Messenge’mups Additions

I finished the Messenge’mups a few months back. Still exactly what I wanted and needed. There were a few elements for it that I intended to make at the time, but after finishing it, I decided to take a break from sewing and work on some other projects.

First part was a map case that I had kicking around in the unused gear bin. It was made by North Face I think. Got it about 15 years ago. (Can’t find a picture of it any where.) I never really found it ideal. It folded in half, had a D ring at each end of the long side, and a D ring at each end of the short end when folded. 4 in total. Held closed with a bit of velcro at each end. My main beef with it was that it folded. Well made though. When I made the bag I realized was the perfect size to fit under the flap of the bag. Unfolded.

I removed the D rings and Velcro, and then sewed on 8 Siamese Slik Clips. I was hoping to find the standard ones, but all I could get my mitts on were the Siamese ones, so that is what I used. On the bag itself I placed 8 corresponding tabs.

The map case on the inside of the flap.

But the tabs also appear on the front of the flap, so that I can place the map case there. If I need to reference it a lot, have it on the passengers seat of a car.

Flap open, for a quick map check.

And on the back side of the map case, I sewed a 4" strip of loop Velcro to store patches not currently in use .

The other thing I made was a padded divider. Mainly to protect a lap top and also just to serve simply as a divider. It can also serve as a seat pad in a pinch.

I used a yoga mat for the padding, two layers of it. I made the tabs so that there was some play to accommodate different width objects.

 Some views of it turned inside out.

Hard to get a shot of it down inside the bag.

Pretend the book is a laptop. Mine just disappeared in there, so I grabbed the largest book I had for illustrative purposes. 

Simple, but make a bag I’m already very happy with a bit better.