Since a few people have asked about the status of my backpack pattern, I thought I would give a quick update. The process of getting the pattern ready and formatted is taking far longer than I expected. If I had known this from the beginning, I would have waited to make the announcement that I was releasing it. The good news is that I am making progress. The pattern itself and the instructions are finished, I am simply waiting on graphics and illustrations. Since I’m not a graphic artist or illustrator, I have to wait my turn to have these services completed.

I greatly appreciate the continued interest in the pattern. Trust me, I want to get it out as soon as I possibly can. Once I have an official release date, I will be posting about it. My goal is to offer a pdf. version (hopefully in more than one format so it can be printed at home or on a large format printer), and I also hope to offer a physical paper version as well.

On to other things…

cordura diy dopp kit

For over a year, my wife and I have been planning and saving for a trip to Europe, specifically Paris and Barcelona. We happen to be leaving this week, and I couldn’t be more excited! Due to the threat of a French air traffic controller strike (which they have now called off), we are also getting to see a little bit of London on a long layover before taking the train to France.

One of the things I needed for this trip and any travel in general is some kind of bag to hold all of my toiletries (toothpaste, contact solution, shampoo, etc.). Previously I carried everything in gallon sized plastic bags, which was less than ideal. The plastic bags would tear, sometimes they wouldn’t close, and they made organizing impossible.

Since I had some extra Cordura fabric and a free Saturday, I drew up a plan, made a quick pattern, and put this thing together. It was actually a little more complicated than that, but I’m happy with the result. The pockets are sized so that I can easily pull out my quart sized bag of liquids when going through security at an airport.

cordura diy dopp kit

Depending on my packing situation, the dopp kit can fold in half and snap shut, or it can unsnap and lay flat. Lots of toiletry type bags are big chunky brick-like bags. These are fine if you have a large suitcase, but trying to pack in a way that leaves a large enough place for that shape of bag can be challenging. This kit can lay across a suitcase if necessary to make packing easier.

cordura diy dopp kit

The back side has shallow sleeve pockets to hold flat things like bandages. Oh, and that nifty clip you see on the left side of the picture not only allows the kit to hang from a towel bar or loop around another object, but it also doubles as bottle opener! You know, for hotel beer. The company that makes that clip makes some other cool hardware that I have used on another bag (post to follow when I get home from my trip).

cordura diy dopp kit

As I mentioned above, I used 1000 denier Cordura nylon fabric, which is easy to clean and dries out quickly if it gets wet. I’m looking forward to testing this dopp kit out on the road!