Do you ever play with little sewing experiments?

I like them because they come with no pressure to turn out well or to end in a completed, usable piece. They are just practice projects to workshop new techniques, add to your skillset, and exercise creativity.

I’ve come to call these playful projects.

This playful project is experimenting with sewing a nice looking, strong, and functional backpack strap.

Here is a PDF printout of the strap to sew along!

Backpack Strap PDF

Supplies for this adventure:

2 outer layers (ripstop nylon or other non stretch fabric)

1 padding layer (neoprene, cotton batting, sweatshirt fabric)

1 yard 1" grosgrain ribbon

½ yard 1" webbing

1 1" ladder lock buckle

Step 1: Sandwich the padding in the two outer layers and baste stitch around the edge with ¼" seam allowance.

Step 2: Clip the grosgrain ribbon in place around the perimeter.

Step 3: Carefully stitch the ribbon in place.

Here’s an up close of the difference between the webbing and grosgrain ribbon.

Step 4: Insert the webbing into the ladder lock. Pin the webbing in place down the center of the strap.

Step 5: Edgestitch down each side of the webbing.

Step 6: Sew bar tacks along the bottom to secure the ladder lock.

That's it! You have a playful backpack strap that you don't have to do anything with!

But who knows, maybe sometime down the line you'll feel like making a backpack. Here’s a climbing rope bag I recently made using this method for the straps.

Here's the PDF printout again if you'd ever like to use it.