YOURdesign

YOURdesign is a tool that consist of a large piece of fabric and multiple wooden plates. It is used to store and guide your design(-process).

The Fabric
- Holds everything together
- Has information on the design-process
- Stores the elastics that you use to attach objects to the plates
- Has design-cards to identify each plate

The Plates
- Has a piece of Velcro to attach the design-cards
- Has a lot of holes to attach the elastic
- Is used to attach the carry-on strap

(This tool is a group project for a course at the University of Ghent, Belgium)

Step 1: Requirements

Materials:
- Plastic fabric like PBC or Polyester (minimum 61 x 142.5 cm)
- 2 peg boards (Hardboard) (122 x 61 x 0.3 cm)
- 5 nuts and bolts M3
- Velcro (width 2 cm and minimum length of 3 m)
- Velcro circles M20, minimum 6 pieces
- Strong cam buckle tie down straps (minimum 280 cm, preferably in a flashy colour like orange)
- Double-sided tape
- Black thread

Tools:
- Sewing machine
- Scissors
- Printer
- Laminating Machine
- Ruler (preferably 1m)
- Cutting Knife
- Lighter or matches

Step 2: Cutting the Pegboards

Cut both peg boards into three equal pieces of 40.5 x 61 cm. Now you should have 6 pieces.

Step 3: Cutting the Slots

Cut out 4 slots in each board, on one of the long sides. Count the holes to make sure the position of the slots is the same on each board. This can be done with a cutting knife by connecting 3 existing holes.

Step 4: Attaching the Velcro

Cut 12 pieces of 2 x 5cm (the soft side of the Velcro). Remove the plastic protection of the Velcro and place the pieces in one corner on each side of a plate. Leave some space between the edges of the plate and the Velcro piece. Your final plate will look like the figure below. (Notice the Velcro strip on the backside).

Step 5: Cutting the Fabric

Now we will produce the fabric that will surround the plates and keep them together. Start by cutting a piece of fabric that is 61 x 130 cm.

Step 6: Attaching More Velcro

Cut 3 Velcro strips of 2 x 41 cm (rough side) and 4 Velcro strips of 2 x 12 cm (soft side). Attach them on the righthand side of the fabric.

Reinforce the Velcro strap by sewing the ends to the fabric with a black thread. (Red circles)

Step 7: Attaching the Elastic Storage

Cut a piece of fabric of 12 x 40 cm and sew it in the correct place: centred between the first and the second strip.

Take two Velcro circles. Connect a circle with a soft side to a circle with a rough side. Remove both sticky backs and place them inside the bag as shown below. The rough side will stick to the main fabric, the soft side on the bag.

Reinforce the Velcro circles by stitching a cross on either piece. Attention! Make sure you don’t close the bag by sewing it to the main piece of fabric.

Step 8: Attaching Even More Velcro (on the Backside)

Flip the piece of fabric so you can work on the backside. Cut 3 straps of Velcro (soft side) of 18,5 cm, take 4 Velcro circles (soft side) and place them as illustrated in the figure below.

Reinforce the new Velcro piece by sewing them down with black thread.

Step 9: The Orange Straps

Remove the metal buckle of the Cam Buckle Tie Down Strap and cut it into 4 straps of 35 cm long. Cut the end on a diagonal and hold the end in a flame for a few seconds. By doing this you prevent the strap from tearing down. Attach a Velcro circle on each strap (rough side) and reinforce by sewing them on.

Sew the 4 straps onto the main piece of fabric. Make sure the Velcro circles on the straps are aligned with the circles on the fabric.

Step 10: Attaching the First Plate

Attach one of the plates you have made at the beginning onto the straps. Outline the edge of the fabric to the edge of the plate. Next, you attach the left side of the plate onto the fabric by using bolts. Count the holes to place the bolts into their correct location. Cut a small line in the fabric to push the bolts through the fabric.

Step 11: The Tool-carrying Strap

The next step is to make the tool-carrying strap. Cut a piece of 140 cm long from the Cam Buckle Tie Down Straps. This strap will be attached by using metal hooks. Make two of them and press each one through one end of the strap.

Attach the hooks to the upper and bottom left corner of the plate that is already attached to the fabric. Press the ends down (yellow circle) to make sure the hooks do not come loose while the user carries the bag.

Step 12: Information & Design Cards

Print the two A4 pages with information (see attachment) and laminate them. Cut out the laminated pieces with a scissor.

Put double-sided tape onto the 4 information plates and attach them to the fabric between the second and the third strip. You can align them with the 4 straps of Velcro below to have a nice interface.

Put small pieces of rough Velcro (4 cm long) to the 20 smaller information papers. (There are two extra on each paper for mistakes.)These will be stored on the 4 short strips of Velcro and will be used to define every plate.

Step 13: Making the Elastics

The last step is to make elastics with hooks that you can use to attach objects onto the plates. For this you will need to cut the elastics bands into pieces of different lengths and attach a hook on either side. We prefer elastic with a length of 10, 20 and 30 cm. You can make as many as you need.