Monday, August 29, 2011

Simple Sack

The Yokohama walking shop, Kamoshika, gives out a couple of bags to those who join their loyalty scheme. Then, rather than hand over a card at the cash desk you wave a bag and they take n% off the purchases as they put them in the bag. One of the bags is perhaps the most simple rucksack there is. Basically it's a drawstring nylon bag, but the strings are webbing and attached to rings in the bottom corners, so it can carried on the back.


When we went to volunteer in Ishinomaki, we couldn't carry that much stuff so James took this extremely lightweight rucksack and it worked out well, so I decided to make one for me. I also added an insert to both bags to allow a Platypus water carrier to be carried a little separately from the other things in the bag. The pattern for the main body is pretty simple - just a rectangle with some folds in. The metal rings came from the make your own handbag section of Swany, in Kamakura. The seams in the original and the copy are bound with tough binding so that the binding takes some strain off the fabric. I made the bag out of left over trench coat fabric, and the Platypus holders are made of Pertex.



Thursday, August 11, 2011

More cool bizz

The faux suede shorts wore through and James requested more. I found I still had enough tencel left to make another pair, just like the last ones. In fact I had just enough fabric for 2 pairs, although there was one flaw in the fabric which appears on the arse of one pair. I also managed to cut a waistband out wrong (not straight enough on grain) and then didn't have enough to cut another one long enough, so one of the waistbands has side seams. Due to the small overlap at the front, I fastened them with a snap rather than a button and the waistband was interfaced with Pro-Weft Fusible

After they were finished James told me that he always wants rear pockets in trousers, even shorts. This pattern doesn't have a rear pocket and I'd assumed since he'd been wearing both previous pairs happily for years that an exact remake of the pattern would be desired. Oh well.

Here's a recycled photo from 2006, but it's not that inappropriate as the shirt is still being worn too. The shoes are relegated to gardening only, but the model has only become more handsome. 


Lovely James