A Pair of Backpacks - Butterick 5346

Earlier this year, I got a request to make a pair of backpacks - for my parents!

They take day trips to the beach and go hiking and needed something to carry binoculars (for bird watching), cameras, gloves, umbrellas, wallets, reading glasses, snacks and water bottles.

In my stash of patterns, I found this Butterick See & Sew B5346 with two backpack styles. We selected View B, which is the more traditionally shaped backpack. The finished size (in inches) is about 11 wide x 15 tall x 4 deep.

The pattern recommends home dec or heavy weight fabric with firm fusible interfacing for structure and support. We decided to use nylon fabric for it's water- and stain-resistance, so instead of interfacing, I basted low-loft polyester craft batting to the cover pieces for structure.

I made the bags one at a time; when the first was finished, I mailed it down to be inspected and to make any changes to the size or shape.

As designed, the main outer pocket is an added-on curved piece. I thought that would be too difficult to do in the nylon, so instead made a welt zipper pocket. The revised pocket turned out great and actually seems a little bigger than the original design.

The straps are made of 1 inch wide polypro nylon web. In another change from the pattern, these are adjustable so they can be lengthened to go over heavy winter jackets or shortened for lightweight summer wear.

The zippers are all closed-bottom sport zippers. The lining is white sport nylon.

Inside the backpack is a simple divided patch pocket.

On one side of the gusset is a small pouch pocket with a tab closure secured with velcro, just large enough to carry a small cell phone, camera or wallet.

On the other side of the gusset is a slightly taller pouch pocket with elastic along the open top edge.

There were no major changes to make to the design, so the second backpack is pretty much the same as the first. I'm including photos of the second backpack here because some of the pictures of the first one are a little fuzzy.

I didn't realize until I was comparing the pictures from both that I reversed positions of the side pockets on the second backpack! Oh well, I guess that will be one way they can tell them apart.