Crafting your own expedition backpack not only allows you to tailor its features to your needs but also lets you imbibe a sense of personal attachment with your travel gear. In this guide, we’ll dive into how you can create your own expedition backpack. To construct this backpack, you will set up the front of the bag and then the back of the bag before putting it all together.
Preparing the front:
Step 1
Sew the bottom corners of the front pocket as well as the side pockets to give them depth.
Step 2
Pin the side pockets onto the side seams and bottom seam.
Step 3
Sew the zipper onto the front pocket attaching the flap.
Step 4
Top stitch the front pocket onto the front of the bag as well as the side pockets.
Step 5
Fold over the sides where the side pockets are located and attach the bottom piece along the lower seam allowance.
Preparing the back:
Step 1
Sew the inner pocket onto the inner side of the back piece.
Step 2
Sew the shoulder straps together right sides together, then turn it outward and fill the inside with polyfill.
Step 3
Sew a straight line down the middle of the straps to give it a secure lock.
Step 4
Cut a strip of webbing 9” long for the handle strap.
Step 5
Attach and sew the shoulder straps with the handle strap onto the top edge of the back.
Step 6
Cut another 4 strips of webbing, 2 at 7” long and the other 2 at 20” long.
Step 7
The 7” strips will go on the top of the adjusters and sewn onto the shoulder straps.
Step 8
The 20” strips will go on the bottom of the adjusters. Sew one of the ends onto the bottom corners of the side seams, the other ends will get folded twice and top stitched. This will create a bulk to stop it from sliding off the adjuster.
Step 9
Sew the top hem piece (I) onto the top piece (H).
Step 10
Once these 2 pieces are sewn together, sew it onto the top edge of the back, over the handle and shoulder straps.
Putting together the front and the back:
Step 1
For the main opening, sew the zipper for the main opening onto the top edge of the front and the seam allowance of the top hem which is sewn onto the back.
Step 2
Attach and sew the front onto the back starting with the bottom seams and working up the side seams.
Step 3
Sew all seams together until you have a box shape and the only opening is the main opening with the zipper.
Step 4
To finish this backpack, sew bias tape around all the seam allowances on the inside of the bag.
Hi, love this pattern
Thanks for having it free.
Question, when you have a pattern whether free or not , is there a way that you can make the pattern part of the website PRINTABLE to add to a file for the pattern pieces and with the beautiful full instructions on how to make it
OR could you put a link to this part of the website , so when you are ready to make the pattern your instructions are at our finger tips , instead of trying to book mark or pin it to Pinterest.
Thanks , it would make this so much easier
Hi Trayne, unfortunately we don’t offer that feature on our free patterns. That’s how we’re able to keep our patterns free! 🙂
It’s imbue, not imbibe. Imbibe means “to eat”.
Great pattern, though
Thank you very much, and In this case, the word imbibe means to absorb or assimilate (ideas or knowledge).
I also think imbue makes sense but imbibe doesn’t.
Hi Alisha! Wow, we love all the grammar nerds out here haha! Imbibe does indeed mean “to drink”, but it also means “to receive into the mind and retain” and “to assimilate or take into solution” 🙂
It would probably be better to have one project T a time
Hi Beverley! Thankfully we each only work on one sewing project at a time. 😉
Amanda, if anything it means to drink :-).
Hi M-C! We love all the definitions of “imbibe” 😉
Que lindos diseños,la explicación muy buenas
Gracias por compartir los
How many yards do we need for this project?
For this project, we used 1.5 yards for the outside and another 1.5 yards for the inside lining.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful pattern. I am looking forward to taken this challenge to complete one … FIESTA 🙂
Is there a tutorial somewhere for doing seam binding on the corners? I’m not sure how to make it smooth where the sides joins the bottom.
Hi Veronica! We don’t currently have a tutorial for that, but I’m sure a quick google search could yield some informative results! 🙂
What are lengths of zippers this requires? I’m excited to try and sew this. Thanks in advanced, and thanks for the pattern!
Hello, you can get two 36″ zippers and trim it if needed, like on the front pocket for example.
This pattern is numbered MDF335 but the robin jumpsuit from December 2022 was MDF335. Should this be MDF365?
Hi Shelbi, thanks for catching that! We are in the process of updating this 🙂
There are actually no sew-along tutorials for this pattern. I would have loved to just pay $5 for this pattern and have more instruction. I would not recommend this pattern to a friend. I was so excited to make and carry this bag then tried to start making it and got so devastated but it’s lack of even a list of notions
Hi Halie, we aren’t able to provide sew along videos or tutorials for our free patterns. We’re sorry you weren’t happy with your backpack. In the future, if you have questions or need clarity on a specific part, please reach out. Please note: we do not provide technical support for our patterns over 2 years old. But we would have been happy to offer support with this pattern, especially since it is one of our newer patterns.
I’d sure like a list of materials! Help
Hello, on the right hand side of this post you will find a widget that says “shop this look” with a full list of materials that were used to make this project.