I decided to make this backpack as an accessory for my Poison Ivy costume. The main place I am going to wear this outfit to is the Texas Renaissance Festival and we usually end up needing to carry quite a few things. Last year I made a small drawstring bag to fit wallets and phones in but I want something that I can maybe carry my camera in.
Another idea for this backpack is to use it as part of a Robin Hood/Green Arrow costume by putting some Velcro straps inside to hold some arrows straight so they stick out of the top instead of making a real quiver. Also the Velcro will keep the arrows out of the way of other stuff in the bag.
It took most of the day to cut out all the pieces. I guess I'm a slow cutter. But then I started working on the front pocket. I used twill that matches my corset and hood as the outside and black broadcloth as the lining. The directions were fairly simple. When making the flap for this pocket it says to put the lining and outside together and then sew on the Velcro. I didn't want lines showing on the outside of the flap because I thought that was tacky. So I sewed the Velcro to the lining and then assembled the flap per the directions.
I followed the instructions the same for the side pockets. I did have one problem where I fused the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric. Ooof. I was being so careful too I thought.
Then, using a ruler, I measured and drew out the placement of the pockets onto the large rectangle that was the front of the backpack.
I pinned the parts on and sewed down the flaps first. It is not a really fun task to sew around the corners of the pockets but I managed it and they only came out a little crooked.
I attached all the pieces of felt to the interfaced twill pieces. I also went ahead and assembled the top flap. I guess I'm just terrible at attaching bias tape because I kept missing pieces on the back. I really wanted the black trim otherwise I would have just top stitched it and called it a day. Maybe if I had done it as piping it would have come out cool too.
The next step was to pin and sew down all the straps. I made my own instead of using the webbing. For this I took 3 inch long strips of the twill one inch longer than the measurements given and interfaced them. Then 1/2" of one end was pressed to the inside and then the whole thing was folded in half with the right sides together. I sewed the edges down with a 1/2" seam and left the folded end open. I cut the corners and trimmed the seams and then flipped the tube right side out and pressed it flat. I didn't worry about closing the end and instead top stitched 1/8" from the sides of the tube. These where then used as the straps and attached to the back piece. I followed the directions for the D-rings exactly as it suggests.
I left them pinned there to keep them out of the way when I sewed the back and bottom on. I sewed the front onto the back and then started pinning the bottom on. It was too big. I am not sure why. This made me so mad. I checked that all my pattern pieces were cut out the right size and they were. So I did the best I could by pinning all the straight edges down and then worked on the curves and the front. I took the curved edges of the bottom and made a pleat in each and pinned it to the front. I sewed the bottom on feeling frustrated.
You'd never know it wasn't supposed to be there if I hadn't said but since I'm talking about construction I don't want anyone else working on this freaking out as I did when it didn't work right. And if you get yours to fit right let me know what you did right that I didn't. haha
The flap was then sewn together using the same methods as the previous flaps. I originally followed all the directions to make the buckle part using my self made straps as the webbing. THIS WILL NOT WORK THAT WAY. It makes everything too thick to sew through and too short to add the Velcro. So you are supposed to fold the strip in half and then fold the ends down 1/2" and sew all around it. If you use the self made straps like I did just fold the piece in half and then sew it down around all the edges. This will keep one end from being super thick. Then you take the piece and sew it normally at the stitch line and then insert the buckle and sew another line encasing the buckle. I suggest using a zipper foot to do this so that you can get pretty close to the edge. Then sew on the Velcro to the remaining piece of strap.
Take the finished flap and baste it onto the back of the backpack.
The next step was to make and sew the band on. Mine was a little larger than the circumference of the bag and so the middle just barely overlapped. If I make the bag again I will size it up before sewing the ends down so that doesn't happen.
When all that was finished I started on the lining and making the back pocket. This was pretty easy. I sewed the zipper onto the pocket piece and then ironed all the edge down 1/4".
Then I drew out the box where it was supposed to go on the lining. I sewed the zipper to the lining and then flipped the pocket over and pinned it to the lines I had drawn.
I made a modification to this piece by adding Velcro to the inside of the lining. This was so that if I used the backpack for another costume, Green Arrow, I could put arrows in the backpack to use as a quiver and still be able to carry around my stuff. I put the pieces on 3" from the top and 4" from the bottom. It was an arbitrary placement so if you do the same thing then put them where you want. But I sewed it with the fuzzy side against the lining and then the scratchy side against the back of that to make a loop. Love my technical terms? I have a picture of them at the end. The back lining then got sewn to the front piece and the bottom got sewn on again. I still had the same problem as before with the bottom so I just put the pleats in and sewed it down leaving a space open in the back of the bottom to pull everything right side out. Then with the lining still wrong side out I put in the backpack with right sides together and sewed around the top edge.
I pulled the backpack through the hole in the bottom of the lining and then, PRESTO CHANGEO, we had a backpack! I sewed the opening in the lining closed and pushed the lining inside. I cut a piece of cord to fit the opening and fished it through and added the cord stopper and knotted the ends. Then I sewed the other side of the Velcro to the bag so the flap would stay closed.
Here are some photos of the backpack on the costume:
This backpack is a great size and all of the pockets will hold a huge cell phone, like the Note 4, which is good since I might be carrying 3 of them. I love this backpack so much I might just use it this semester for school.
Thank you for reading!
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