I’ve started a new hobby recently. I’m learning to roller skate. It’s not completely new to me but it has been 30 years since I skated regularly. Back in the day, I had big bulky skates that I used to slip on and off my feet like slippers and NO protective gear. I skated everywhere.
For Mother’s day, back in March, my family bought me a
pair of quad skates. I decided, wisely, that I also needed a full set of
pads and a helmet (I am not 16 anymore!!!!). Since buying the skates I
have been finding local places to skate and some not so local places to
skate. I needed a good way to get all my kit there - which is a
long-winded introduction to this project. Let me introduce to you my
skate backpack.
In all honesty, I could have bought a skate bag, but they are mostly pretty boring and I loved the look of this cotton canvas which I was sent to review as part of my brand ambassador role for Minerva, plus I’m always up for the mental challenge of working out how to make something to suit my needs.
I didn’t use a pattern for this I actually
pretty much made it up as I went along and consequently I think it does
need a couple of tweaks to the design.
The basic bag is a simple
rectangle, with padded straps and a front flap and a horizontal
adjustable strap that keeps the skates in place. I included pockets on
the side panels. One with a zip and one without. I think these should
have been a bit deeper to be really useful. The zippered one comfortably
holds my skate tool, so that’s fab. The lining has an inner zippered
pocket which is great for keeping valuables safe.
As the skates are quite heavy to carry (around 3KG) plus the skate gear I knew that I’d need to sew the straps in securely and provide padding to prevent the straps from digging in. I don’t think I’d want to carry this lot too far as it’s heavy, but it is at least all contained.
In addition
to the cotton canvas that I used as the shell layer, I used some cotton
poplin from my stash and some offcuts of quilt wadding and foam wadding
to pad the bag. I also used 3 clip fastenings and two strap adjusters
and about 4.5m of nylon webbing, Which I bought locally from The Sewing Machine Guy.
The straps were sewn inside out with a double layer of wadding and then turned and sewn into the back of the bag along with the hanging loop.
The back of the bag also had a double layer of wadding for back protection as did the base.
Rather
than padding the entire shell, which would have been incredibly tricky
to sew through. I padded the lining instead, which still gives
structure, but allowed me to reinforce the seams with double rows of
stitching.
The horizontal strap is sewn through the back of the bag, which means it encapsulates the contents of the back and the skates on the outside. The padded flap then secures the skates in place. In retrospect. I should have integrated the horizontal strap with the front flap which would have given more stability.
The bag is super roomy and I can comfortably get all my gear inside and room to spare. It would actually make a good overnight bag too.
I’m so happy to finally have a bag that ALL my gear fits into!
