Workshop...in progress...

Thought I'd chuck in the whole workshop thing and go mobile...

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Got bored of all the kitsch, so here's a rough sketch of a shoulder bag. White on front, blue on back, single strap made from an old belt and diagonal front zip with bad stitching hidden under cloth electrical tape.

Slow progress. Tomorrow I will actually cut a pattern before tackling more tarp goodness.

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Hey! Great thread. Sorry if this has already been covered but how did this all come about what's your background? I was at one point getting leather goods made in a well known area of Spain and love researching all of this stuff as well as shoe manufacture and processes, thats all on hold for now though until I sort other stuff out. You follow Marcel Masan's work? Cheers!

Hey, I worked as a cobbler for a short while, and watched and learned how to do that kinda stuff for a few years before/after whilst chatting to friends in the shops. Plus I have an AVCE in Art&Design and a BA Hons from UAL - neither were specifically fashion or textile, but the AVCE had a whole module on textile work back in '05 and during my BA I was bookmaking, sculpting, etc.

I've been altering my own clothes on a basic home sewer for a few years, and found it too limiting when trying to sew webbing/bags for DIY bikepacking kit before the ride to Berlin a while back.

Still very much in its infancy, this project, and the machines I'm using are very old. Until I have a consistent source of reclaimed material this is really a diary kinda thread to cover the experiments leading up to something worthwhile.

One fancy and one giant. Plus a few tool roll tests.

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Had one of those days, snapped needles, bad outcomes. Nothing went right apart from the haul of new material to use this next week. Rolltop bags are high on the agenda.

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Fantastic stuff. Taking orders yet? I've a rolltop ortlieb backpack and have a few ideas on how to improve it.

Probably not til January. Tarpaulin and I are only just getting onto familiar terms.

The triangle bag has been revised for a better zip design, then tried a mini rolltop (in previous picture). Didn't like the straps or closure so pulled it apart.

A couple from today. A more functional rolltop and a matching cross bag...

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I like the way this going: try it, tweak it, improve it, repeat etc.

Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

Thanks a lot. I'm not not happy with the imperfections, but I am enjoying the different shapes and materials.

Once I have a half dozen or more solid working designs, I can be confident to make them for sale.

This yellow/blue tarp is the thinner flexible sibling of the stuff used on the triangle bag, and much more suited for bags, cycling pouches and so on.

Most of the material left is blue now, so the 80's colour-vomit might need to wait til the next lot of scraps is available.

Also waiting on some seatbelts. Will probably bite the bullet and buy webbing and buckles online this week.

Swapped the denim straps for tarp, and got totally soaked in the storm today. Bag survived no problem. Worried about 'selling' this kinda design if the seams aren't sealed, though heat presses and taped seams is getting more technical before I've sorted out basics.

The mini cross bag works perfect, and I'd like to make some ultra simple musette-esque messenger bags whilst redesigning the rolltop.

Torrential storm meant that the scrapyard was under water, but hopefully the grandfather with the contact there will sort seatbelts tomorrow for me.

Since it's currently not an infinite supply of materials, I'll wait before ordering buckles and webbing.

Found this awesome bottle/sandwich Sarni bag for 1,60€ today though.

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Floating liners will help a good deal with water resistance, as the water can't just just wick it's way in through the seams

Good shout, thanks.

Great stuff and thanks for the background details on your work and so on, appreciate you taking the time! Will be keeping up with the progress!

Today's experiment with seatbelt. Needs carabiners to make use of loops on excess materials.

The grandpa brought me five seatbelt mechs, so I have a finite quantity at the moment.

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Looks really good! Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Thanks, we'll see how it goes.

Today I'm probably not doing anything, but the bag worked yesterday out in the rain. I'll likely change the order I stitch the parts, and glue things down - everything is slippery and this isn't a material you can pin like cotton.

Measure it twice, measure again, check it visually, measure once more. Double check before stitching, then bam! The bastard moves.

I've been meaning to get a hold of some of these for a while. I don't sew nearly as much as you, but I hate pinning fabric together.

Or just use bulldog clips

Sick of Italy so coming back to the UK for a few days next week. Gonna pick up the 25mm buckles and cheap ebay webbing, and work out what winter clothes I can carry back with my massive 8kg allowance on Alitalia.

Will make an order for stuff online too if @Black_Rainbow_Project / @danb etc have any hints for cheapest stockist of quality accessory hardware like buckles, velcro, etc.

Need to order some needles, ideally leather point and 40mm total length (Singer 29k style) before I run out here.

I’ve used extremtextil.de before. Was good!

I haven't used them for a few years, but I used to use Ace Supplies for Velcro and any plastic hardware that wasn't more 'unique'. Were very convenient for the basics.

Likewise was going to suggest ace for standard buckles and velcro.
More specialist ITW stuff I got from the US.
Trying to remember who I used for webbing.
Extremetextil have good range of interesting stuff but tend to be pricey and are based in Germany.

Just had a look through my emails. Use ribbons.co.uk for polyester 25 and 50 mm webbing.

Thanks to @danb I returned from the UK with a nice heavy carry-on full of buckles and webbing. (Nice to meet you, and your dogs!)

Had to leave the wheel of 50mm at home to make space for my down jacket and vest which, judging by the last couple days, was a good move.

Bad news is that I may need to pack up earlier than planned, because it makes sense to move back to the UK asap (January probably). Good news is that I can store the machines here until transporting them back, or else sell and buy something in the UK. I've only just started so it would be gutting to call it a day so soon (long story). GF and I are planning how to organise our move so it will be a tense month.

Popped into the teloneria on Monday and was given a shitload of off-white/grey and transparent material. Will try making some things with that today if I can.

These were some pics I'd forgotten to uplod before, the last bits I'd made for friends/family:

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