My anniversary PRESENT! How could I forget?

As a follow up to my anniversary post, I want to share what Brian made me for our anniversary. It is a travel bag. I've been talking about wanting one for some time. Something just big enough to carry the necessities...phone, cards, keys.  Being the awesome husband he is Brian made one for me. I LOVE hand made gifts! Especially from him.

xtracycle bag part 2

I left work at noon today and decided to finish up the xtracycle bag.

floating liner pinned in place

Attaching liner to outer bag with binding tape and swing away binder

Back of bag, I need to transfer hooks and backing from old bag still

side pocket big enough for a u lock

front of bag

I installed grommets in the rear for mounting the hooks

Floating liner, black binding is on edge of pocket used for backing board and hardware.

Bright yellow will be good for seeing small items that are in bottom of bag.

xtracycle bags

I designed my own bags for my xtracycle a couple years ago when I first bought it. My mom did the sewing on them. About a year ago I modified them so they were removable more like a pannier. Now seems like the right time to sew up a new set of bags. I started on one a couple nights ago. Here are some progress pics. The outer bag is espresso cordura.

Marking the first pieces.

I need a bigger cutting table.

The sides sewn on.

Adding the topstitch to the rear panel.

The outer bag is finished.

The floating liner is going to be spectre yellow. All the pieces are cut and ready to sew.

SEWSTORM

I've been working on a pannier pattern for a couple weeks. I came up with a basic pattern that i used to sew up a couple of practice bags. I've spent most of my waking hours thinking of ways to improve it. I felt like it was time to make a real one so I sold one of my xtracycles to buy some fabric and hardware.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to get started. I changed a few things as I went and still have a few more changes to make. The first one took me about 8 hours total, but I think the next one will only take a couple hours.

The outside is foilage green and espresso 1000 denier cordura. I made a floating liner out of grey/green 420 denier coated nylon. I'm hoping they will be fairly water resistant with the floating liner. I used auto door panel backing board for the inner support.

Monica is going to test it out tomorrow on her ride to work. She will let me know if I need to make changes or if it is acceptable. I've made/ built lots of stuff in my life (cars, motorcycles, mopeds, art, etc.) . This is the first time I can remember that I have been impressed with the final product.

things happen for a reason

I don't want to get all yoga but sometimes things do seem to happen for a reason. I HATE what I do for a living and have been desperately seeking something that involves using my creativity and skills.

My grandpa did upholstery for a living, he had his own shop at his house. About 8 years ago he gave all his equipment to my mom, she kept it in his shop and did some furniture and a few cars for my dad and I. My grandpa passed away about 4 years ago and the stuff has not seen much use since then. I often think of moving up there just to use the shop and learn to make bicycle panniers. I mess around on Monica's machine at home sometimes. I've made a couple small bags and done some repairs on my xtracycle bags.

A couple weeks back we were visiting my mom and she said she needed to get the stuff out of the shop before it was ruined and asked if I wanted it. I of course accepted the offer and quickly brought the sewing machine home and made room for it.

My plan is to practice sewing with it every night and work on some bag designs. In the last few days I've already made two dog beds and one pannier. I'm learning how to set the tension on the machine and sew small stuff without running my fingers under the needle.

My next step is to sell some of the stuff we have been collecting for the past 16 years and use some of the money for supplies. Hopefully by then I will have enough practice to make bags and sell them.

Here it is singer 16-188, no zig zag, no reverse, no embroidery, no button hole option just straight strong stitches. I'm not sure of the year but the parts book that came with it is dated 1923. My mom said it belonged to my grandpa since before she was born(1949)