So I love bike riding, I think it is the future of sustainable transport with fantastic benefits in fitness, freedom and fun. One of the most practical things you can do for your bike is add bags and storage too it. Whether that's a basket, rear rack and panniers or as I'm going to make here, a frame bag.
Frame bags come in many shapes and sizes. The bag pictured above is called a half frame bag as it only takes up about half of the space inside the frame, allowing you to still use your water bottle cage mounts. Although frame bags typically can't store as much as other solutions such as panniers they benefit from being accessible while you ride and are great for storing food and snacks. For example I love to keep sunglasses in mine so that I can grab them out whenever I need. There are fantastic guides you can find online to recommend types of bags if you are interested.
So given all this I wanted a frame bag. But disappointingly even the cheap ones are rarely under $100AUD and only go higher from there. Having not completed a sewing project for a while I decided that making my own would be fun. It also allowed me to make it fit my bike perfectly which was an exciting proposition.
So I started by finding fabric and at my local second hand supplies shop, Reverse Garbage, and I found a fantastically reflective and cheap material that had a good stiffness to it and was hydrophobic. Although the finished bag won't be water proof it is definitely water resistant enough for my purposes. I can't recommend this material when ripstop is so cheap but this worked great for my purposes and at only $10/m it is great enough. I have literally no idea what it is though and it does have one side backed with felt, its very strange commercial left overs.
If you were hunting more specific sewing details there are a multitude of fantastic online posts and videos about how to sew these sorts of bags and I'd recommend them, they are much better experienced sewists and were where I learnt a lot for this project. (MYOG make your own gear is a fantastic search term)
I created a pattern by tracing the inside of my bike frame and drawing roughly where I wanted the shape to go. I was careful to be considerate of the bottle cages not interfering and thinking about where I wanted my mounts to be.
I was careful to make sure to mirror the pattern correctly as the fabric is one sided.
Was surprised to find how easy it is to install a zip when you follow a simple tutorial to ensure it closes smoothly. Although as you can see below I did forget to sew the end cover as I went and so it looks pretty bad but it wasn't worth resewing the whole zip for it.
I had wanted to put zips on both sides and have a smaller section accessible on the left for my sunglasses but ultimately decided not to over complicate my first major sewing project as I could always remake this project and will likely make more in my life. Considering this I also made sure to keep the pattern I had made.
Next was to sew the width, I would give you measurements but I'd really recommend if you sew things like this just to eyeball it and not worry about it too much. I sewed the hook and loop in as I went referencing my pattern as to where I wanted them.
I always have trouble with corners but as I'm an inexperienced sewist I'm keen to learn and found myself more comfortable as I went.
The top was pretty straight forward to sew and the only thing left was to make a cute paracord zipper pull as it makes it much easier to open it one handed as you ride. It also adds a little cute detail that was fun to make. I will definitely be making these for all the zips in my life.
I have been really happy with the form factor of the bag, it fits exactly what I want in it with a little room to spare.
This project was remarkably cheap, especially since I also got the zipper and hook and look for chump change also from Reverse Garbage.
Honestly I've be surprised at how much the colour suits the bright blue of the bike. It doesn't hurt that my helmet and bike lock are similarly brightness and all look equally silly.
The comical brightness of the bag makes me even more comfortable riding at night as the visibility of the bike increases dramatically and although the material isn't retro reflective it is still extremely reflective.
Ultimately I am so pleased with this project, making it myself allowed me to tailor it to exactly my needs, so it fits what I want to keep on my bike. Its great that it is water resistant so I don't have to worry about it. I wouldn't be comfortable taking it away on a tour but I'd be more than happy to take it away for the weekend and trust that it'd stay together. Its also been so much fun to share with people that I made it myself adn to be so proud of my first major sewing project. For a first crack at my own bike gear I am really proud and excited for all of the future projects this opens up.
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