The Retro Rucksack Inspiration Tour (Day 5)
Hi everyone! If you are visiting from Radiant Home Studio I welcome you to Raspberry Sunshine! My name is Cindy and I am a SAHM to 3 wonderful boys and wife to my HS sweetheart. We currently live in the Central New York area, but if you read my blog often you know that can change every few years! I have had a love of handbags since I was a little girl, so when my youngest finally started school I started sewing them for myself and opened my Etsy Shop.
I am always trying to improve my sewing skills and learn new techniques for handbag sewing, so when Sara e-mailed me asking if I would like to participate in the Retro Rucksack Inspiration Tour I immediately said yes. This is a really unique bag and can be used for so many purposes. Sara’s done a great job with this patten, and if you’ve been following the blog tour all week you’ve seen how we all have used our skills and materials to make the Rucksack our own!
For my Rucksack exterior fabric I used an Indoor/Outdoor Ikat fabric accented with a 4 oz. dark leather. The strap is a thick cotton webbing and the interior is a natural linen. Because I used home dec fabric and leather, I interfaced the lining only and used a piece of mid-weight canvas to support the IKAT. If you choose to make this pattern with leather, laminates, etc. make sure you use a leather needle and teflon foot for your machine. Otherwise you may run into some problems.
Sara’s pattern is very easy to follow and has a ton of tips to help you as you sew. This is not a quick bag to sew, but the final product is so worth it! If you are a beginner sewist, I would recommend having a more experienced person nearby. With the zipper instillation and straps, I would say this is an intermediate pattern.
In my tester I opted out of adding a closing zipper and left it open as you see above. For hikes or outings I wanted easy access and it worked for me. Plus, I liked how it looked when I rolled it down! The interior of the bag also has a nice zippered pocket on one side and a larger open pocket on the other.
My favorite part of the Rucksack are the straps. The strap design lets you use the bag as a backpack, cross-body or regular shoulder carrying. Above, you can see a closer shot of the webbing and leather I used. A 4 oz. might have been a bit too thick for this pattern, but if you use a lighter – 2 oz or so it would work perfect in a home machine. ( I sew with industrial machines so it’s easy to use a thicker weight). I would not recommend you use quilting cotton for this bag. It needs the structure of a heavier weight material.
If you would like to purchase The Retro Rucksack head over HERE to get started. Sara also has a Flickr group started so if you make her Rucksack be sure to upload it there. Thank you everyone for visiting Raspberry Sunshine and a huge thank you to Sara for asking me to participate. If you have missed out on the tour this week, here is the schedule:
Retro Rucksack Inspiration Tour:
Monday, July 14th
Radiant Home Studio || Sweeter Than Cupcakes
Tuesday, July 15th
Quarter Incher || Dandelion Drift
Wednesday, July 16th
Glitter + Wit || EmmylouBeeDoo
Thursday, July 17th
Casa Crafty || Made By Sara
Friday, July 18th
SewVery || Raspberry Sunshine
Saturday, July 19th
Mia’s Creations || Behind the Hedgerow
Happy Sewing! Cindy