Custom Project: A Foraging Bag

We say we don't really do custom work (we are trying to concentrate on our own range of bags and accessories, and the designing, refining and workings out of constructing a bag can take quite a large chunk of time), and then all of a sudden, we've done two! We were approached by a fellow maker for a collapsible foraging bag (a bit like our collaboration harvesting bag with Charlott Fletcher) specifically for the foraging and holding of delicate mushrooms, and that can be rolled up when not in use. 

We started the design process by playing around with paper, folding and shaping to see if our ideas work. The paper models are small (think hold-in-the-hand small) but for a bag that needs to be able to lay flat and then be assembled to normal bag shape, it saves us wasting fabric on lots of false starts.

When we prototyped the initial bag in canvas, we quickly realised that the base needed reinforcement to help keep it's shape so as not to damage delicate 'shrooms. So we added leather 'ribs' running along the bottom of the bag to give strength, but without interfering with the bag's ability to roll up. We created detachable leather straps using brass Dot fasteners (super strong popper fastenings), that could also be used to fasten the bag once it was rolled up. 

We were really pleased with how the bag turned out - the proportions of the handles, the shape and the way it rolled - and it was a little bit of a wrench to let it go to it's new home. Although since finding it's new home, we've heard that it is well loved and is being well used, which always makes us happy.