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  • #5200
    Kaushalpohekar
    Member
      • City: Pune

      NOTE:- READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AND THEN START WORKING.

      Whether you are riding a bike for fun, going for bike packing or just going to get some groceries. I am sure you would have always thought that you need more space to pack more things and making a frame bag is just the right thing to do additionally it gives a custom look to your bike and it is a fun project to try .So all the things you will need are as follows
      1) The fabric
      2) Sewing machine
      3) Papers , pencil , scale and the divider
      4) Zip around 20-30 cm according to your top tube length
      5) threads and chalks obviously
      6) Some clips to hold the fabric

      So the first thing that you will do is to take the measurements of your bike frame and make sure that whenever you take the measurements you draw a rough diagram of your frame on the paper. ( i got the photo after noting the dimensions but you first draw rough and write the dimensions as you check them )

      Next check the distances with the help of a tape and note it down make sure that you take this measurements from the inner side as shown in the photo

      So don’t just take the measurements directly you have to take into consideration your pedals and any other things that might get in contact with your frame bag I have reduce the length of the seat tube side of the frame bag in order to avoid any contact with the rear derailleur mounting and also the Crank arm.

      Now that you have finished the measurements from the inner side of the frame you have to measure the thickness of the top tube the seat tube and the bottom tube according to which your frame bag will be made if you want you can make cardboard one is to one model to make sure everything fits in well but that is not necessary I made it during lock-down when I did not had access to my bike

      There are various kinds of frame bags that you can make I did choose to make a zipped one with velcro strap for easy handling you can also make roll top or any other kind of frame bag in a similar way.

      Before starting everything else you need to get the supplies and for selecting the fabric you can go all fancy by buying a brand new water resistant fabric or just use your old jeans to make something out of it I used an old trouser and old kevlar fire retardant suit to make mine

      After finalizing the size you first will have to draw the different sides of the frame bag on paper in order to make it easy for you to stitch and understand the pieces. I did personally stick the papers with the use of Fevicol.

      I first made the central line and did get the molly webbing stitched now it is really important to plan the stitching part because once you started something it is very hard to get it off and then restitch the same fabric at the same position so you can try to put safety pins and get a rough idea of how you are going to stitch the bag

      Now that you have your Central fabric stitched with the Molle webbing. You can start stitching the sides now if you need any pockets then you must stitch them on the inner or outer side of the bag according to your need. So one important thing to always remember is that you will be stitching everything inside out and for the same thing you shall paste the papers on the inner side of the fabric. Once you match all the pieces together you are ready to start stitching I personally prefer to stitch the zipper to the central fabric and then stitching the other side of the zipper to the side fabric, even while attaching the zipper you must take care air that it is stitched inside out or else just get a two sided zipper so that however you stitch you always have the separate open

      After this I just keep following the lines as seen on the paper in order to stitch the fabric properly the first part attaching one side fabric to the central fabric is comparatively easy e as compared to the second part of attaching the another site I would suggest you to stitch using the longer lengths between each stitch so that it even if something goes wrong you can easily take off the thread without damaging the fabric
      After stitching one side and the central fabric you can check the fit by roughly placing it on your frame this will give you a good idea before going ahead

      Once you are sure that you need the exact size you can go ahead and stitch on the same stitching line twice or thrice for added strength then you start doing the same for the other side only that stitching the second side it is much great of an effort as compared to the first one slowly and steadily stitch the sides and even for the second side initially use long stitches and fit it in your bike once you are satisfied you can add more stitching lines to reinforce the area you have to be specially attentive during the corners and you can check out this video in order to learn how to stitch in the corners inside out once you are done stitching this your job is almost done you have to flip the bag inside out and then check the fit on your bike it shall be looking awesome by now

      Now just few last touches you have to flip the back again inside out and cut off the extra fabric remains while taking care that you don’t cut any stitches and you will also need to cut the excess threads in order to avoid any mess or stitches getting undone . You have to remove the paper that you initially stick to the fabric for your help in stitching after that you shall generally wash once so that all the paper pulp gets removed and now you have a new frame bag.

      For customization you can select the fabric color of your choice you can do embroidery are you can even paint the fabric yourself your imagination is the limit. This is my final product.

      So that’s it folks do share photos of your frame bag and let me know how was your experience in this project. If you need any other help regarding frame bag DM me @kaushalpohekar on Instagram.

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