Wahoo! The first leg of our trip to Fuji Rock is complete. K and I left the house today around 4:30 today, got to the airport, met Y who was coming from work, jumped on the plane and flew to Niigata. We are in our first hotel for the weekend awaiting our final leg to the festival tomorrow morning. Provided we make the 9:11 Shinkansen (bullet train), we will be there in an hour. If not, it's a 3 hour train ride of local trains before we see any music. Wish us luck for a good start to our morning.
On Monday night, Y decided that maybe we should invest in some new chairs that would be more convenient for the trip. We have two that work fine, they just don't fold up too tiny. I convinced him that our chairs are okay, we just need a better bag to carry them. (I hand-sewed the previous bag roughly 5 years ago and it was falling apart.)
The only problem was that I had to actually MAKE a bag, with no previous plans/thinking as to how to do it. I also had to pack for K and I, make Y's meals since K and I are headed to the US two days after getting home from Fuji Rock, clean the house, plus all the normal doings of my day - you know, like being the mom to a 2 year old boy - all in 2 days.
Just before midnight on Monday, I took all our measurements and got to cutting. As we were planning on checking the bag, a zipper was of the upmost importance.
I started with that (on Tuesday during K's nap), modeling it after K's backpack, which, for the record he now loves. I took the width of the bag (14 centimeters), decided by 2 and added a half a centimeter (total 7.5 centimeters), then cut two strips that width by the length of the bag, and sewed them to the zipper.
The next step was to sew my width pieces together. I had a bottom that was the same length as the top, and two side pieces that were 5 centimeters longer, as per the size of our folded chairs. I sewed these to the zipper piece to form a big loop.
The next step was to sew my front and back rectangles to the loop and the zig zag all of the edges - the last thing I need is this bag falling apart on us.
Then I made the strap. The chairs are about 2.5 kilograms, so I thought padding the strap would feel a bit nicer. I quilted padding to the front of the strap, then sewed on the back, flipped it and topstitched (the photo is just the quilted front - that's why it looks pretty crappy).
Finally I sewed them to the bag and called it a day, literally. I was beat and went to bed. The bag was really simple to make, and completely adjustable to any size you might need. From Monday night until finished product, it probably took about 4 or 5 hours.
I'm pleased to say, however, that everything else got done in time (it always does, doesn't it?!?) and now I'm going to enjoy my holiday. I have a few more posts planned for while I am away, but I might only do one or two posts a week for the next month. Don't forget about me though!! I've got some big things during the month, hopefully including the wedding dress!
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