Geocaching

As a family we've started geocaching recently which involves wandering around the countryside with a satnav, drinks, things to swop etc etc etc so I decided to make a bag to carry everything in.  The design brief was to make a bag which would hold the satnav, a book, a flask, pencils and assorted junk to swop (usually old party bag toys and Happy Meal toys!), the bag need to have an adjustable strap as it would be carried by both me and my husband and due to that point absolutely no flowery fabric!  So I ended up with some brown corduroy and some stripy material for the lining.  I took all the things we wanted to carry and spent a while designing the internal pockets so that the lining was flat but the pocket was big enough to accommodate the object.  I got some heavy sew-in interfacing to give the bag structure and I ended up with.......

I had to google how to put in an adjustable strap and found this helpful tutorial from Nikki.

Inside you can see the pockets for the pencils on the left and a larger pocket which has hygiene gel and probably keys will end up in there.

The big pocket on the right holds a book with details in it and the pocket on the left has the satnav.  In between the pockets is a large 6" base which I will put some plasticard in as a firm base to hold the flask and swops. 

So there it is, it was tricky to sew such thick fabric especially with the interlining and turning the bag through was a bit awkward.  The top-stitching probably isn't the best I've ever done but given the thickness and the straps I'm just happy I managed to get round!

Try doing some geocaching, its a great excuse to get the kids out and about and find somewhere you didn't know was on your door step.  The kids love the whole secrecy aspect of it and how people who aren't in the know are called Muggles, in fact we're not allowed to say the word geo-caching out loud, we have to say You Know What!