Sewing Project #2: A Small Saddlebag
A few days after Christmas I bought a sewing machine and started teaching myself how to sew. This was my second project, a small saddlebag. It is made from Cordura and I scaled down the design from http://www.geocities.com/lazyf62/saddlebag/sdlbag.html.
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It is the right size for a day ride without my panniers, but small enough that I can use it and panniers at the same time. The volume is somewhere around 300-350 cubic inches. There are no pockets (I originally made a side pocket, but it was really only large enough to hold my keys so I removed it).
I didn’t get a chance to make the straps for going through the saddlebag loops, so for now it is ziptied to a Carradice Bagman QR to hold the bag to my bike. That should be fixed shortly. This will also pull the top closer to the saddle and make the bottom flat as it should be.
I copied the drawstring closure from the current Carradice bags as shown below. I used some lightweight cloth called “supplex” for that.
I learned a lot from this project (as you’d expect from the first time doing anything):
- Cordura is tough stuff to sew through. At the uppercorners I was going throughfour layers of cordura and two layers of nylon webbing. The stiffness of cordura also made it hard to line everything up to do all of the seams. If I were making this bag again I’d use a lighter pack cloth and just add the heavier weight stuff where I need it.
- Matching your thread to your cloth makes it easy to hide sewing mistakes.
- Seam rippers are very helpful for undoing mistakes.
- I need to move the upper buckles to the top of the lid. They don’t provide enough compression when the bag is empty or nearly empty.
- I cut the lid too short, it should be at least an inch longer. I might sew on an extension.
- The “Baggins Little Joe” has it’s flat interior pocket design for a reason. On a small bag like this that maximizes capacity without being too complicated. I’ll probably copy those pockets if I make another one.
- I didn’t make the holes for the supporting straps large enough for leather straps to fit. My holes are slots about 3/4″ by 3/16″. The Rivendell Baggins bags use a round 3/4″ hole and that is probably a more appropriate size.
Anyway, it was a fun and I think successful project. I look forward to making another one in (perhaps a little larger) in the future. For anyone else thinking about sewing bags this is a good first project because there is a fair amount going on (but not so much to overwhelm you) and it uses a very small amount of cloth. I bought all of the the cloth from the remnants section of Seattle Fabricsfor under $10 and have enough left over to make another bag that is about 50% larger.
alex