While I might only boulder once or twice a year, my desire to own all the things means that I’ve been wanting to make a chalk bag for a good long while now. There are lots of examples out there of fun looking chalk bags and that was exactly what I had in mind. So I set out to find a suitable plush pattern to create a bag out of. It took me a while to find what I was looking for and in the end I went with the angry kraken. I had already purchased that pattern from CholyKnight/Sew Desu Ne (here) and made Brian the Derpy Kraken.
I made much use of the instructions from the ‘do it yourself’ chalk bag pattern by Edelrid for most of the proportions. Then the original Kraken bag was printed again on 130% scale. I chopped off the top, and redrew the sides to be a little bit straighter. I needed to be able to put my hand in it, so the opening had to be large enough. The spots were placed in slightly different locations and the side flaps(?) were also redrawn to fit the new proportions. The outside was light blue wellness fleece, the spots and other details are felt. The lining is black fleece and the stretchy blue closure fabric was some jersey. Some blue paracord for the closure and blue tape for the belt loops. His suckers are grey minky fleece.
It was very easy to put together, basically the same as Brian the original. The only difference was adding the lining and closure jersey. I was worried that overlapping the light blue to the inside would be too thick to sew through but that turned out to be fine. Because it’s so thick it really keeps its shape well and stays open. I did make one small change and that was to add some stitches to the middle of the underside to keep that from sagging too far down.
Hopefully, the corona situation eases up again and climbing will be possible so I can test out if he works in situ. I do smile every time I look up and I see him laying there, looking at me. So that’s at least something nice about this project.
