Guitar Bag for Him

Okay, first, enter our giveaway here!

Second, if you have a brother, son, husband, father, boyfriend, best friend, whatever that plays the guitar and you have NO ideas for, here’s a bag for you to make (note: I’m not being sexist. I know a lot of girls play the guitar. I try to as well. But I think guys are HARD to shop for. Thanks!). The idea is it will hold this tuner

and this capo

and these electrical cords

and these guitar strings

and these picks

all in one location, (meaning not all over the living room, office, etc.) and is *hopefully* easily transported. Wanna make one? Okay, my final bit of advice. Don’t listen to your husband when he says it needs to made from leather because “it’s manly.” It’s also a pain in the hiney to sew. Trust me, I know. Go with a nice, masculine, canvas or other heavier fabric. And tell your husband if he wants it out of leather, he can make it himself. Okay, got that out of my system. Moving on. Just so you have measurements in your head, I was told the tuner was about 4” by 2” (not sure how wide), and the capo was 4” by 3”.

Okay, cut out your pieces. You need a piece that’s 6”x7”(pocket), 6”x6”(pocket), 7 1/2”x11”(front), 10 1/2”x11”(back), and 8”x3”(pick holder). If your tuner & capo are different, add an inch to what you want your pocket to be for seam allowance.

Okay, this is the trickiest part. We’re making the pockets so they have depth. Another great thing (sarcastic) about leather is you can’t mark it with pencil, pen, marker, whatever. And you have to be careful with pins because they leave holes. So fun. First thing you need to do is on your pockets, fold down the top edge 1/2” and sew across along the edge.

At this point, it would be easier to sew on your Velcro if you want to be able to close your bag. Pin a 1” strip of Velcro on each pocket, in the middle of the pockets. I didn’t do this, so I’m saving you the pain of remembering you want that at the end

Now, mark on your pocket on the two bottom corners 1 1/2” up and to the side.

Can you see where my pins are? The 1 1/2” is for the seam allowance, plus 1” for depth of the pocket. Now, fold your pins together, right side inside, and match you pins. Mark a line so it’s straight (90 degrees) from the fold to the pins. Sew that line, reinforcing the beginning and ending. It should look like your pocket has ears.

Trim those triangles down to 1/4” above your stitch line.

Now turn it right side out. It has depth now. We just need to pin it on.

Do that with both of your pockets. On your front piece, sew down the top (the longest side) 1/2” just like you finished the top of the pockets. Draw a line on the bottom that is 2” up from the bottom. Draw another line 2” from both sides. That’s where your pockets will go.

Now, pin your pocket so it is 1/2” under all the sides (if you can, press it. Stupid leather). Sew on the side (matching your side line you drew) of one of your pockets on the top so the bottom (pressed under) will line up with your line you drew.

Now pin the bottom down, along the line you drew, and sew it down, on the top. (called topstitching). Do it again with the other side, making sure that if it is 3” wide at the bottom, it’s 3” wide at the top. Now, you have a pocket with depth!

Do it on the other pocket, starting on the opposite side so it lines up with your other line.

Now, put your back piece on top of the front piece with pockets, and pin the bottom edges & sides. Sew around those.

Make sure you do it wrong the first time and have to unpick (carefully!) your leather…

Okay, are you ready for another tricky part? I know you can do this though! With your bag wrong side out, on the bottom corner, pin it so the side & bottom seams are open, and lined up, making a little triangle.

Now, I decided I wanted the depth of this bag to be 2”. If you want wider, do it different. Take a seam gauge and measure it so the 1” line is on the seam, and the line above is 2” long. Then mark that line and sew across.

Trim the extra down to 1/4” above your stitch line. (do both corners)

Now your bag has depth, and it’s a way to pretend it has a bottom piece. You don’t have to do this, but it does help the make stand open and you can see into it more. Now on your back piece, you’ll need to do a cut. Measure 1/2” above where the front part stops, and cut in 1” deep. (both sides)

Fold that part down, and sew it across, so it’s the same height as your front part of the bag.

For the rest of the flap, fold a very narrow part where you cut, and then slope it to look straight. Sew along the edge. Cut off the extra fabric, and fold the top down 1/2” and sew across.

Figure out where your flap meets the Velcro you sewed on earlier, and sew the other part onto the flap.

For your last piece, sew a bunch of buttonholes on it, around 3/4”-1” long (they can be different, since not every pick is the same…I think), and sew your top row about 1/4” from the top, and your bottom row about 3/4” from the bottom. Does that make sense? Look at the picture for clarification.

Sew the guitar pick holder onto the back of your bag, and you’re in business. If you’d like, you can put straps, a hook, a carabineer, or whatever on it. I left it as is.

Hopefully the bag holds everything for your musician! I’ll try and get a picture of it when there’s stuff inside once he-who-must-not-be-named opens it for Christmas! Just to reiterate, what have we learned?!? Don’t make this out of leather unless you want to let loose some choice words!