Have you had an idea for a bag kicking around in your head for ages, but you don’t know how to make it a reality? Have you ever found a bag that was almost perfect, except you wish you could change the dimensions, or make it from upcycled denim, or add a zipper closure?
If so, you’ve landed in the right place.
Every bag you see on the street or on the shelf of your favorite store started out as an idea — a simple spark of inspiration. Going from that spark to a finished bag is a long, iterative journey, and before you even turn on your sewing machine there are some important things to think through.
I’ve been designing and making bags professionally for over 25 years, and teaching for almost as long. None of what follows is based in any canon or authority. It’s a whole lot of hands-on experience and useful discoveries made along the way.
What Are the Three Elements of Bag Design?
- Aesthetic: what does your bag look and feel like?
- Functionality: what is your bag used for, and how does it work?
- Resources: what tools and skills do you have?
You’ll come back to all three at every stage, not just at the start.
What Does the Bag Design Process Actually Look Like?
The Slabtown Backpack took almost two years of refinement and somewhere around fifty samples. About twenty of those were me trying to solve one thing — a hidden side zipper into the main compartment.
Below I walk through the whole Slabtown design process, from the first canvas mock-ups to the finished pattern, including the fastener I loved right up until I had to pull it. Kath, Katie and Ellen join me to talk about the illustration, tech editing and pattern writing behind it.
In my whole bag making career, I don’t think I’ve ever made something truly correct for my end goal the first time I’ve tried. So the best thing to do is actually try things out and see how it works, before you commit to thinking that you’re gonna do it right the first time.
We’re in this culture where everything is so fast and we want results. But if we don’t spend time with our designs and we iterate them, we don’t get to this really beautiful end result.
What Do You Want Your Bag to Look and Feel Like?
Start with the basics. What do you want your finished bag to look like? What is the overall look or feeling you are trying to achieve? What is the silhouette, or overall shape you are going for? Is this a petite crossbody purse or a large hiking pack? Is it round or angular? Rustic and outdoorsy or city sleek?
Everything starts somewhere, as a Pinterest board or chicken scratch notes. Gather reference. Pull in images that have nothing to do with bags, too: landscapes, interiors, colors, textures, works of art, people doing things. Watch your design personality emerge.
Then begin thinking about how elements like color, fabric choice, prints, texture, and materials can be used to help you achieve your vision. Are you using natural or synthetic materials? New or upcycled? What are your cultural and artistic influences? How does your personal style inform your design and make it unique?
What Is Your Bag For, and How Will It Work?
After you’ve defined the visual aesthetic of your bag, consider how you want the finished bag to function. How your bag works is just as important as how it looks. There’s nothing more frustrating than a bag that malfunctions or is clunky to use.
Imagine a day in the life of this bag. What does it need to hold? What scenarios is it being used in? Who do you imagine using it? Does it need to withstand rain and snow? Does it need to fit a laptop? Does it need a key ring or a phone pocket? How does it open and close? Do the straps adjust? Can it be worn in multiple ways?
Here’s another way to think about functionality: break your bag down into straps, closures, and pockets.
What Tools and Skills Will You Need?
Time to take stock. Your resources include tools, equipment, materials, money, time, studio space, and production labor.
What materials do you already have in your stash, and what will you need to get? What kind of sewing machine do you have access to, and do you need an industrial machine or can you make do on a home machine? (We go deep on that question in how to choose a sewing machine for bag making.) Do you have an edgestitch presser foot? A mallet, or the necessary hardware setting tools? Where are you sourcing your fabric, buckles, snaps, zippers?
Toolkits
Then take an honest look at your own skill set. Maybe you’re confident with your sewing skills, but the bag you want to make has a lot of leather and hardware. Which skills feel safe and familiar, and which will be a stretch?
And what’s your plan for learning the new ones? Are there tutorials you can look up? Can you find a relevant bag pattern?
Do You Have to Design a Bag From Scratch?
Nope. We think of this as choose-your-own-adventure, and no matter how you approach it, you’ll finish with tons of bag design knowledge and a project you’re proud of.
- Design a fully custom bag. For makers who want to go rogue, designing and making a bag based on their own creative vision, or in combination with inspirational references. You’ll size and draft your own pattern blocks, create canvas samples, and workshop elements through studies.
- Modify an existing pattern. For makers who want to design a bag that is rooted in an existing bag pattern, Klum House or other, with their own customizations and modifications. Want to make a Maywood Totepack with a luggage handle slip? A Portsmith Tote with tons of interior pockets? A miniature Fremont? This one’s for you.
- Straight up, then with a twist. If you’re newer to bag making, make two or three patterns first to learn the sequence of construction for different silhouettes, and maybe add your own twist. It’s always good to follow the recipe straight up before you riff on it. You’ll still absorb loads of design knowledge for when you’re ready to freestyle.
One thing to consider if you’re heading toward a bag for market: you might encounter some tension with the pattern that originally led the design. It’s the reason we offer a license to sell on every Klum House bag.
And if you’re building toward a business, having a guiding vision and being clear about your values is everything. We made a card sorting exercise to help you work yours out.
Bag Sewing Patterns
What If Your First Bag Isn’t Right?
All design follows a sort of loose process. We call ours the design diamond: an idea starts with a spark, opens up into inspiration and research, then narrows through refinement and iteration as you approach the finished object. Your path will not be linear.
Here’s a little secret: even people who have been professionally making bags for twenty-plus years make mistakes. A wobbly stitch, a crooked snap. It happens to ALL of us. Just par for the course.
Sometimes it goes the other way. When I finally sat down to design the Naito, the very first sample came out nearly perfect. That almost never happens. Every once in a while a design just emerges, and that’s how you know you’ve got to go with it.
Mostly, though, it’s the long road. You’ll come up against creative blocks and fears and frustrations, you will curse and seam rip, there might even be blood, sweat, and tears, but you will keep going to find out what’s waiting on the other side.
See what it takes to turn a sketch into a finished pattern
Find the place where your current knowledge edges up against the unknown and push a little further.
What will YOU make?
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