Child Size MKVII bag, now with a full sized one!!! :D

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:16 am

I recently watched the Indy movies with my 6 year old nephew (his first time). He fell in love with the character instantly.. he wanted a costume and he especially wanted a whip.. I'm not going to give a functioning whip to a child that young.. well, not this one anyway as he has some anger issues. BUT I will make him a bag and give his parents some costuming tips (they bought him a Rubies Anakin costume... I didnt want another one of those travesties).
So I gave them advice on shirt, pants, and shoes (most of which he has close enoughs of) and I bought the fabric to make him a bag (actually I got enough to make one for me too, but that will come later

Anyway, enough background nonsense, I know that its not 100% accurate and its also not 100% finished, but here is his bag as it looks right now

I made it 8" wide and 7.5" high (tall?) its 2" thick (?)

I know that D-Rings aren't correct, but they worked pretty well, it has no vents on the bottom but this is for two reasons.. one I could not find them, and two, I want him to be able to easily use the bag.
I am going to add another piece that will wrap around under it from the back and end an inch or so up on the front.. I'm actually planning to make that like a pocketed area on the back (again, function over accuracy) I havent added anything inside yet, not sure if I will.
Any thoughts on wether or not I should?
Well, anyway I hope he likes it

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:34 am

I think it looks fantastic!

Great for a scaled down kids size bag.
I wouldn't put any extras inside. It's smaller, so he'll need room to put something in there. Dividers will make the areas too small.
Again, great job, and if you plan on making more, let me know.
'Blues

Darth Indiana · Post by **Darth Indiana** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:20 am

you could put in the front and back compartments and just omit the center divider.

Jonathan Jones · Post by **Jonathan Jones** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:30 am

I would have killed for that when I was six!

JeffB · Post by **JeffB** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:42 am

That looks great. I just ordered one of Todd's bags for my 6 year old and I think it will be a little big on him. I didn't even think to make my own smaller one. Cool idea.

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:29 am

Thanks for the responses.. I just finished it

I'm off to bed so I can get to work in like 4 hours

but here is how it looks..

PS Thanks for the advice Darth, I added the pocketed area in the front

IndyJango · Post by **IndyJango** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:38 pm

It's funny to see your pictures. I just recently got a MK VII bag for myself and my two daughters 5 and 2 years old now want their own Indy bags. Even though they've never seen the movies. I'm currently working on their bags and really like what you have done. I would suggest adding another seam on the outside verticle corners. If you look at an MK it's like they pinched the verticle edges and did a second seam to re-enforce the bag. It also helps the sides bend in instead of out making it look puffy. The only problem is the layer of marerial you would have to go through to do it. I'm not sure if my machine could do it. Hope to get some time to work on them this week. I'll post pictures when it's done.

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:24 pm

thanks, I might have to do that.
I sewed it entirely by hand.. my machine is about 350 miles west of me at the moment. Whenever it got too tough for hand sewing, I would use needle nose pliers to force and then pull the needle through

Kind of a bogus way, but it gets the job done.

Yeash, I really might have to do that to his bag. I have plenty time since he wont be back home til like tuesday.

Doctor_Jones · Post by **Doctor_Jones** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:30 pm

wow, that's marvelous. keep up the good work.

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:56 pm

fantastic job. I'm glade my son is not here right now. Ge would drive me crazy for one.

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:36 pm

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments. I'm DEFINITELY going to use the things I've learned on this one when I make mine

As a quick FYI for anyone interested in making these.. I bought almost everything at Wal-Mart. The Fabric was $5.00 a yard (well, like $4.95). I got two yards to be on the safe side.. I have used ONE ten inch wide (and then the width of the sheet of fabric, 3 feet or 6 feet or whatever I'll check later. Basically from one yard, you could make THREE of these child sized bags. I got the Snaps at Wal-Mart also, $2.00 or $3.00, cant remember. I bought a spool of thread (I used upholstery thread because its stronger) so about $1.95 for that. Finally the D-rings, I bought a pack of four at Michaels for about $2.00.
So, for around $12.00 - $13.00 you can make two or three of these and the REALLY nice thing is that it only takes a few hours (hand sewing, almost certainly MUCH less if using a machine).

My "fudged" size was 8" wide, 2" deep, and 7.5" high. The front Flap is 4.5". I wasn't going for any specific scale, just approximating the sizes. I left 1/2 inch overhang at the edges (so I'd have plenty to sew to the other pieces... after all, I can always trim them after

)
I was initially going to have "pen pockets" on BOTH sides but I got ahead of myself on the one side and only realised my mistake after.I put a pocket on the back, I mean, you never know when a little extra storage space will come in handy and I added the"pocket" at the inside-front.
In all, for roughly one days work (I stopped and did other stuff several times while working on it) I think it turned out rather nicely

IndianaBogart · Post by **IndianaBogart** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:00 pm

I would have killed for that when I was six!

I agree. This sure beats the heck out of what I had when I was 6

IndyJango · Post by **IndyJango** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:36 pm

Well I got them done. I too used the $5 fabric from Walmart but couldn't find any snaps so I used velcro and buttons for the look. I skipped the metal disc on the side and put pockets on both. Found the brown web strapping from strapworks.com Really cheap. Something like 17 cents a foot. The girls love them. Probably could have made them a little longer. I was able to do the double stitching on the edges that I talked about earlier.

Here is a shot next to my MK VII

PSBIndy · Post by **PSBIndy** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:52 pm

...or you could just buy this:

http://shop.indianajones.com/catalog/pr ... d1=;pcid2=

IndyJango · Post by **IndyJango** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:16 am

Nah, Far to plain and impersonal. I like our custom ones better.

PSBIndy · Post by **PSBIndy** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:30 am

IndyJango wrote:Nah, Far to plain and impersonal. I like our custom ones better.

.....kids don't know the difference.....to them, it's just another "cool" toy that will interest them for about a week and later end up at a yard sale.

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:55 am

IndyJango.. awesome work

I'll bet your girls love them.
Tomorrow... well, later today I suppose, I'm taking the one I made to my nephew.. I never did get around to fixing the edges (got stuck in Evansville all weekend) but I used it to carry my toiletries and it worked QUITE well.
I'll have to take pics of the booger when I hand it over to him.
I'll probably start on my full-sized one after that sometime (if I can find the time tomorrow... been a LONG weekend

)

LOL @ that licensed bag... the snaps are actually printed on!!??!! how lame.
I'd rather spend an afternoon sewing my own, it will be cheaper and FAR more accurate. (kind of like the Jedi robe I made for my nephew to wear to Disney.. it beats the @#$% out of the cheap rubies one)

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:59 am

OMG is the auto-censor on here THAT sensitive? I used a TAME word for defecation (or stuff in general) and it blurred it out.
What is this? Mid 90's WGN

(they bleeped the same word on an episode of Highlander.)

(BTW I'm not trying to stir up stuff [almost typed that word again

] just thought it was funny

)

TheMechanic · Post by **TheMechanic** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:06 am

This is cool. My son turns 7 next month and I've been buying him some Indy gear. A smaller bag would be perfect. I'll have to take a crack at it.
Nice job on your bags.

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:21 am

Thanks, last night I started on my full-sized bag. I'll probably finish it later today (or tomorrow depending on how I feel [and where my wife drags me])
Like the Child sized bag, it's not 100% SA, but it will be close enough (for my tastes). My intention is to have it be something that I would use on a daily basis.
The way i have it now, it is, well, will be

all of the pieces are cut and ready to be assembled. Most of them are in some stage of assembly but its not all together just yet.
I'll post pics when it's done.. heck I might take a few of it NOW so you can get a feel for what I'm talking about.
BTW my fingers hurt from all that sewing

I hope my mother hurries up and brings me my sewing machine.. (not that it will see MUCH use, I prefer hand sewing

)

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:32 pm

ok, I got it done today. here are some pics.. Much like the child-sized one, it's not 100% accurate but its what I wanted/needed.

a peek inside...

Here it is being worn. I'm 6'1" and between 185 and 190 lbs.. not wearing gear either

Jonathan Jones · Post by **Jonathan Jones** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 1:01 am

Very cool!

If I may ask, what did you use for the metal disk?

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:02 am

lol its a part from an old broken cd player. It had the right look to it so I popped it apart, made a small incision in the fabric, and put it back together.
I sometimes make hardware lightsabers so I keep junk like that around for a little while.

Jonathan Jones · Post by **Jonathan Jones** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:27 am

d_jedi1 wrote:lol its a part from an old broken cd player. It had the right look to it so I popped it apart, made a small incision in the fabric, and put it back together.
I sometimes make hardware lightsabers so I keep junk like that around for a little while.

Excellent!

Several of my field issued MKVII's have the metal disk missing which is why I asked. I know the British S6 Respirator bags have the same disks, but I can never bring myself to pay 20+ dollars just to rip the disk off the side. I'm always looking around for anything that "has the look."

jacksdad · Post by **jacksdad** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:17 pm

Impressive,most impressive....you got skills and I like your bag lot. Wear in good health and enjoy.