pretty good. I forgot how much I like being strapped in. These should be compatible with a wider variety of shoe styles than regular clips.
Foot!
How long till these buckles break?

And I just made this one today:
This is a lot simpler than the other one. It's just a piece of plastic-reinforced fabric that the two 1" straps feed through. I don't know if I need a ladder-loc buckle on there. I think two tri-glides might be good enough.
I've only used this a little bit today, but it seems to work okay. It's a little wider than the other one, so I can't feel the pressure of the strap on my foot when I pull up as much as on the first one...which I kinda like (feeling the pressure). Though, it's also a bit lighter than the first one, which makes it easier to flip onto your foot. And the straps'll be easy to replace when they wear out. Sounds good to me.
So simple...I hope this performs as well as the first one, or better. We'll see.
Now I just need a mildly lewd name for these things. "Strap-ons" is already taken. Curse you, Archie's! Maybe Death Shackles. I dunno...

T/F Bags For Sale!

2010-03-04T17:24:00.003-06:00

I have a few of these bags left. If you're interested in buying one, throw me an email: coryleif@gmail.com. They're 60 bucks + shipping, if you're outside of Columbia.
This is a super simple and sturdy musette bag made of 18oz cotton and 1000d Cordura nylon.
It features one inside pocket (with integrated pen pocket) and one outside pocket, plus key loop. Super limited edition.
15x11", 12x3" bottom.

True/False a Go Go

2010-03-01T14:47:00.014-06:00

Well, the True/False Film Fest is over and I don't think I've ever watched so many movies in three days (this was my first time with a pass), and it was a blast.
I initially planned on taking pictures of people wearing my bags...but in the end thought that was probably kinda weird, if not creepy (or maybe I just couldn't get my camera out fast enough), so I just took some random photos of the fest instead.

There were so many movies I had a hard time narrowing my selection.

One of the fest's many fine buskers (at the Blue Note). They make T/F really great.
Missouri Theatre.
Fishbowl dioramas from the Maude Vintage folks (at the box office).
The Mirror (which I didn't see, but wanted to).
A wall of tiny stories (also at the box office).
Chad, one of the many swell volunteers at the fest.
We've got Teletubbies!
Parade time!
Whew! the MU Drumline showed up. It's not a parade without a drumline.

COMO polo parading.
Birch trees at the Forrest Theater in the Tiger Hotel. Probably my favorite theater. This is before Cowboys in India...or Disorder.
Lisa, you forgot your Red Bull in this alley.
Busker in front of the Blue Note.
Waiting to get into the MoT. It was pretty cold and I didn't wear enough clothes on Friday. Nuts.

I'm pretty neurotic when it comes to watching movies, so I don't enjoy being distracted by bright little lights in front of me while I watch a film (or people crinkling plastic behind my head). That means the iPhone has pretty much ruined movies for me. Ha.
Though, I was glad to see that most people kept their phones in their pockets most of the time. I was in the MoT balcony last year for T/F watching Waltz with Bashir and below me looked like an effing will-o'-the-wisp party.
[Of course, this photo is before the film. Hey, Bill!]
Karinne Keithley (I believe) at the Blue Note before And Everything is Going Fine. She was probably my favorite busker.
Spalding Gray's wife, brother, & Peter Schneider (producer of Waking Sleeping Beauty) after And Everything is Going Fine.
The most intense drummer at the festival.
Tim Hetherington (co-director of Restrepo) on video conference, with soldiers from the film on stage.
Buskers before the MoT finale film, Last Train Home.
T/F's Core Volunteers. Over 600 people volunteered for T/F this year.
Uh-oh.
Green screen dance scene at the volunteer party.
Don't forget to wash yourself off before you go home.

One More T/F Bag

2010-02-23T10:53:00.003-06:00

Just made my own T/F bag...and a new pattern. 15x11.5", 3.5x11.5" bottom.
#8 cotton duck, 1000d Cordura nylon.
Read about the True/False Film Festival here.
I used a test run of the logo as a patch.
In hindsight, I should've kept the front all black. Plus this grosgrain is the softest I've ever used and has no fold memory whatsoever...so it's a real mother to work with (without a binding tool).
Anyway...this bag is expandable and it has a floating liner.
And this bag will have a cross strap (I just haven't made it yet).

New Camera

2010-02-15T15:19:00.003-06:00

I don't require a lot from my camera for this blog. But one thing I do expect is that pictures don't have a million horizontal lines in 'em, and they're not super bright...like this one:

I never really figured out why or how this started happening to my A430, and Canon didn't say anything either. They did, however, offer me a refurbished A470 for sixty bucks shipped in exchange for my old camera.

Look at all those lines! It's like I'm taking a picture of something on TV.
And this is with my new A470, which is an upgrade over the A430...though they're pretty similar. My old camera was about three & a half years old, which, unfortunately, is considered ancient in electronic years. It served me well. I'll miss it.

Wallet

2010-02-15T15:06:00.002-06:00

I'm always trying to make this wallet design a bit better. I've added an outside bill pocket for those who don't like to fold their money. I'll have to put it through some testing before I can say if it's better or not...
1000d Cordura nylon.

And here's that pocket in action:

T/F Bag Project

2010-02-12T14:28:00.022-06:00

How to Make 110 Small Messenger Bags for the 2010 True/False Film Festival
This roughly catalogs the seven-month sewing project (August to February) that I did for the T/F Film Fest in February, in which I was a sponsor, vendor and volunteer all wrapped up in one.
I would like to thank my ever-lovely girlfriend, Jenny, for helping me with this project. Without her I don’t think this would’ve happened. Thanks, Jenny!
Also, thanks go to everyone who offered to help me with this project. Sorry I didn’t have time to teach you how to sew. Maybe next time.
Finally, thanks go to David, Jeremy, and Paul at T/F for letting me do this and working with me on the design.

Most people probably don’t know what it takes to make a bunch of messenger bags (I didn’t), so I’ve made a list of steps, mostly in order, outlining my process. This probably wasn’t the most efficient way to make 100+ bags (I know it’s not), but it’s how I did it with what I had.
Here’s what to do:

Start worrying about whether or not you can actually make 80 bags--let alone 110. What were you thinking?

Design the basic bag. Luckily, you’d already done this a few months before. Just tweak the dimensions a bit.

Make paper patterns for three size variations and then use those patterns to make three bag prototypes.

Meet with the T/F guys to talk about what size’ll be best, materials, pocket sizes and other things like that.

Start sourcing fabrics. (This might take you a while.)
Order fabric samples. Get disappointed when they suck.
Wonder why it’s so hard to find #10 dyed cotton duck (not in 100yd rolls). What the hell?
Order 50 yards of heavier #8 cotton duck instead.
Order everything else, too: 40 yards of red Cordura nylon, 200 yards of seatbelt webbing, 300 yards of binding, three pounds of thread… And you might have to order more than you need to get the price break you need so you can match the budget you’ve quoted. You’ll use that stuff later, for sure.

[Bring on the binding!]

Buy five different colors of red thread, hoping to match the embroidered logo a little better.

Order two-dozen Prismacolor watercolor pencils (to use as fabric markers) so you’ll never have to look for one again.

Get excited that you’ve found a source for your favorite thread that’s not way off in Seattle, and is 2/3 the price. (Shipping’s expensive.) Get mad that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing and have lied about what kind of thread they carry. Send back 100-dollars’ worth of thread. Order it from Seattle.
Call that company and ask where your money is after three weeks.

Buy the biggest scissors you can find.

Look for cheap US-made size 69 thread on eBay to use in basting stitches.

Watch the UPS man laboriously carry a 80-pound roll of cotton to your door and hope he doesn’t get pissed at you for ordering such a thing.
Split that roll into two ’cause you can’t carry something that heavy for very far. (You get to figure out how to do that without a roll stand.)

Talk to a sweet old dude named Skip in Bally, Pennsylvania, about Type 2, Class 1a, condition U, 4088 mil-spec webbing (for binding).

Build a 4x5-foot cutting table at your girlfriend’s house (Lab 2).
Wonder why the hell Menard’s doesn’t have an on-site customer saw like Lowe’s does.

[Sewing table built with 2x6s, 2x4s and a piece of subfloor.]

Spend a whole day researching (looking for the cheapest) industrial cloth cutter: aka a round knife, electric rotary cutter, laser scissors… Buy one.

[Time to cut some stuff up, for real.]

Cut that #8 cotton duck into 5-yard chunks and handwash in a Coleman cooler. (Take no chances. You don’t want your bags to shrink when they get wet. Plus there’s a lot of extra dye in the fabric you don’t want there.)

Set up a super clothesline in your girlfriend’s backyard, and consider yourself lucky her backyard’s not swarming with ravenous fabric-hungry pigbears…like your backyard.
Wait for your fabric to dry and then roll it up. Hope those wrinkles come out by themselves.

[Washing & drying fabric outside, when it was still nice out. Jenny's enjoying the grass.]

Finalize the bag dimensions and make a cardboard template of the pattern. (You can use Honeynut Cheerios boxes if you have ’em.)

Have some meetings with the T/F guys about logo design, size, and placement. Especially make sure that Paul likes the size of the logo.
Have several different logos stitched by the embroidery shop and look at ’em for a while.
Have the shop do a couple more.
Finalize contrast stitching details.

Make the final prototype using the cardboard template. Submit it for peer review.

Make cardboard pocket templates: one for the cut line and one for the stitch line.

Mark and rough cut all liner- and shell pieces with your sweet brain-saw fabric cutter. That’s 220 in total.

Re-cut three cotton shell pieces after finding blemishes on the flaps. Nuts. Take a break from factory work and make a fancy bag with one of the blem'd pieces.

Take the cotton shell pieces to the embroidery shop by bike. (Thanks, Xtracycle!) Wait two weeks for them to start stitching. Go and watch them do the first six (it’s a six-at-a-time machine) to make sure they get the size and placement right. Plus, you want to see this machine in action! Sorry I forgot to take pictures (nuts!).

Trim all the nylon liners with your scissors.

Lie to people when they say “I bet you’re making a bunch of money doing that” ’cause you’re tired of having people think you’re crazy for working so much for free. (You get to sell 30 of the bags, though.)

Mark and cut all 220 pocket pieces with your scissors and round knife.

Time to start sewing!
Prep the pockets first: Roll & sew the top edge of the inside pockets, and sew binding onto the outside pockets.
Get your binding attachment to actually work okay for once.
[Usually I bolt this to my sewing machine, but lately I've taken to holding it loose in my hand. This way I can ensure that the binding it totally on the fabric, which is why I've been dissatisfied with this tool in the past.]

Build a sewing table extension onto your straight-stitch machine to increase efficiency and decrease crazed sewing fatigue.

[Pegboard table extension. Plus cut straps, pockets and liners.]

Pick up the bag shells from the embroidery shop. Your Xtracycle has a flat tire (thanks glass!) and you don’t feel like fixing it. Just use a big backpack and do it in two trips. Decide that riding a bike with a 40-pound bag in 15-degree weather probably isn’t the greatest of ideas.

Iron out the crease ring left by the embroidery hoop on all the pieces.
Inspect all embroidered logos. Snip all loose- and out-of-place threads.

[Sorry about the bad image...it's from my phone.]

Trim all cotton shell pieces with your round knife and scissors.

Take all cut pieces to your house for sewing (by bike).

Cut all webbing and heat seal the ends with a Bic lighter. Let’s see…that’s 770 pieces of webbing.
Prep all strap pieces by folding and stitching the ends.

Attach the liner pockets to the liners. This is done with three separate stitches (because of the built-in pen pocket).

Sew the outside pockets to the shell. Attach the two flap straps.

Wrap tape around your fingers so the skin won’t get rubbed off while you fold the front pocket edges.

Realize you bought ballpoint needles instead of regular ones. That’s what you get for ordering needles on eBay.
Order more regular needles.

Actually set up the sewing pedal properly on your industrial zigzag machine.

Trim the cotton shell pieces again.

Use your zigzag machine to attach the shell and liner pieces.

[I used a zigzag stitch with a lighter thread to minimize fabric puckering. This'll keep the edges of the flap from curling up...or should.]

Attach binding to the straight edge of the bag piece.
Wonder why your binding attachment isn’t working right. (Your binding tape seems to have gotten stiffer. Weird. Or you’ve just lost your nerve.)
Finish attaching the binding by folding it by hand.

Learn how to sew (just kidding).

Attach the key loop to the bag piece. (That’s what that loop is, if you were wondering--for people who use carabiners on their keys. Or you can attach whatever you want to it…lucky charms, your T/F pass, knife lanyard….)

Sew on the shoulder strap pieces using about a million stitches. Look how many stitches are on that thing. It better not come off! Do this 109 times in a row. (You're saving one bag for the end.)

[This took forever to do. There're so many stitches here.]

Fold the bag piece and sew up the sides.

Trim the cotton shell yet again.

Pray to the sewing gods that those weird noises coming from your sewing machine will stop.

Trim the sides of the bag some more and smooth out any irregularities on the flap curve with your scissors.

Don’t forget to sew the most important part onto your bag--your label. Ha.

[I think I'm about to put the binding on here. My camera's also totally effed. Those lines will be in every picture I take with this camera after this one. Ha.]

Attach the binding to the bag. This is the part that takes the most skill and strength in the bag-building process. You’ll want to take breaks when your shoulder and wrist start hurting. Don't forget to stretch first.

[Folding it by hand. The binding's too thick to use with my binding attachment. Plus this is more accurate.]

Shuffle bag pieces in varying stages of completion between your work table, bedroom, and sewing-room floor about a million times.

Mark the center of the flap by folding the bag in half. You’ll have to re-mark the flap-buckle positions later since there’s been some distortion in the fabric and your original marks are askew.

Turn the bags rightside out and add a reinforcement tack stitch to each side of the bag. These stitches will also ensure that the bag keeps its proper shape.
Get amazed at how hot the needle is after this stitch.

Think yourself lucky that that sewing supply company sent you the wrong zipper foot last year, ’cause it’s the perfect foot for the previous step.
Get confused and angry that the foot doesn’t quite fit properly and makes your machine do weird inexplicable things. But it works well enough in the end. You’ll just have to file it down a bit before you use it next time.

Attach the female shoulder strap buckles to the bags.

Make a cardboard template to re-mark where the flap buckles will go.
Use that template.
Sew on the flap buckles.

[This is a two-part stitch. First I sew the straight part. Then I do the 7-shaped one.]

Do minor sewing machine maintenance on your sewing machines: give them drinks of oil once or twice a day, change their needles, change the thread color, wind bobbins, crawl under your sewing machine with a flashlight and wonder why the hell it’s not doing what it’s suppose to be doing and hope you didn’t somehow break the hook.

[Sailrite Ultrafeed getting some oil.]

Take the bags to Lab 2 (Jenny’s house) for the final stage of sewing. Your third industrial sewing machine is over there and will do a better job at sewing through the super thick seam on the bottom corner stitch. Your main machine can do it, but you don’t feel like making the superfine adjustment and then trying to get it back to where you had it (which is perfect).

[Xtracycle with 30 bags in the back.]

Turn the bags inside out and sew the bottom side stitches with your incredibly clunky (but strong) Ultrafeed machine.
Turn the bags rightside out again.

[I haven't sewn the bottom corners here yet. Note the inside pocket with pen pocket. I'm gonna call this a boot pocket. Ha.]

[Sewing through a whole lotta layers.]

Time yourself while sewing one bag start to finish to get an idea of how long it takes to make a bag. That time: One hour, fifty-four minutes.
Of course, that’s just sewing time. The fabric was already cut and marked and there’re a few other factors not included. But actual sewing time for the 109 bags should be shorter since it’s easier to do the same thing over and over because you don’t have to think about what you’re doing and you don't have to change the thread color or presser feet: you’ve reached that Zen state where you just forget and sew. That is, until fatigue sets in, or you get sewing hypnosis and mess up and then have to rip things apart and do it again.

You’ve finished sewing! Woo!
Now it’s time to clean all the guide marks off the bags with a toothbrush and washcloth (and water)…just like you do before going to bed. Ha. And maybe go over ’em with a lint roller, too.

But you still have to thread all the straps into the buckles and attach the webbing clip to the shoulder strap. And box it all up and take it down to the T/F office.

Now you’re done.

Don’t sew again for eight months.

Bag Variations

This is the main bag design. There're 80.
This is the only red one.

Body-hugging strap placement.

There're a few with slightly larger logos. Though, you have to look real close.

These are the only two with red binding.

More Pictures!

These're the sewing machines I used:
This is my Taco straight-stitch, needle-feed, walking foot upholstery machine. It's my main stitcher.
This is my portable, semi-industrial Sailrite Ultrafeed walking-foot machine. I just used it for that one step, where I had to get over that really thick seam.
This is my industrial zigzag machine. I don't know why I have it, but it comes in handy every once in a while. Ha.

Promotional Stuff

Option two. (The first one actually ran.)

Learn how to use the shoulder strap.

In good company: one of the swellest bike shops in Columbia, and a mighty fine gallery.

Design Stuff

This is basically your simple military musette bag with some modern features you’d find on today’s courier bags: like nylon fabric for strength and plastic buckles for convenience and increased adjustability.

If you’re wondering what the hell a “musette” is, let me elucidate: It’s basically a small messenger bag. But being a bag nerd, I like to make a distinction between messenger bags and musette bags. Though it doesn’t really matter, I suppose.
In the cycling world, a musette bag is a small feed bag racers use to carry snacks and stuff they need while racing. These are usually super-simple, flapless bags.
Musette bags were also used widely in the World Wars. One US musette of note is the M1936.
The etymology of musette is pretty fun, too. It comes from the Middle French word for bagpipe, since these small bags sorta look like bagpipe bellows. Fun.
Anyway…

This bag is a lot simpler than the bags I usually make. I like to make fairly complicated bags that expand and contract, and have floating liners, and zippered pockets and full padding.
But these take a fair piece to sew.

So for this project, I needed a bag that I could sew quickly, but still had all the elements every bag should have…like durability, adjustability, and a weather-resistant, comfortable design. Not to mention a classic style.
I also had to maximize fabric usage to keep costs down.
And I think I did a pretty good job. It seems a bit small to me for having a 15-inch flap, but this bag wasn’t intended to be a packhorse. This is a notebook-paperback-sandwich-goin’-to-the-coffee-shop sort of bag.
And, besides, it still passes the six-pack tes t. Not gracefully, but it does.

Dimension and Material Specs

It’s roughly 15” wide at the top, 12” wide at the bottom, 11” tall, and 3” thick at the bottom. The shoulder strap is about 47” at its longest...which I hope is long enough for most people. Messenger bags are worn higher up on the back than ass-thumping computer bags...and that's where these musettes were designed to be worn--high and secure. Though, if you can go long, go long.

Fabric
The cotton duck exterior is a 16oz #8 double-fill cotton duck. This is the weight most director chairs are made out of. Appropriate in a way.
I think this might've been treated with something to make it more water resistant, but I gave it a good washing to preshrink it anyway…just in case. This fabric should be pretty water resistant, though. The idea is that a thick, natural, densely-woven fabric like this will swell when wet and prevent more water seepage. That’s why old canoe bags are made of cotton duck (like they had anything else to use). We’ll see though. Let me know how these hold up in the rain.

The liner is 1000 denier Cordura nylon. This is the standard exterior for many courier bags. It’s pretty tough. And it has a thin polyurethane coating on the back side. This coupled with the thickness of the cotton should make these pretty water resistant. I’m loath to use “waterproof,” which is bandied about constantly in this trade, ’cause nothing’s waterproof entirely--especially when it gets old.

The inside pocket on most of the bags is untreated Sunbrella acrylic. It’s pretty soft and strong. A handful of bags have either nylon packcloth or Cordura pockets. I ran out of the acrylic.

Webbing
The shoulder strap is real seatbelt webbing that wasn’t up to code for some reason or another. I dunno why. I’ve used seatbelt seconds before from other places and you can see definite blemishes. Not the case with this webbing. If it’s good enough to keep you inside your car, it’s good enough to hold up your bag. Ha. The other webbing is just sweet nylon webbing. I won’t bore you with anymore rambling.

Buckles
These are from Illinois Tool Works. They’re the business. I’ve never had one break. And I’ve had other buckles on other bags break before. Especially when it gets really cold. ITW also makes buckles for the military. You wonder sometimes if the only thing keeping US-manufacturing alive is the military. Hm.
The webbing clip is from National Molding (Duraflex) and a great little invention. Thanks, Duraflex!

Thread
Size 92 (Tex 90) bonded polyester thread. I use Coats Star Ultra Dee and Dabond when I can. I used a lighter size 69 for basting stitches on these bags, which some bag companies list in their specs like it’s something great. If you can’t use T90 thread you’re using the wrong kind of sewing machine.

And I think this sums up materials and this post. By the way, everything was made in the US.

This is all you probably need to know about making bags. Let me know if you have any questions. I appreciate comments and suggestions, too. Just don’t ask me to make you a bag right now.

Happy trails.

Photo Shoot

2010-02-11T23:37:00.005-06:00

Just did a li'l photo shoot with the new T/F bags and thought I'd update the picture on the website. These are the ones that didn't make the cut.
A big thanks to Dennis for being my sexy model and taking a hike in the woods with me when it was 20 degrees out.

T/F Bags

2010-02-11T23:06:00.004-06:00

Musette bags I made for the 2010 True/False Film Fest. 110 in all.
15x11", 12x3" bottom. #8 cotton duck outside, 1000d Cordura nylon inside.
Look for a more in-depth post later.

The only red one.

Bag Ad

2009-12-29T16:06:00.004-06:00

This is a LV advert from the New Yorker.

I'd work in that workshop, for sure.

Makin' Stuff Flat

2009-12-21T13:43:00.002-06:00

So this is what I've been doing for the last coupla days: ironing the hell out of some bag flaps.
The embroidery machine (I forgot to take a picture of it--six heads, pretty impressive) left these nice circle creases in the fabric, which I had to iron out. 'Tweren't too bad. Though I had to do it 109 times. Ha.

There's the little offender there.
Sorry 'bout the shoddy images. I couldn't be bothered to use a proper camera.

Super Musette

2009-12-04T11:40:00.002-06:00

I just put this together. My friend Linds did the screen print. 15x11", 12x3" bottom. #8 cotton duck, lined with 1000d Cordura nylon.

Trying a new simple pocket design here. This is a two-part pocket. The front pocket has a lip on the top. In theory this will keep small things like coins from sliding out if it's turned upside down. We'll see how it actually works... And then there's an open pocket behind it...with some pen pockets in there. Pretty snazzy.
Cross-strap attachment on the shoulder strap. I was going to put it in the seam, but I forgot. This works better anyway.
And here's what it looks like on someone who's fairly small. How tall are you, Jenny? I forget.

Workshop

2009-11-27T12:41:00.002-06:00

Whole lotta bag pieces.

HP/MWBPC7

2009-11-09T15:26:00.002-06:00

Columbia hosted the Seventh Midwest Bike Polo Championships this weekend. The weather was amazing, there were 43 (or so) teams, and como polo did a great job of organizing their first event.
And I made some waxed cotton hip packs for prizes.
Here're a few shots from day one of the tourney:
Chicago/Milwaukee

Saint Louis/Chicago
Bring out the artificial suns!

Barista Apron

2009-11-02T12:52:00.002-06:00

Dust off your gold-plated tampers, kids, barista competition regionals are upon us.
This is my friend Mike's.
Appliqued stripes from 1993.
And I guess it's reversible. Ha.

Simple Bag

2009-10-26T16:27:00.003-05:00

Here's another simple 15-inch bag.
#8 cotton duck (~18oz), lined with 1000d Cordura nylon.

I hand washed all fifty yards of the cotton. Although it's treated with something, I wanted to make sure it doesn't shrink after I turn it into bags. I also washed out some of the extra dye. It's crazy how stiff this fabric gets when wet.
Made a cutting table especially for this project. Gonna be makin' a lot of these bags.

Back from Kaua'i

2009-10-26T15:24:00.006-05:00

Well, we're home again after an amazing time in Kaua'i. All the bags held up and performed as expected (great). Here're a few photos from the trip:
Hiking the Na Pali coast...well, a bit of it. It was way too wet and mucky. And I didn't fancy a slip'n'slide into the ocean.
My pack held up pretty well. I'd say I was carrying about 35 pounds...thereabouts. It's so tall 'cause I have a bag of Cheerios in my pack...and some other poufy things.
I didn't use a bag bag when I was flying and the pack got roughed up a bit. I took the belt off and put it in the bag, but made the mistake of sticking it buckles-out...so when the bag handlers dragged it on the ground it tore some holes in the X-Pac. They were small and I fixed 'em with duck tape. Lesson learned. Also, the roll top's not so good in the baggage chute. It came unrolled one time. Fortunately I had a drawstring closure on it too. Next time I'll use a more typical lidded pack.

Hanalei.

Also Hanalei.
Our first campsite at Salt Pond.
Na Pali Coast...nice 'n' wet. The X-Pac did really well in all the wet weather. And there was a lot of it. My Sierra Designs tent also performed awesomely. Thanks, Sierra Designs!

Where we camped on the coast.

Hangin' out in trees.

Trying to find the tunnel in the mountain. It didn't happen, unfortunately.
Jenny's tiny pack performed well, though.

Polihale Beach. Super long badass beach on the west side of Kauai.

Waimea Canyon, Koke'e State Park. This park had some amazing hikes, and one of our favorite campsites.

More canyon.
Koke'e.
And the obligatory sunset shot from Hawai'i. Salt Pond.

Hawai'i Pack, Part V

2009-09-29T11:25:00.008-05:00

[Part Four]

Here we go...I think it's done!
42" circumference, ~33" long, pictured. X-Pac & 1000d Cordura.

Some accessory pockets. I should've sewn more tri-glides on the pack to attach pouches to, like on my last alpine pack. Next time...

Shoulder Straps

So these are the first straps I put on the pack. I was going for a simple old military design, but since I used 1/2-inch foam (which would be considered fairly thick for shoulder padding) I was getting some pressure points at the end of the pad. Not good.
I also made the sternum strap a little too low...whoops.

So I cut 'em off and made these:
Curved shoulder straps: pretty much the standard for backpacks these days. Also note the remvoable backpad/seat pad.

Small Stuff
Tiny hip pack for cameras & knives and what have you.
~5x5x2"
X-Pac water bladder sleeve.
This was going to go on the other side of my belt but I forgot to sew the loops on it. Ha. Sometimes I slip into autopilot while sewing....
This is a little beach backpack for my girlfriend.

Another hip pack. 1000d Cordura & X-Pac.

Velcro loop attachment.
So, this concludes my Hawai'i Pack series. I leave tomorrow. Hope everything works out. Ha!
Here're some links to some sweet pack-makers:

McHale Packs
Mystery Ranch
Cilo Gear
Wilderness Equipment