Convertible Kanga Bag

Ra ·

Convertible Kanga bag in backpack mode

I’m writing this a full year after I made this bag and am working on another one with improvements. I will still write up the process I used for this one, and highlight areas that I identified as could be improved.

Materials:

  • Leather (Alran Sully)

  • Kanga fabric for outer (Kanga is a traditional african fabric)

  • Canvas for inner (this bag was a prototype so I used what I had at hand)

  • Medium fusible interfacing, quilt fusible interfacing, buckram for strap

  • Metal zip, D-rings, swivel snaps, strap slider (the hardware I chose for this bag was too bulky and didn’t suit the bag in the end)

Method

Cut two 25 x 11cm leather panels

  1. Trace corner radius on all four base corners

  2. Mark seam allowance

  3. Skive sides, corners, and base

  4. Punch top edge with stitch holes, and edge finish

To prepare the internal fabric base, cut two oversize 25 x 11cm panels with enough seam allowance to turn edges.

  1. Interface the fabric

  2. Turn the edges

  3. Sew the corners

  4. With double-sided tape attach fabric to leather, temporarily sew into place or use pins

Leather base

Fabric base

Prepare the D-rings and attachments

  • 4 x P-attachments (they’re P-shaped and attach to the tops and mid-points)

  • 2 x base attachments

  • 1 x back attachment

  • Zipper strips

Back attachment, P-attachments, base attachments

Zipper strips

To prepare the external kanga fabric, cut two oversize 22 x 25cm panels

  1. Interface the fabric using light fusible interfacing

  2. Cut to size with seam allowance

External and internal panels interfaced and cut to size

To prepare the internal canvas fabric, cut two oversize 22 x 25cm panels

  1. Interface the fabric using light or medium interfacing

  2. Cut to size with seam allowance

  3. Attach D-ring on the back panel, being careful to cover rivets to prevent scratching

  4. Prepare laptop pocket with quilting interfacing

  5. Install laptop pocket (in the future I would skip installing this)

  6. Install slip pocket on front panel

One panel of the laptop pocket using fusible quilting interfacing. This is stitched right-sides to the same shape and then turned inside-out

D-ring install on the back panel

Laptop pocket installed on the back panel

Slip pocket installed on the front internal panel

Stitch the fabric (outer kanga fabric right sides together) with D-ring P-attachments sandwiched in the correct spots. Edge-bind.

Edge binding on the internal side seam

Stitch the leather base with D-ring base attachments sandwiched

Prepare strap with hard interfacing (buckram) for the fabric part. Total length 145cm

I like to use a tape measure to get the strap length right

Bag in the largest capacity configuration, with straps attached to the top D-rings

Bag in the smallest configuration, with straps attached to mid-point

Bag in the backpack configuration