HackSpace – September 2019

BACKPACK COVER

Agatha Lee

Project Maker

Project Link

hsmag.cc/JwhsKp

Brian Wente

Project Maker

Project Link

hsmag.cc/eHzixx

gatha’s backpack bore the brunt of the

rainfall as she and her son walked to

the Handmade Movement Fair in the

pouring rain with a small umbrella.

That’s when she decided to upcycle an

old unused umbrella into a waterproof cover for her

backpack. The first step is the trickiest, and involves

removing the canopy from an umbrella without any

damage to the fabric. Agatha used a kids’ umbrella

that had a thread that connected the canopy to the ribs

and was relatively easy to dismantle, but your mileage

may vary, depending on the type of umbrella you use.

It was fairly simple from here on. Agatha is a textile

artist – she details the entire process of sewing a tube

around the canopy with a needle and thread, and some

chalk and measuring tape. She then uses a safety pin

to pass a length of elastic through the tube, before

sewing the ends to complete the cover.

rian loves making parachutes from

old damaged umbrellas. He starts by

cutting out the canopy from the umbrella

using a box cutter – in a similar fashion

to Agatha’s (above). If you do it carefully

enough, you can get it done without cutting off

the tip, which then comes in handy to tie a length

of nylon cord. Brian’s canopy has eight tips, so he

takes a cord that’s about 1.5 times the radius of the

umbrella, and doubles it into eight strands before

tying off one end into a knot. He then cuts the other

end and attaches each of the eight strands to the

tips of the canopy. If you don’t have tips, you can

knot each end, and stitch them to the canopy with

LENS

a sewing machine. Finally, attach a piece of weight.

Brian suggests using a heavy weight for a good

show. Now gather your chute, roll it up, and throw it

as far up in the air as you can.

UMBRELLA

PARACHUTES

SMARTPHONE

CAMERA

EXTENDER

A

B

Above

You can even use the

umbrella’s original

fastener to fold the

cover when it’s not

in use

Left

Brian created one

of these for his

daughter’s Hunger

Games-themed

birthday party