Made a top tube bag. Indeed it was an enjoyable process. Satisfyingly tricky at points and well considered.

Had this fabric for 6 months now. I've doodled and daydreamed many ideas for how to best utilise the xpac and cordura fabric I had. Keeping on procrastinating from actually doing anything.

Browsing Etsy and I found a pattern for a top tube bag. Store is called prickly gorse if anyone is interested.

Pattern doesn't tell me anything I couldn't already work out, but it took away enough of a barrier in order to take the project off the ground. Would definitely recommend the pattern and accompanying guide for anyone new to outdoor sewing. The guide is extensive and well compiled. It effectively saved me from making silly order of assembly errors.

This is my first time using a rotary cutter and it was revolutionary. So much better than scissors.





Cut it out, tented the webbing, attached the zip, decided it was wonky, unpicked it, top stitched the base and zipper panels together.





The tricky bit was always going to be sewing round the curves and this indeed was the case. Try as I might I could not get the pattern pieces to align. Settled upon adding an extra cheat piece in. It was the usual battle to force fabric round the tight corners.

Gave it the flipperoo and we were sorted.

Nice one Ben!

Looks great!

I've not got a rotary cutter, but may well try one - the cutting out bit takes a lot more time than you think.

Nice one Ben. You should work for Alpkit

*or Rockgeist.

Nice work sorting the order of construction is the key to making stuff. I was saying to a friend the other day that sewing gear is just like fabricating in sheet metal but with a sewing machine instead of a welder, once you've worked out the sizes, order of construction and cut the parts you've done the hard part.

Rotary cutters are great, but I do find that as I mainly cut ripstop that as it gets blunt it fails to cut the threads forming the ripstop weave and just cuts the main fabric. Replacement blades are cheap enough. I must try resharpening them.

Cheers all. It's definitely jazzing me up to do more odd shaped bike bags. Will keep you updated

Nice job

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Mon Feb 26, 2024 4:59 pm Looks great!

I've not got a rotary cutter, but may well try one - the cutting out bit takes a lot more time than you think.

Oh yes. A rotary cutter makes a huge difference. I use it with a tailor ruler (about 15 x 60 cm) and cutting mat (60 x 60 cm or so).