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| Customized Eggsy Shoulder Bag for my man... |
When I came across Miko Craft's YouTube channel back in March, I determined
to make one project and tagged a second one for future consideration.
You've already seen the customized backpack that I made for me.
Within a month of finishing it, I had a spare week alone – hubby was off
camping – to work on the sling, which was destined to be a birthday gift for
him. It took me a day and a half to sew up and I was quite pleased with how it
turned out.
As with the previous bag, I added things and changed up the strap. I also came away with "lessons learned", which may be the subject of a future blog post, for the edification of anyone wanting to make either of these bags with the same modifications.
This is the Twister Sling Bag by Leed's that I bought for hubby's bday that year. The image below is a generic one from the manufacturer; the one I ordered is the same colour, but had a custom image imprinted on the main front panel (the phrase from our joint design project, You Just Can't Fix Stupid).
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The Twister Bag had a nylon slip pocket that was sewn to the top of the lining inside the main compartment. It was therefore an easy decision to reuse it in the same manner here. The only difference is that it's in the top (smaller) compartment of the Eggsy.
This bag was a more difficult "sew" than the Eggsy Backpack. I would classify it as an intermediate project at a minimum, largely due to the repeated "sewing around in a circular fashion" that's not easy to do when zippers are part of the equation. Add the fact that this is a fairly small bag that would tend to show imperfections more readily than a bigger backpack.
As it happened, both projects shared the charmingly descriptive name of "Eggsy" — one being a backpack
and the other being a sling bag. Per their namesake, they each have an oval rounded shape to them.
As with the previous bag, I added things and changed up the strap. I also came away with "lessons learned", which may be the subject of a future blog post, for the edification of anyone wanting to make either of these bags with the same modifications.
To start today's discussion, let's go back almost a decade to a personalized sling bag that I purchased from Vistaprint.
This is the Twister Sling Bag by Leed's that I bought for hubby's bday that year. The image below is a generic one from the manufacturer; the one I ordered is the same colour, but had a custom image imprinted on the main front panel (the phrase from our joint design project, You Just Can't Fix Stupid).
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| image courtesy of Leed's... |
The bag, while serviceable, was bigger than he preferred and had a cheap, nylon-y
feel to it that just didn't make the grade. (It definitely shows better in the
photo than it felt in RL.) Ultimately put aside, I figured I would eventually take
the materials and turn it into something more suitable.
Which is how I arrived at this customized version of the Eggsy Shoulder Bag. For this project, I harvested the two zippers, the mesh pocket, an interior hanging pocket, and the complete strap assembly. (Oh, and of course, I also cut out the personalized part that read "You Just Can't Fix Stupid.")
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| Front view... |
The original Eggsy has no pockets apart from the two zippered compartments. It's actually fairly plain in that sense, and while I knew that it's likely because it's somewhat of a small bag, the idea of no additional pockets just doesn't sit right with me. So of course, the first plan was to add one, or two, or three...
Actually, the first plan was to choose fabrics. Since there weren't many options, I was happy with what I found. (Thought briefly about using old denim, but decided against it because – once again – my supply of it is too distressed to turn out a bag that doesn't scream, I was made out of old jeans!) These selections are from a 2018 Craftsy purchase. The gold/brown micro dot print (as well as the cream coloured lining) is part of the Boundless DECOdent Earthtone collection and was first used on my Purl Bee Penguin. The contrasting front side panels are made out of Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements (Rulers) leftovers from this pouch that was also made for hubby.
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| Back view of my customized Eggsy Shoulder Bag... |
As is the case whenever I do a YouTube project these days, I ran the video and snipped screenshots out to a Word doc. After determining what my modifications would be, I then added notes where required in the process. For example, for the mesh pocket that was added to the back of the bag, this was where I put the instruction in my Word document:
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| images courtesy of Miko Craft's YouTube channel... |
Even though I knew the gusset was going to be quite narrow, I still added a slip pocket to each side. They're good for holding pens, combs, straws. My other half has clip-on sunglasses that can fit in there.
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| Side view showing one of the gusset pockets... |
The largest pocket that I added was a full-width interior slip pocket against the back of the bag in the main compartment. It was made out of the same fabric as the lining.
At the top of this same compartment, I attached a key chain and tiny pocket combo that I kept from a discarded key case. The key chain is secured by two snap fasteners. I believe if it's turned upside down, any keys on the ring can be stored inside the pocket; otherwise the pocket is probably only useful for keeping a shopping cart coin.
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| View of main compartment interior... |
By the way, I used Decor Bond as the interfacing for the exterior fabric. True to reputation, it tends to crinkle with repeated handing – and (man)handle it you must when it comes to turning these assemblies right side out – but the effect is always less noticeable on darker fabric. Also, if you can press at each juncture, it goes a long way to alleviate the problem. I do like the stiffness that it provides.
The Twister Bag had a nylon slip pocket that was sewn to the top of the lining inside the main compartment. It was therefore an easy decision to reuse it in the same manner here. The only difference is that it's in the top (smaller) compartment of the Eggsy.
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| Recycled interior hanging pocket... |
For the second time in a row, I totally changed up the strap. Of course, this time it was unavoidable since I took an entire strap from one bag to reuse on another.
The strap that came with the Twister Sling Bag was very long. As you can see in the various pics, the portion of webbing left hanging free is rather substantial... and this is after I cut off at least half of the wider section of fabric connected to it. I suppose if you're a big bulky linebacker and need to carry the bag across your body, the extra length might be useful, but here it was just excessive.
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| Opposite side view showing strap attachment... |
The nylon fabric section of the strap was directly attached to the top of the Twister bag, unlike what was designated for the Eggsy. The Eggsy called for 4cm wide webbing to be encased in the anchor at the top of the bag. Meanwhile, the webbing that formed the bottom part of the Twister strap was only 2.5cm wide.
It was a problem begging for some "outside of the box" thinking. I arrived at my solution by unpicking the binding around the nylon section, sewing a section of webbing to it and then attaching the binding to the webbing to create the required width. In doing this, I was also able to sew the personalized piece onto the lower part of the nylon fabric area. Win-win!
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| As usual, for an idea of scale... |
This bag was a more difficult "sew" than the Eggsy Backpack. I would classify it as an intermediate project at a minimum, largely due to the repeated "sewing around in a circular fashion" that's not easy to do when zippers are part of the equation. Add the fact that this is a fairly small bag that would tend to show imperfections more readily than a bigger backpack.
Miko fully demonstrates all of the required sewing in the video, but darned if he doesn't make it seem so easy! (Mind you, my use of Decor Bond – as well as the extra layers that were added with all of my modifications – did not make the sewing any easier either!)
'Til next... 🇨🇦🍁
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