The Messenger Bag/Purse

What a great bag! If your wife decides that tropical prints don't suit her, I know a happy home in Florida where the bag could live!

Patti (formerly) in Seattle

Patti, You couldn't have gotten any farther away from Seattle and still remained in the lower 48. She really likes the bag, so I guess you will have to wait.

John

John, I really love that bag.

Did you have a pattern for it or was it one you made up yourself.? I would love to try and make one for myself.

On Dec 22, 9:05=A0pm, "DiMa" wrote:

I just made it up myself. I do have a couple of messenger bags of various sizes, that I referred to, for construction and size ideals. It is pretty easy and should not prove difficult for anybody who has sewn clothes. You should overcast the interior seams before you assemble the bag and then top stitch down that seam to make the overcast edge, of the 1/4" seams, lay flat. That is the only thing that is a bit difficult to do as the thickness is more than normal for some sewing machines. I used a zipper foot to do the topstitching from within the interior of the bag and it was fairly easy to maintain a good straight line that way. If you have a strong enough machine it is doable if you take it slow. I chose the 14" x17" interior as a good size for my wife. She has purses, of course, but I thought she could use one that was a little bigger for those times you want to carry more than you can manage in a regular purse. Women with babies in tow might like the large size of this purse, for carrying all the wipe rags, bottles, and spare diapers, that seem to go along with taking children out into the world. If you make the purse too big, it becomes a burden when it is full, and weighs heavy on your shoulder. I have one like that, that I use for my biking journeys, and sometimes it is a struggle to recover from a long day of packing that anchor around. Tools, tire pumps, tubes, food, locks and whatnot, start to weight heavy at the end of the ride. The other thing you should consider is the amount of padding for the shoulder strap. I doubled the batting over and then folded over the khaki drill cloth, and then covered that with the colored cloth of my choosing to make for a very soft and comfortable strap that is not too wide, about 2", but still supports the weight without cutting into your shoulder. Give it a try and see what you can come up with. You can e-mail me if you get stuck. Good luck.

John

Thanks John, I will give it ago - I too could use one of the styles I have here. If I am successul, I will post pics.

Merry Christmas,

Di "John" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@l16g2000yqo.googlegroups.com... On Dec 22, 9:05 pm, "DiMa" wrote:

I just made it up myself. I do have a couple of messenger bags of various sizes, that I referred to, for construction and size ideals. It is pretty easy and should not prove difficult for anybody who has sewn clothes. You should overcast the interior seams before you assemble the bag and then top stitch down that seam to make the overcast edge, of the 1/4" seams, lay flat. That is the only thing that is a bit difficult to do as the thickness is more than normal for some sewing machines. I used a zipper foot to do the topstitching from within the interior of the bag and it was fairly easy to maintain a good straight line that way. If you have a strong enough machine it is doable if you take it slow. I chose the 14" x17" interior as a good size for my wife. She has purses, of course, but I thought she could use one that was a little bigger for those times you want to carry more than you can manage in a regular purse. Women with babies in tow might like the large size of this purse, for carrying all the wipe rags, bottles, and spare diapers, that seem to go along with taking children out into the world. If you make the purse too big, it becomes a burden when it is full, and weighs heavy on your shoulder. I have one like that, that I use for my biking journeys, and sometimes it is a struggle to recover from a long day of packing that anchor around. Tools, tire pumps, tubes, food, locks and whatnot, start to weight heavy at the end of the ride. The other thing you should consider is the amount of padding for the shoulder strap. I doubled the batting over and then folded over the khaki drill cloth, and then covered that with the colored cloth of my choosing to make for a very soft and comfortable strap that is not too wide, about 2", but still supports the weight without cutting into your shoulder. Give it a try and see what you can come up with. You can e-mail me if you get stuck. Good luck.

John