Sewing Day 10: A Bag from Twenty Years Ago, Once More

This bag was purchased about twenty years ago at a general store in Fukuoka.

Although it is not visible in the photo, it is a canvas bag with a drawstring closure and a thermal lining inside. At the time, a bag of this quality was sold for about 1,000 yen.

It is my favorite thermal bag, and in recent years I have found it very useful as an eco-bag. However, as I washed it repeatedly, the thermal lining inside tore, and stains that could not be removed by washing began to stand out little by little.

A 1,000-yen bag lasted for twenty years. I felt deeply that it was about time to let it go, but I felt it would be a waste to just throw it away, so I decided to try making the same thing myself.

I measured the bag's parts one by one to check its structure, drew up specifications on A4 paper, and wrote out the process.

There are two types of fabric. The front and back of the bag, two side pieces, one bottom piece, front pockets, side pockets, handles, drawstring parts, drawstring cord, buttons, thermal lining, etc.

When I wrote it all out, I realized that there were surprisingly many parts and that it was quite elaborately made. Even just looking at one handle, it wasn't made from a single piece of matching fabric; it also had twill tape sewn on for both reinforcement and design. The front pocket has a tuck in the middle, and the button isn't just for decoration—it has a proper buttonhole and is detachable.

I realized once again that twenty years ago, you could buy a bag with this level of craftsmanship for 1,000 yen. Nowadays, the material costs alone would likely exceed 1,000 yen.

For now, I cut the fabric using the materials I had on hand, intending to reproduce the original shape as much as possible.

I didn't have any canvas, so I used a light gray ox fabric for the base of the bag. For the check pattern, I applied a thick fusible interfacing to cotton fabric.

Using the old bag as a reference, I assembled the cut parts, and this is what I ended up with.

Although the colors are different, I followed the original design. A bag that seems more usable than I expected was completed.

The drawstring part.

The inside is a thermal lining.

I attached an original tag to the inside of the bag.

This tag was made using the method introduced by Osa-san. It was so lovely that I tried making one myself, imitating it. I am satisfied with how it turned out exactly as I had imagined!

kočka means "cat" in Czech. The cat illustration was drawn by AI Artist based on a design I came up with.

The project of recreating an old bag was interesting and went reasonably well. However, while sewing, there were a few parts where I thought, "Maybe it would have been better to do it this way?" So, to put those reflections to use, I intend to make the same thing one more time.

After all, even my teacher abroad said that sewing the same thing several times is the shortcut to improvement.