Excess Baggage - Project

My messenger bag is about to give way finally. It’s been with me for a solid two years, and is long overdue for a replacement. Not to mention that this current bag has hardly enough room for a city rider like myself. My first intuition was to go out and buy a Chrome bag. However I quickly found that I didn’t like the way they wore, so I opted away from Chrome bags. Next, I heard about a great made-to-order messenger bag company called R.E.Load, and really liked the way their bags looked. I happen to see one of their “not-so-custom” version at the local bike shop and tried it on. It fit great and felt like a bag that would ride easy.

The problem I found, after contacting R.E.Load, was that I would have to wait 6-8 weeks to actually get my bag. Not sure of how much longer my decrepit current bag might last, I looked for a quicker solve. That’s when I found Federico’s messenger bag pattern and blog about the evolution of this pattern. I quickly started a new, customized version for myself, drawing the pattern in illustrator and noting all the measurements needed.

As you can see above, I have not yet taken into account the straps. But I think those can be done after the main body construction. I’ve also changed the dimensions of the original pattern somewhat to make a larger bag. Seeing as how I am probably 1.5x the size of Frederico, it seems appropriate.

Now to find a sign shop dumpster tomorrow and get this going of the sewing machine….