Features

32L Capacity, shaped to maximise carrying capacity. Ideal for day trips and overnighters.

Carry on Compliant. Save money and time when flying! 48 x 35 x 24cm to fit the majority of airlines, and the instructions include guidance on how to adjust the dimensions to fit your preferred airline restrictions.

Note: the volume is calculated in software as 32 litre, but it is quite a large bag compared to other bags I have around with a similar quoted volume.

Several thoughtfully placed pockets, many of which are optional if you would prefer a streamlined bag. Ample room for essential tech gadgets, documents, accessories, toiletries, snacks, and more.

• Dedicated laptop pocket separate from the main compartment, with false bottom and it’s own volume, so you can always get your laptop in and out regardless of your packing.
• Two front pockets with their own volume, separate to the main compartment
• Under lid pocket
• Inside pockets
• Side stretch pocket, because hydration is important.
• Base rain cover pocket

Clamshell suitcase-style opening, enabling seamless packing and organisation, and easy access both during transit and at your destination. Also includes guidance for how to build as a bottom hinge bag instead.

Security. Pick pocket protector tabs on the zips to protect your valuables.

Durable design. Every seam has reinforcement stitching, and the pattern is designed to accommodate durable #10 sized zips, all while being designed to be as accessible as possible for most sewing machines.

Rain protection. Storm flaps around the main compartment zips if not using a waterproof zip, and a pocket on the base to store a rain cover.

Comfy carry handles.

Lighter than off the shelf travel packs. This example pack made from 420D nylon, 70D inner liner fabrics and foam in the back panel weighs approx 700g.

Protection. The laptop pocket has a false bottom so your laptop will never touch the floor. Padding in the back panel, side panels and pocket divider give your laptop maximum protection.

Ergonomically designed shoulder straps taken from my multi-day hiking backpack patterns, to ensure comfortable carry even after hours spent navigating busy terminals or exploring new cities. These can take an optional stretchy shoulder strap pocket, similar to that found on ultralight backpacks. Additional guidance is provided describing how to make them removable, if preferred.

Many off the shelf travel packs come with sub-par straps, yours does not have to.

Designed for your body. My partner can’t find a large travel pack that fits because of the long torso lengths of store bought packs. When you make your own gear, you can make it to your own body.

The instructions describe how to adjust the strap positions to suit you, with optional load lifters.

Travel Ready. Stashable shoulder straps for snag-free transport.

Removable hip belt. The pattern includes instructions for a removable webbing hip belt, with advice on making a padded hipbelt.

Printable PDF Pattern and Full Instructions

US Letter, A4 and A0 paper sizes

Every step is illustrated and described for complete clarity. No confusing wall of text like you can find elsewhere.

This is a relatively complicated build, but the instructions are catered as much as possible to people with only modest sewing experience. The guide goes out of it’s way to not only include a free 25 page beginner sewing ebook to get you started, but I’ve also included a scaled practice pattern so you can experiment with the techniques before going all in on the main backpack. The scaled practice pattern is completely unique to MYOG Tutorials, and I will hopefully be including this in upcoming releases.

The text includes options at tricky steps for people with lower powered sewing machines.

Sew your own commercial quality backpack with beginner friendly instructions.

Not for commercial use.

£9.99 Download at Payhip

Get your free packing cube patterns for the backpack

Suggested Fabrics and Hardware (Notions)

This is to give a rough estimate for budgeting. The sewing guide provides a complete comprehensive shopping and cutting list

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The Starting Shape: Cube/Bucket Shaped Bag

This is probably conceptually the easiest shape to start with for understanding how to build bag patterns. This is the building block for roll top bags, tote bags, and many other shapes.

A open top cuboid is simply 5 faces when laid out in plan view. To turn this into a pattern, all that is needed is to add seam allowances to each face.

Seam allowances are the fabric gap between the actual stitch line and the raw edge of the fabric. It is required so you have excess fabric to sew the pieces together. Generally you keep it consistent throughout a project, for example 3/8 inch (10mm) or 1/2 inch (13mm). In CAD software it is called adding an offset.

To sew these 5 pieces, you would sew along the seam line, stopping before the edge of the fabric at each corner (you don’t sew into the seam allowance at the edges). The extra seam allowance at the opening could be folded back on itself and sewn flat to hide the raw edges.

These 5 panels could for example make a backpack, with a front panel, a stronger fabric base and back panel, and different coloured sides.

If you wanted to split one of the panels, for example to add a strap or a pocket, you simply need to split and add seam allowances to both panels.

But you don’t have to have 5 panels. If you wanted a continuous gusset and two sides instead, you can think of your cuboid like this, and then lay it out, and add seam allowances to make your pattern.

Those sharp corners on the continuous strip aren’t too nice to sew, neither are they aesthetically pleasing, so lets try rounding them off.

Curves are intimidating for beginners, but lets make it as simple as possible, and just use quarter circles.

To calculate the curved bits length, you can simply use the formula for a circumference of a circle C=2πr, divide by 4 since we’re using quarter circles, and you’ll have the length of your curved corner.

Now if you divide your side panel into pieces and add them together, you’ll get the new panel length.

In this example, lets assume the curve has a radius of 3, the top sides above the curve are 6, and the bottom between the curves is also 6.

The length of the middle strip (before seam allowances) is:

Add your seam allowances to the new side panels and gusset piece, and you have your pattern. Adding alignment marks at the edges of the curves on both the side panels and gusset is highly recommended.

If the Side Lengths are Equal, It Will Sew*

Curves scared me when I started out, and I avoid them for ages until I realised this point. You can make all sorts of curved shapes, not just semi circles, as long as you remember that the lengths of the other panels are the same to match. Seems obvious, but get that concept and you can create any sort of weird shapes

*The caveat is that sewability needs to be considered. Inside curves tend to be a bit trickier to sew and prone to puckering on the finished bag due to how the seam allowance folds on itself. Some seams just don’t join very well. With practice you’ll learn what is sensible

Without a computer, accurately measuring curves can be a bit tricker. You could line string along it and measure the string, use a measuring wheel, roll the pattern along a ruler if it is a stiff pattern etc.

Zips

I’ve already written an article about the different types of zips themselves, and they’re not too difficult to pattern around.

The key thing to understand is what happens when you sew a zipper

They are normally sewn with two lines of stitching. An initial line to hold the zipper in place, then a top stitch after folding the fabric to hold the zipper seam flat and add extra strength.

When you fold back the zipper tape, you might find the panel has become a little bit shorter or longer, based on how close you have sewn to the zipper teeth themselves.

There are a couple of ways to pattern around this. The easiest way is just to split your fabric panel, and sew *exactly* in the middle of the half of the zipper tape you are working on. With a normal #5 zip, this typically means a 8mm (5/16 inch) seam allowance, which is the 32mm wide zip divided by 4. When you do this, your panel should remain the exact same width, and requires no more patterning effort than just dividing the panel into two. This is an uncommon seam allowance though, and might not be marked on your needle plate.

The alternative is adding or removing fabric from the pattern based on the seam allowance you can achieve with your machine, worked out from testing with some scrap. As shown above, if I use my zipper foot and sew as close as it allows to the teeth, I need to add around 5mm to each panel half. My normal foot doesnt get nearly as close to the teeth, so I need to remove about 3mm from each panel half.

Pleats

A way of adding extra volume to a piece, such as a pocket. It allows a wider piece to be sewn to a smaller piece, with the slack giving volume.

This is a simple example of making a backpack pocket. The slack fabric is folded at the base to reduce the width to the same as the side panel, and then sewn flat. I have folded the pocket a couple of times nearer the left and right edges instead of one single fold, as this puffs back out better.

Darts

Darts have a similar purpose to pleats in that they take up excess fabric and use it to give volume to a piece. The difference is darts are ‘permanent’ as they are sewn into a shape, while a pleat is free to open or collapse. In the photo below, the front panel is longer than the bag width, and the excess is taken up by sewing the diagonal corners to make it the same dimensions as the panel below. I’m not going to go into more detail in this article as I’ve already written up an entire guide to patterning darts here :).

Software

Its easy to experiment with paper, but you can also ‘cheat’ and use software if you are inclined that way. Some people disagree with using software, but I’m of the opinion that you should use whatever tools make your life easier. For some it is pen and paper, for some it is software.

Software can’t completely replace practice and knowledge, because for example, it can’t know what is a sensible seam placement.

I personally use Sketchup+unwrap plugin and/or Blender with UV unwrap+papercraft plugin. This will be the topic of a future article.

I have also made an open source inkscape extension that can automatically generate pattern sections from curved pieces, that is immensely useful for bag pattern making.

Have fun!

This is just intended as a quick starter post if you have absolutely no idea where to start from. Experiment, play with designs, prototype, take old broken gear apart and see how it was made!

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Features

Several thoughtfully placed pockets, which you can opt out of on your build for a streamlined bag. Ample room for essential tech gadgets, documents, accessories, toiletries, snacks, and more.

• Dedicated laptop pocket separate from the main compartment, with false bottom and it’s own volume, so you can always get your laptop in and out regardless of your packing.
• Two front pockets with their own volume, separate to the main compartment
• Under lid pocket
• Inside pockets
• Side stretch pocket, because hydration is important.
• Base rain cover pocket

Clamshell suitcase-style opening, enabling seamless packing and organisation, and easy access both during transit and at your destination. Also includes guidance for how to build as a bottom hinge bag instead.

15L capacity, shaped to maximise carrying capacity. Ideal for day trips and overnighters.

Personal Item sized, for under seat storage. Save money and time when flying! 40 x 25 x 20cm to fit the majority of airlines, including the strict Ryanair.

Security. Pick pocket protector tabs on the zips to protect your valuables.

Durable design. Every seam has reinforcement stitching, and the pattern is designed to be as accessible as possible for most sewing machines.

Rain protection. Storm flaps around the main compartment zips, and a pocket on the base to store a rain cover. The bag can be made without the storm flap and using waterproof zips all around also.

Comfy carry handles.

Lighter than off the shelf travel packs. This example pack made from 420D nylon, 70D inner liner fabrics and foam in the back panel weighs approx 500g.

Protection. The laptop pocket has a false bottom so your laptop will never touch the floor. Padding in the back panel, side panels and pocket divider give your laptop maximum protection.

Ergonomically designed shoulder straps taken from my multi-day hiking backpack patterns, to ensure comfortable carry even after hours spent navigating busy terminals or exploring new cities. These can take an optional stretchy shoulder strap pocket, similar to that found on ultralight backpacks. Additional guidance is provided describing how to make them removable, if preferred.

Many off the shelf travel packs come with sub-par straps, yours does not have to.

Customise to suit your needs. Add back padding, stashable or removable straps, whatever you need to make the backpack work for yourself.

Removable hip belt. The pattern includes instructions for a removable webbing hip belt, but you can easily make your own padded hip belt.

Printable PDF Pattern and Full Instructions

US Letter, A4 and A0 paper sizes

Every step is illustrated and described for complete clarity. No confusing wall of text like you can find elsewhere.

This is a relatively complicated build, but the instructions are catered as much as possible to people with only modest sewing experience. The guide goes out of it’s way to not only include a free 25 page beginner sewing ebook to get you started, but I’ve also included a scaled practice pattern so you can experiment with the techniques before going all in on the main backpack. The scaled practice pattern is completely unique to MYOG Tutorials, and I will hopefully be including this in upcoming releases.

The text includes options at tricky steps for people with lower powered sewing machines.

Sew your own commercial quality backpack with beginner friendly instructions.

Not for commercial use.

£9.99 Download at PayHip

Also on Etsy

Get your free packing cube patterns for the backpack!

Price may include Digital VAT if applicable in your country

Tried and Tested Design

I’d love to see yours!

Suggested Fabrics and Hardware (Notions)

This is to give a rough estimate for budgeting. The sewing guide provides a complete comprehensive shopping and cutting list

I’ve included a few links to products from Ripstop by the Roll which give me a tiny bit of commission at no cost to yourself. I have a comprehensive list of worldwide quality suppliers at my MYOG suppliers page.

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Darts on Square Corners

The figure above shows a selection of shapes, and how they would look when they are flattened and made into patterns. Note how the side panel lengths and angles change as the top of the box is made smaller, or the height of the box is changed.

How do we calculate this?

Lets start with a simple shape. I want a boxy shape that is 4 x 8 units on the bottom, 2 x 6 units on the top, and 1.5 units tall. You could use inches, metres, lightyears or whatever units.

The difference in length between the top and the bottom in plan view is ‘a‘, in this example it is 1 unit.

The box shape is now a series of triangles, so calculating the side panel length (hypotenuse) needs a quick application of Pythagoras theorem.

c = sqrt(a²+b²)

where again a is the plan view difference in length between the top and bottom sides, and b is the height.

In this example, the width of the sides ‘c‘, is sqrt(1² + 1.5²) = 1.8 units.

Now we build up the pattern.

1. Starting from the outline of the top of the box, measure 1.8 units outwards.
2. Draw the side lengths of the bottom of your shape 1.8 units out from the outline of the top of your box. In this example the red line lengths are 4 and 8 units.
3. Draw lines connecting the corners of the outline of the top of your shape, to the new side panel lines.
4. This is the pattern with no seam allowances, which you could use if you were making a paper model
5. Add seam allowances. I’ve added a seam allowance of 0.25 units all the way around, which is the blue line.

You now have a pattern for a darted boxed shape with squared corners, that is 2 x 4 on top, and can be sewn to a bottom piece that is 4 x 8, and is 1.5 tall.

Sewing

Simply fold the fabric so the right sides are touching, sew with the correct seam allowance for your project up to the edges of the fabric, then sew the 3D shape you’ve made to the rest of your project.

Darts on Rounded Corners

These are slightly more work, but well worth the effort!

This is our next example shape. A rounded base with a corner radius of 5 units, which is 20 x 40 on the bottom and 12 x 32 on the top. Note that it doesn’t matter if the dimensions of the top are inside or outside the radius of the corner. In this example it is inside the radius.

The dart will be in the middle of the curved corners.

As with the square corner example above, an application of pythagoras is needed to calculate the side lengths. This requires the length between the top and bottom pieces in plan view (a=4) and the desired final bag height (b=3).

In this example, the new calculated side panel length will be sqrt(4² + 3²) = 5.

Now lets build up the pattern!

Split the base shape into 4 edge pieces at the mid point of the curves, while keeping the edge lengths the same. Then space them out at the calculated distance from the plan view of the top of the shape.

If you were to just join the lines as described in the square corner dart instructions above, you end up with a curved corner that doesn’t lie flat. A little more work is required to the pattern.

The trick is simply to draw a circle from the midpoint of the original rounded corner centre, then use the circle instead of the original curve shape as your seam line.

Darts on rounded corners are essentially just cones, which have circular bottoms. In the two examples above, they are oblique cones, so drawing a circle isn’t exactly mathematically correct, but this method is within how accurate you’ll be drawing onto fabric, cutting it and sewing, so it will work well for typical sized darts you’ll find on bags and backpacks. Because you maintained the edge lengths (the black curve lengths drawn onto the overlain circles), the error is only in the length of the dart, not the seam you will sew, so it is negligible.

Finally, add your seam allowance, and you will have a sewing pattern for a dart on a rounded bag corner to your specified dimensions!

“Cheat” and Use CAD for Calculations

Its easy to experiment with paper, but you can also ‘cheat’ and use software if you are inclined that way. Some people disagree with using software, but I’m of the opinion that you should use whatever tools make your life easier. For some it is pen and paper, for some it is software.

Software can’t completely replace practice and knowledge, because for example, it can’t know what is a sensible seam placement.

I personally use Sketchup+unwrap plugin and/or Blender with UV unwrap+papercraft plugin. This will be the topic of a future article.

Sketchup is great precise dimensions but does some weird things with curved corners usually. Blender is great for making all sorts of bevelled curved shapes but is horrible (from my limited playing around) for precise dimensions.

In Sketchup you’ll need to show Hidden Lines to be able to select partial curves to unwrap. Blender’s UV unwrap isn’t always 100% correct for sewing patterns as it is not what it is designed for, but the papercraft plugin can highlight seams where it will need extra cuts or modifying, and if the discrepancies can be ignored or not.

Dart onto a rounded corner in Blender

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The perfect companion to the travel backpack series.

Available now! 20L Travel Backpack preview (personal item)

Coming Soon 32L Travel Backpack preview

Coming Soon 40L Travel Backpack preview (max carry on)

Follow me on the social media links below the menu to be the first to know when the travel backpacks are released, or put an email in the payhip link below. Using a fake email is also fine

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FREE/Donate What You Want at Payhip

£2.99 at Etsy (includes 25 page beginner sewing guide)

Maximise your storage capacity and organisation with the MYOG Tutorials/Prickly Gorse Clamshell Packing Cubes

Commercial quality gear with beginner friendly instructions. Share in the “I can’t believe that is homemade” experience.

Let’s redefine modern travel one stitch at a time.

Features:

4 sizes.

• 6.75 x 5.25 x 2.5 inch
• 10 x 6.75 x 4 inch
• 13 x 10 x 5 inch
• 16 x 12 x 6 inch

Clamshell suitcase-style opening, enabling seamless packing and organization, and easy access both during transit and at your destination.

Ultralight if you use 40D to 70D ripstop fabrics

Not for commercial use.

Pattern and Full Instructions

A4 and US letter paper sizes

Easy beginner friendly project

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Corners and curves can cause so many problems for beginners, but with good technique they are worth the effort.

Accurately maintain your seam allowance as the pattern will be designed around this. Your sewing machine will nearly always have markings on the needle plate to help you maintain the required seam allowance, and you can also get magnetic or screw on seam allowance guides.

Draw the seam line on your fabric if you are struggling. This will be the seam allowance distance inwards from the fabric edge, usually ½ inch in these Prickly Gorse sewing guides. Then sew along this line. If you are accurate, the drawing will be completely hidden when you invert the bag.

Curves are just a series of short straight stitches. Work a few stitches at a time. Go slow, keep checking how things are lining up as you go along.

Shorten your stitch length. A series of 1 cm long stitches will make a very ugly angular curve, but a series of 1mm stitches would make a super smooth curve. Smaller stitches also mean you can’t get too carried away and sew too far out of control. I usually use 3mm when doing tight curves.

Use relief cuts. Depending on which piece is on top, the seam allowance tends to fold on itself and get in the way of your seam line. Relief cuts are small snips within the seam allowance that help when sewing curves or tight corners. They allow the fabric to bend easier, both significantly helping with constructing the bag, and making the final product look sharp, crinkle free and professional. Don’t snip all the way to the seam line or the stitches can pull out, causing a seam failure. If your fabric is prone to fraying, minimise how far you cut your relief snip.

Relief cuts are extremely useful for sewing 90 degree corners

Even when your design includes a 90+ degree corner it can be worth ‘rounding’ off the corner by a single stitch. This breaks it into two smaller turns, and takes a bit of strain off the fabric.

Which fabric piece on top? When sewing a gusset to a side panel, e.g. the middle strip around the perimeter of a bike frame bag, you can either have the straight gusset piece on top or below. For bags with sharp corners, I prefer gusset on top, and usually use a few relief cuts to make them easier. For curves, I prefer having the gusset on the bottom, aligned with the seam allowance markings on your sewing machine, and rotating the side panels around on top.

This red and yellow frame bag example was sewn gusset on top, which I tend to prefer if there are sharp angles. Relief cuts are extremely helpful to make these turns.

This photo shows the gusset on the bottom, and the base panel is on the top. The base consists of two large curves, and is ideal for this way around. All you have to do is keep the gusset aligned with your seam allowance markings on your needle plate (black tape on my machine) and gently rotate the other panel around on top. This requires a bit of bag rotating gymnastics if doing large projects, but even with this caveat, I prefer this to relief cuts!

Experiment and see which way works best for yourself!

Crisp Corners and Crinkle-less Curves. Snip off some of the excess seam allowance at the corner points and the curves after sewing to make the corners of your bags nice and crisp when pushed out. Adding a few relief cuts can also help. In the relief cut photo above the bottom black fabric’s corner should be snipped down a bit, leaving at least ¼ to 3/8 (6 to 9mm) seam allowance. Keep a larger seam allowance for fabrics that tend to fray, like cotton duck and uncoated Cordura-type fabrics.

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