More Progress

October 11, 2013

This week we’re working on creating a very rough mockup of our pannier shape.  I’ve been learning a lot about things like patternmaking and stitching, which I really knew nothing about until this project.

We want to create a very fast, simple prototype of our shape just to check dimensions and make sure we’re headed in the right direction before we start choosing fabrics or adding straps/pockets/buckles/etc.  For this purpose we’re using a soft nylon fabric scrap that Andrew had sitting around.  This is not the actual fabric or color we plan to actually use in the bag.  We just need a basic 3 dimensional shape to look at before we continue designing

Here we’re meeting with Chip to create the patterns that will make up our bag.  A pattern is like a stencil, which is used for cutting a piece of fabric that will be combined with other pieces to create the final shape.

Once we created the patterns we added a 1/2″ seam allowance around each pattern so there will be extra fabric around the edges that gets sewn into the seam.  These are the puzzle pieces that will make up the bag when sewn together.

We laid out the patterns on the fabric and traced their outlines, plus made a series of marks on each one so they can be matched up in the sewing process.

Then we cut these out and handed them off to Chip for sewing.  It was very interesting to watch him work.  He really knows his shit.  There’s a lot of skill required to translate the 2 dimensional seams and patterns we laid out into an assembled 3 dimensional shape.

Tomorrow we meet again to review the initial mockup and see where we stand.  Even just in the initial pattern making and sewing we can see there are going to be some big changes needed.