Compare Prices Sewing Machines
what thread type to make a messenger bag or sew vinyl (diy messenger bag)?
can you use it in a sewing machine? i find some of these bags to be ridiculous in price compared to a backpack and will just make my own. any hints or advice on doing this would be helpful. thanks
This isn’t meant to discourage you, but go to a few thrift shops and see what they have in the line of bags like you want. You might find one that fits your needs for a decent price. At the very least, you should find an acceptable bag to use for a pattern, and you may get the hardware parts you will need at a significant discount. At the best, you’ll find a perfect bag, and you can design another one similar to it.
Whether or not you can use it in a sewing machine depends wholly on the machine. Most home sewing machines can’t sew through heavy materials and can’t use very thick threads.
Any industrial machine can do the job and will take almost anything you can put in it.
IF you are going to sew it yourself, you can do it by hand without a lot of trouble if you use pliers to push and pull the needle through the material. IF you don’t have any or much experience sewing, starting off on a machine can be very frustrating.
I’ve made wallets out of old jeans, and gym bags out of new material, both by hand and on machines.
IF you are making a messenger bag, you’ll need to do some planning, and probably some trial and error with cutting and fitting things together. You’ll need some stiffening panels to give it shape and to keep it in shape.
If you are going to carry any computer or other expensive electronics in it, you will want to put padding in it also. 1/4″ to 3/8″ polyethylene foam sheet is light, water resistant, and you can sew through it easily.
Arts and crafts stores, fabric/sewing stores, and even some hardware stores should have everything you need (at a price). Shop around for what you want, then hit the Internet to check prices for the same things, and you may find a much better deal.
You can even find do-it-yourself kits on line. Here’s some places I picked at random: