Looking for a way to minimize what you carry during activities outside your home? Want a small bag that can be worn more than one way? This is an edc sling bag project review.

There are many sling bag tutorials and I choose one that would make a small, beginner friendly bag for this project review. The link to the Sewing Times DIY Crossbody Sling Bag free tutorial is:

DIY Crossbody Sling Bag

This project is for personal use only.

For the purposes of my review, I’m going to summarize the basic steps, tell you what I did differently (if anything) and share my general thoughts about sewing the project.

Introduction

Sling bags are also known as “sling packs”. Sling bags are backpacks designed to be carried on one shoulder. Their one shoulder strap and half hip strap connect together to form a crossbody strap. Rectangular prisms and teardrops are common shapes for sling bags. Sling bags may be worn crossbody with the pack section across the wearer’s back or front or at their side, or shoulder-strap style with the pack section at the wearer’s side.

EDC or “Every Day Carry” refers to the collection of things [https://everydaycarry.com/what-is-edc-everyday-carry-guide] that a person carries with them on a daily basis. The list of essential items on a person’s edc list will vary according to the person and the type of activities he/she/they are involved in. Common edc items for most people include their phones, identification, credit/debit card and keys. This edc sling bag is 7.5” wide by 9.5” high by 2” deep (19 cm wide by 24 cm high by 5 cm deep) and has a volume of 143 cubic inches (2.3 litres).

Step 0 Gather Materials

Quilting weight cotton, fusible fleece and fusible interfacing are recommended for this project. You may wish to use a water resistant or waterproof fabric such as coated nylon, coated polyester or waxed cotton. I used a piece of acrylic canvas that I found in the remnant bin of my local fabric shop for the exterior and a piece of ripstop nylon for my interior. The acrylic canvas is un-coated so I was able to fuse fusible fleece to it. The ripstop is coated on both sides so I omitted fusible interfacing. You’ll also need zippers, webbing, bias tape, and some hardware. I used 1” wide webbing and hardware instead of 1.25” wide.

Step 1 Front

I cut my fusible fleece according to the instructions and fused it to all of my exterior pieces. Next I followed the instructions for creating the pocket flap and pocket bottom. I sewed the flap in place and when I pinned the bottom of my pocket bottom to my main front panel I noticed that the bottom would overlap the flap. Re-positioning my pocket flap closer to the top solved this problem.

Step 3 Back

I sewed the top strap and D-ring anchor according to the instructions. I sewed a second D-ring anchor so that I can wear the crossbody strap on either shoulder. Sew these anchors to the back exterior then sew the back exterior to the back interior.

Step 4 Gusset

I sewed my zipper to the gusset according to the instructions. My narrow zipper foot made this easy.

I top-stitched the top gusset-bottom gusset seam for added strength. Instead of sewing bias tape along the long edges of the gusset, I basted the layers together.

Step 5 Assembly

I sewed the gusset to the front and back panels according to the instructions. My gusset wrinkled more than the tutorial suggested that it should so I tried to re-distribute the excess fabric into the corners.

Since I omitted the bias tape, I sewed a zig-zag stitch over the raw edges.

Here are some photos of my finished edc sling bag:

Conclusion

The Sewing Times DIY Crossbody Sling Bag is a quick and easy beginner project. Sewing zippers, and working with curves may be challenging for some new sewers. Fortunately each exterior panel is sewn to it’s lining prior to assembly and the zipper is sew along a straight edge. My Sewing Times DIY Crossbody Sling Bag is 6.7” wide by 8.7” high by 2” deep (17 cm wide by 22 cm high by 5 cm deep) which is smaller than the estimated size. High iron temperatures needed to fuse my fleece to the acrylic canvas likely resulted in some fusible fleece shrinkage. Drawing the exterior pieces on my acrylic canvas prior to fusing would have prevented this. Similarly, if my exterior had been quilting weight cotton, my iron would have been at a lower temperature to fuse the fleece.

My sling pack easily holds my smartphone (too tall for the front pocket), identification, credit/debit card and keys and has lots of room for other items. Interior pockets or a purse organizer would make it easier to find my items at any given time and help keep things from shifting around.

Have you tried this project? Did you enjoy this edc sling bag project review? Comment below and/or Pin me for later! Subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

Tanya

 

 

 

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