Retro Rucksack

Today is my turn to show you my Retro Rucksack. I've had a wonderful time looking at everyone's version of the bag and even more so, the amazing photos taken by all the bloggers.

For those of you that are new to my blog, I'm a bag tester for several wonderful bag designers and find it very hard if not impossible to reject a test pattern.  I didn't test this one but was delighted when Sara of Radiant Home Studio got in touch with me and asked if I'd like to make the Retro Rucksack as part of a blog tour.

I've made loads of bags in the past but what I especially liked about this one was that it could be used as a shoulder bag or a backpack and the transformation is so easy. You don't have to unclip the straps to change it over you just pull the strap through the top rings and it's done.

Such a clever design.

For my bag I used an upholstery fabric for the main part of the bag with pleather for the bottom half and straps.

 When opened up it has loads of room.

Because of the fabrics I was using I had to modify the bottom tabs shown below. In the pattern they were folded in half and tucked between the pleather and upholstery fabric and the layers were just too many, ten to be exact. My machine would have sewn them because I have a heavy duty industrial machine but it would have looked bulky so I cut the tabs shorter and sewed the underside so only one layer was being tucked into the bag. Does that make sense? LOLL Now you see why I test and don't design. It's not easy giving instructions on how to make something LOLL

The bag has this lovely deep zipper gusset to keep everything secure and safe.

And inside there is another large slip pocket on one side and a zipper pocket on the other. You might notice a red tab on the end of the zipper. This wasn't in the pattern but I added it to both ends of the zip to have something to hold onto when opening it up. The last batch of zips I bought were a bit stiff.

Sara's pattern has well written instructions and photos and if you'd like to make one you can buy the pattern HERE.

I want to say a big thank you to Sara Curtis for asking me to join in on this blog tour. It was fun making the bag and even more fun seeing all the other bags on the tour HERE. It's amazing how one bag can look so different.

Happy Sewing

~ Maria ~