The Mandolin Case Challenge

This blog post might be of interest to you if you are curious about what it takes to design and make a shaped bag from scratch.

A while ago I was approached by a friend who asked if I could make a replacement gig bag for her beautiful mandolin. I’ve not done anything like this before and initially found the idea pretty daunting but I thought the process should be very similar to designing and making any other bag. I absolutely love a creative challenge and this would be no different. I suppose I could have searched online for a sewing pattern that someone else had already designed but where’s the fun in that? Plus Diane had requirements for this particular bag, and why not, it’s her bag. She wanted a lightweight bag with padding and lots of it, she wanted a shoulder strap (to be recycled from an old guitar bag that had already been cut down :)) she also needed a short grab handle, a small pocket for her capo, spare strings and picks etc. but one of the most important aspects was a pocket big enough for A4 music sheets.

Once we had the details sorted it was time to choose fabrics so after I annoyed her by bombarding her with photos of the suitable fabrics I had available we came to the conclusion that my teal upholstery quality velvet would make a good lining with plain black vinyl for the outer…all very traditional, then we decided to jazz it up a tiny bit with green thread. With all that established, it was time for me to get on with the design.

Diane had provided me with measurements but I felt that I needed a few more…so she very graciously sent me the Mandolin to keep while I made the case for it! Luckily she has a hard case for it already so it was safe in its box for the majority of its time with me. She also has another instrument at home should she need one while her baby was away.

To get the shape right, I went for the highly technical method (not) of putting it on a big piece of paper and drawing around it! Of course, nothing is ever as simple as that.  I drew a line vertically on the paper to act as my halfway line and very carefully laid the mandolin face down so that the line was at the halfway point, top and bottom. I drew around it, making sure to leave a good margin for seam allowance and padding. After putting the instrument away, I took an A4 piece of paper and laid that in the position it would be in once the pockets were made. I had to elongate and widen the shape to accommodate it. Once I had all of my half shapes mapped out, I cut them out of the paper to use as pattern pieces.

I decided it was prudent to make a mock-up with scrap fabric while I waited for the foam to arrive. I was so glad I did!… I thought I had measured properly for the gusset (The panel that goes all around the bag with the long, main zip in it), I took a cloth tape measure and slowly worked it around the main pattern piece. I had made it about 5 cm too long and while that’s not a major issue - at least it wasn’t too small, right? But if I had gone straight ahead with my vinyl, I would have to unpick it all and start again.

I had all the materials cut and ready to go when I remembered that Diane loves Blackwatch Tartan and I had just ordered some in waterproof canvas for a different project. The green in it goes so nicely with the green thread and the teal lining so I thought it would be the perfect fabric for her pocket linings… at the time of typing this, she doesn’t know I’ve done it and I’m hoping it will be a pleasant surprise for her.

Of course I forgot to photograph the tartan fabric, so here's a photo of another essential set of supplies: a mug of hot coffee, a lot of sewing clips and a generous helping of jelly beans! 

So I had all my supplies gathered at long last and I got to work. Quilting the lining went well, and I ended up with such a gorgeous luxurious feeling, I was very pleased with it. Constructing the outer panels went without a hitch too.  Then came time to put it all together, which, to be honest, was quite a struggle. The foam that I have used for the outer panels is 5mm thick and the wadding for the quilted lining was even thicker but this could easily be compressed with a few rows of stitching. The problem came with manoeuvring the heavily structured case around the sewing machine, it was such heavy work. I was getting through it and had just the binding to attach over the seam and it would be all finished.

That’s when I realised that I had made a miss calculation in the dimensions for the A4 pocket, I have no idea what I did wrong but I couldn’t fit one A4 piece of card in the pocket, never mind a pile of sheet music! I was really upset and just had to step away from the project for a while.

I had to make myself a shoulder bag just to see if I could get some confidence back, but all the time I was doing this I was trying to think of solutions for the mandolin case. After a day or so I realised that there was no way of getting an A4 pocket in there, after all, it was one of the most important requirements. The only solution was to start again from scratch.

I have to say that I feel so lucky that Diane was so good about it, she was completely understanding, even when I told her that I didn’t think I had enough of the teal velvet left to make another…(I did find enough in the end though :D)

So, the process began again with me checking and double-checking all of my measurements, multiple times, I made another mock-up and I took the opportunity to change some other things that I wasn’t too thrilled with on the first bag:

I lengthened the zip so that the case opened more fully and found a way to keep the 5mm thick foam out of my seams. It made an incredible difference to the ease of manoeuvring it while sewing and I think it makes a big difference in the overall appearance of the bag. Also attached some wide elastic to the inside to act as another place for holding sheet music etc. I added a tiny little clip on pouch for keeping plectrums in and called it the pick pocket.

I have to admit that I am feeling pretty pleased with the final results…not that it can’t be improved upon if ever I get the chance to make another. There’s always room for improvement.

 

What does my friend think of her new Mandolin bag? Well, at the time of writing, she hasn’t received it yet, she is happy with the photographs I’ve sent her But I will ask her for her honest opinion when she has had a chance to check it over properly

 

Well, quite a bit of time has gone by since I wrote the above post. I thought I had posted it but I must have got distracted again (very easy for me to get lost in my handmade bag world)

 Anyway, Diane’s daughter organised a dinner for Mother’s Day (over a month ago! I did get distracted, sorry) It also happened to be Diane’s birthday so it was a perfect time to hand over her new handmade mandolin case. She received it very well and seemed really pleased with it on the night and we spent a really enjoyable evening with them

 A couple of weeks later, my friend said that she’d been to a music coaching session, taking her mandolin with her in its new case. Apparently the staff at the music store were impressed and said they would be happy to promote my work if I was interested in more work along this line. Needless to say, I was over the moon to hear this, I just need to sort out some promotional material.

 

 

Today I got in touch with Diane to ask her permission to use her name in this post and at the same time I asked her if there was anything she would like to say about her bag now that she has had it for a few weeks.  Here’s what she said:

 

“I have recently purchased a vintage mandolin, which l thought deserved a bespoke gig bag. Nik fulfilled everything I requested from her, and went further with details and extra features. It's strong, practical, and beautifully detailed. I chose the fabrics but didn't expect the lovely quilted teal velvet lining and matching stitching. It has a shoulder strap plus shorter handles, pockets for music file, other books, capo and special pick holders, too.  It has been much admired by fellow musicians and is a pleasure to use.”

 

Diane’s enthusiasm and positive feedback have been invaluable and incredibly motivating. Her satisfaction with the final product, despite the bumps along the way, reminds me why I love diving into these creative challenges. The encouragement and support from her fellow musicians also speak volumes.

So if you’re still following along, I want to thank you for sharing in the ups and downs of this project. Designing and crafting this custom gig bag was a great experience for me, I learned a lot and loved every minute of it!

If you have any questions or comments about this process, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to drop a comment below sharing your thoughts or your own experiences with handmade projects.

 

Take care for now

 

Nicola