Red Houndstooth Gig Bag

I recently made a gig bag for my husbands baritone ukelele for his birthday. It has a red leather handle with velcro and two straps in the back so that it can be worn on the back like a back pack. It is lined with quilting batting and another layer of the houndstooth to give it some extra padding. It has a zipper on the side and a pocket the closes with velcro on the front.

DIY Project: Homemade Backpack

I had this African print that I bought in South Africa 10 years ago, I needed a backpack but didn't want a regular canvas one, so I put the two things together--fabric+need=backpack. I also had some leather to make the straps and buckles and bottom of the the bag.
I went about the task of designing my backpack. I wanted it to be a "bucket bag" backpack with a draw string rather then a zipper and this would be a great way to utilize the eyelets I bought accidentally. I wanted the black leather to be the bottom of the bag. I wanted to have no extra pockets, a top flap and 3 buckles; one to close the top flap and 2 to adjust the length of the straps.

I laid out all my fabric and started to cut out the pieces. I first cut a circle for the bottom as large as I wanted, then 2 strips of leather and 2 African print pieces for the sides. I measured these pieces against the fabric for the lining (a cotton muslin) and cut out these as well. I sewed these all together to make the "bucket" part; starting from bottom up, sewing the lining separately, then sewing the lining to the outside part at the top. I then cut holes along the top for the eyelets and inserted the eyelets with a hammer.

With this done, I cut and pinned the remaining pieces; the straps, the buckles, the handle, the flap. I hammered and cut holes into the pieces for the buckles (you can also use an awl if you have it). After I sewed the handle and straps, I turned them right-side out and sewed along the edges. I also sewed along the edges of all pieces of leather to give it extra support. I sewed a leather trim around the flap and then I sewed the flap, handle and straps to the top of the back, hiding the frayed edges by sewing pieces of leather on top. I attached the adjustable buckle of the strap to the base of the bag and I sewed the buckles that close the flap to the front of the bag and flap. And ta-da! The finished product.

I need a new backpack

Korean Bag by Hang Loose





















I found this backpack from hang loose
today on a blog called accessories (all about accessories obviously). This company is from Korea and the website is in Korean and has a picture of Bob Dylan in the top right corner of the banner.
They also have some amazing woven scarfs.

































































pendleton for nike















Pendleton has also made woven nike sneakers which look pretty cool but unfortunately I don't support nike.
via accessories.

Miharayasuhiro FW11 Knit bag





















I love this! It inspires me to knit one too! via accessories.