Introduction: Cheap Comfortable Waterproof Carry-on Size Backpack
Hi, everyone,
this is my first Instructable and I want to share this backpack I recently made :)
I'm not professional and still have to learn a lot.
It took me around 2-3 months to complete but worked once a week. I think it could be completed in few weekends.
Total cost was ~30£
Step 1: Materials
- Waterproof fabric ( ~ 2 x 1.5meters)
- Fabric for lining ( ~ 1.8 x 1.5meters)
- Fabric for padding ( ~1.5 x 1.5m)
- Big zipper (0.85m)
- Smaller zipper(0.48m)
- Light flexible plastic for the back (0.05 x 0.3m) x 2 pieces (I used some kind of plastic that I found laying around)
- Bias tape ( ~3 m)
Keep in mind that if you change the design or size you will require more/less of the fabric.
Also:
- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Fabric glue (optional)
Step 2: Design
Before I started sewing this backpack and sketched a bit (I'm not that good at it tho) and came up with few specifications.
- Waterproof
- Minimalist design
- Have a pockets for pens
- Have a pocket for 15.6 inc laptop
- Could be opened almost fully
- Comfortable
- Have a back support
Step 3: Cutting&sewing
This part the trickiest and takes the most patience but practice makes it perfect. I started by cutting all the pieces than sewing padding to it. To the back I sew to pieces of plastic because I wanted to be hard before that covering with padding. After this comes time to add lining and then sewing all the pieces together. I did this in this order :
Sewing :
- all the pieces individually
- front pocket with the zipper to front piece
- straps and to the back piece
- side pockets to side pieces
- zipper to side piece
- side piece to back ( I recommend doing this first instead of front because it's harder to reach back)
- back with front
I found sewing bias tape to raw edges inside of the backpack too complicated so instead I decided to use fabric glue to do the trick :)