Silver Case

My prototype messenger bag

Originally uploaded by karavshin.

Messenger bags are cool. In fact, very cool. Doubt me? Check out Freitag’s F-Cutter website as an example.

I’ve always liked them, and now since I ride my bike to work frequently, I have an excuse to use one. I have to carry my books, papers, lunch, coffee thermos, clothes, etc.

There are a lot of web articles on making your own. Some in fact go so far to make the material out of melting plastic shopping bags together. (Don’t get any ideas, Mother)

So I made my first bag a few weeks ago. It’s a simple design. The dimensions are related to the Golden Ratio and it fits me reasonably well. It’s made out of canvas and some lightweight seatbelt-like material I found.

My sewing machine is really capable, so I managed to do all the nice finishing stitches like overlocking the edges so they don’t fray, and using very strong triple-stitches on the seams.

I’m going to build a v1.0 bag next. I like the cloth/canvas look, but I want it waterproof, so I’ll have some sort of vinyl underneath/inside. I want it a bit bigger so that it fills up more of my back and I can fit something as large as A3 paper in it. I want designated paper sleeves in it, too, to separate my papers from the heavier stuff. I have other more interesting ideas to add to the bag, but I’ll save those until I’ve finished them.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 5th, 2007 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Dahon Mu XL Folding Bicycle.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.