- Reasonably small but big enough for a pack lunch, flask and coat
Not to heavy when empty
Some smaller pockets both inside and out, to keep smaller items safe
Reasonable water resistance
Earth tone/green color scheme
Easy to use fastenings
Points on the outside to tie extra things to
I didn't really want to make it from scratch, the main reason being I never managed to get hold of fabric thick enough, on Saturday I found a bag in a thrift store that seemed to match my size requirement, and almost match my looks requirement.
The downside being it was untreated cotton and not even slightly waterproof, all the leather trim was fake and nasty and it had a cheep scratchy nylon lineing
However I liked the simple design and plain webbing straps
Modifications I made
The first thing I did was strip the fake leather trim and nasty lineing out (which I kept for the paturn to remake the lineing later). While it was nothing more that a shell I took the opertunity to wax it, which darkened the fabric a lot, and gave it reasonable waterproofing (still not great because the weave is quite loose, but it seemed to help). Then I stitched a new strip of thick fabrick at the top to work as the draw string, and lined it with some grey linen I had left over from a previous project (now the inside of my bag matches my trousers ).
Finally, the finishing touches were to put a real leather strap buckle on the front ( made from an old belt), leather straps on the smaller pockets (which will be fastened by buttons when I find some I like) and brass eyelets for the drawstring.
And add all my stuff:
The only thing left to do is work out how to wear a pack with a cloak, both frodo and Sam seem to manage it in lotr, although I think that's movie magic, for now I think I'll stick to ether/or