Make: Canvas backpack

An olive green canvas backpack resting on a bike seat in an outdoor space.

This week I spent some time trying the canvas backpack pattern from Noriko Yoshimoto’s 20 sacs en toile coton canvas, which I found at my local library. It’s a book full of adorable bag patterns, and I would probably make most of them if I knew where to source that much heavy cotton canvas affordably.

Olive green canvas cut out in the shape of a bag pattern resting on a cutting board, with other finished bag pieces (handle, straps, and flap), a book of bag patterns, and a bunch of wonderclips. A close-up of the back of an in-progress olive bag showing straps, handles, and flap pinned in place. An image showing the front and lateral pockets pinned in place on an olive green bag body, resting on a cutting board. A pencil and container of pins are also visible. A close-up showing the sides of an olive green bag held together using wonderclips.

The instructions in this book are very minimal, but most of the construction steps for this bag were pretty straightforward anyway. It was handy to have some prior experience with things like assembling backpack straps. The heaviest canvas I was able to source locally was only about 350g/m2, whereas the pattern called for 500g/m2. I think, with the shape and construction of this bag, it didn’t end up being a big issue.

A close-up showing a patch with a computer and the words 'Computer Club' being stitched onto olive green canvas. An image of a white cotton with colourful bicycles printed on it, bordered with a blue cotton on top and bottom, lying diagonally on a cutting board. An image showing the completed bag lining with interior pocket sewn in place. An image showing the bag lining clipped to the bag exterior, ready to be sewn in place.

I colour-blocked the lining because I only had a quarter metre of this perfect bicycle print cotton, which wasn’t quite enough for the lining piece. I also made a measuring error when drawing out the bag exterior pattern pieces, and ended up cutting each of them 1 centimetre too small. When I started sewing the bag body, I realized this meant that there wouldn’t be enough clearance for the flap. This is why there is a cute dart on the flap — not only as a brilliant design choice, but also to reduce it’s width so that it wouldn’t get caught in the body side seam allowance.

A close-up of an eyelet being hand-stitched. An olive green canvas backpack resting on a cutting board on the floor.

I substituted a magentic clasp for the flap rivet buttons, and hand-stitched the 12 eyelets for the cord. I think when I make this bag again, I might also substitute a webbing with a pretty weave for the straps.

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