Falk Schönfeld
A while has passed since my last post. I finished my studies and found a job. Time to cover some projects which happened in the meantime.
Before the pandemic hit, I started bouldering. I also had some spare time on my hand and wanted to learn sewing, so a chalk bag sounded like an easy enough project.
I never had a chalk bag before, so I started by looking at different ones online to figure out what I wanted
I wanted something with a bit of rugged exterior so I need not worry about throwing it everywhere.
Some chalk bags have fluffy inner lining, which seemed comfortable. Lining things is also something I wanted to learn for sewing.
The zippered bag and hook were inspired by bags of my friends, and I had never sewed a zipper before.
I dug through my pile of old clothes and found a pair of jeans which needed a new life. The hook was salvaged of some free merch from Gamescon. The belt loop is a leftover of some belt I had shortened. All normal string bits were covered by paracord I had lying around. For the rest of the materials, I visited a fabric store and got some stretchy fabric for the top closure and some elastic band and a zipper, as well as fake for the lining. I chose a light color for the inside, so stuff would be more easily visible there.
I also got some grommets to make the holes nice and proper. It cost less than 10€.
I watched some YouTube videos like this one to collect some good ideas.
I started with the inner fur tube. I sized its height and diameter so that both my hands would fit in there at once. While it works well, I ended up with a big bag, and a smaller would probably do just as well. If I were to do this again, I would probably go for a height of 10 to 15 cm and a diameter of 10 cm. Then just my fingers would easily fit in, which is fine, since I don't hold on with my palms.
With the fur tube finished, I watched some tutorials on zippers and zippered bags. I then decided that my easiest course of action was to base my outer layer around that pocket. I choose a zipper almost as long as the entire bag, and used it to connect the edges of the outer fabric tube. The pocket's inner lining was chosen from random fabric I had and attached it with the zipper to the sides of the jeans fabric. I also added the hook on a strip also made out of my old jeans. The height of the jeans tube is higher than the inner fur tube, so that I could wrap it around the fur and the stretchy fabric at the top to enclose their edges.
Then I figured out the rim. The linked tutorial solved it with a zip tie, which would probably work, but I had a metal strip from an old windshield wiper lying around. It is not as bendy, but you can somewhat shape the bag with it, since it holds the shape if you decide to go for an oval.
I connected the stretchy fabric to the fur tube and shoved it all inside the jeans bag. Next, I folded over the top of the jeans fabric twice: once to hide its own edge, and twice to fold it over the top edge of the stretchy fabric and the fur fabric. I also left enough space to push in my metal rim before sewing it shut.
A belt hoop and some brush hoops added to the outside complete the project. The next time around, I would add them before I joined the inner and outer tubes, because now you can see the stitches on the inside in the fur if you look closely. For a similar reason, I would add the hook to the things connected by the top rim of the bag. You don't want to only connect it to the inner lining of your bag since it would then be too flappy if you chuck in a heavy padlock.
Other than the linked tutorial, I did not use paracord for the closure. I tried that, but the advantage of elastic cord is that you can push your hand into the closed opening, and it will almost automatically seal itself around your arm. With paracord, you have to open and close it.
I added a nice grommet to lead the cord outside the bag and added a cord lock. Then I tied both ends into a fancy diamond knot to finish it off.
To keep the chalk from spilling out when somebody kicks over the back, I then took one of the single socks I had and added the chalk in there. The fabric is wide enough that the chalk dust can escape, but the blocks remain inside.
At some point I also tried a laser cut stencil to spray paint my logo on the bag. It failed horribly totally worked, and I planned to trace the outline by hand on the white paint all along anyway. If you try to replicate this and know you want to do this before you sew your bag, do yourself a favor and stretch out the fabric for spray-painting before everything is sewn together. It makes it way easier to get it flat and it won't leak below your stencil.
The bag works as intended and looks good enough that my mates are surprised when they find out I made it myself. But mistakes were made and there is room for improvement.
Overall, a great beginner sewing project. Even if you mess up, no one will notice. Sizing problems won't end up restricting movement as with garments. You can use colorful cloths to customize your bag, and the overall project prize won't exceed a bought bag by much.