Friday 23 August 2013

Handbag to Camera Bag

When we came back to the UK last winter after our stint in Latvia, I treated myself to a fancy new camera. Since then I have been on the hunt for a nice, feminine camera bag, but it has been a thankless task. All of the camera bags available seem to be either bulky and black or, even worse, bulky and camouflaged for an intrepid hunter. Neither of these options were particularly attractive.

I had thought about making my own bag, but was a bit concerned about the sturdiness of a handmade bag. Things came to a head when we were heading off on our cruise and I rushed out to buy the least male option I could find, which was a grey backpack, not very exciting or very me, either!

Browsing through Pinterest recently, as you do, I came across the perfect solution - handmade camera inserts for a shop-bought handbag! The tutorial I followed was from Vanilla and Lace and was very straightforward.


Camera Bag insert with camera

The inserts are lengths of foam, which I had left over from the deskmat I had made for my son, cut to size and placed inside a fabric cover. The only other supplies needed were some Velcro strips. This fabric is called Venice, which I thought was rather appropriate :)




There are foam pads on each side of the bag, the base of the bag and each end. Then a separate pad with Velcro at each side holds the spare lens snugly, whilst another, also with Velcro at each side, keeps my camera from moving around in the bag.


The combination of Velcro strips and foam was rather lethal for my sewing machine needle, but apart from that the sewing was very straightforward.

The bag itself was a bargain buy from a local discount store.

At the moment this bag is more than big enough for my camera and a spare lens, and with an external zipped pocket on the bag, can also hold keys, phone, etc., without causing any harm to the camera or lens.

If, however, in the future I expand my collection of lenses or add a flashgun or other larger pieces of equipment to my photography arsenal, then it is a cinch to revert this bag back to handbag status, and make new inserts to fit a bigger bag.

The camera bag has already been tested on a recent photography day I attended and passed with flying colours :)

If you have tried something new this month, whether it is a photography course or sewing with Velcro, don't forget to link up from Sunday, August 25th to this month's New to Me Link Party.


Linking this finish to Crazy Mom Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict


My Quilt Infatuation

23 comments:

  1. That is such a great idea! And such pretty fabric!

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  2. That is a great idea! Love the fabric too, it's a really pretty design.

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  3. i never thought about it before, why are all SLR. camera cases so obviously for men? Your solution is brilliant - are you signing up for Dragon's Den????

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  4. I just bought a camera too....so I might just have a go at these. Thanks for the link to the pattern...off to take a look.

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  5. What a fab idea Fiona. I really should dig my SLR camera out again!

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  6. There are a few places online that make a fortune from selling 'girly' handbag/camera bags, you've saved yourself loads by making one yourself ;o)

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  7. Fiona, you did a brilliant job!

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  8. There is a company that makes beautiful camera bags but they are pricey and I am sorry the name escapes me right now. I have seen them on many blog give aways but havent won one ( darn!). This DIY looks pretty awesome, thanks for the link!! The fabric you chose is perfect!

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  9. Great way to make your camera bag match your wardrobe! So cute!

    Thanks for sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  10. Love it! I think having a non-obvious camera bag is also a good idea while traveling.

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  11. It looks great! What a good idea :)

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  12. popped over from crazy mum quilts, don`t think I can go through all the links though glad I have found yours so clicked to follow

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  13. Great idea - looks brilliant!

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  14. Looks fantastic! I've been wanting to try this as well, maybe it's time to give it a go!

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  15. I keep meaning to do this so I can get the kind of bag I want. I have got a passport sling which I'm using at the moment but I have to decide which lenses to leave at home as there is a limit to what I can fit in it.

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  16. Whoop whoop!! What a smart idea!!!

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  17. Looks fantastic! There are some nice camera bags for women out there but they are so pricey - Emera is one company I know of - but I like this idea much better. Great camera choice too - what lenses did you go for?

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  18. Ha ha... That a genius take on a camera bag! Especially that you can fit other things in there too like keys and such. Love the idea...

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  19. This is such a clever idea and it looks great too :)

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  20. What a fantastic idea! Very clever.

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  21. What a great idea, your own girly camera bag, so much nicer than a plain boring man camera bag!

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