Repairing a Torn Backpack Strap By Hand - A Visual History - Building

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I have a small backpack that I love and have used for many years. Unfortunately, the backpack strap began to tear away at the shoulder, leaving me with an ever more tenuous hold on the contents. As a "new year, new me" project, I decided to fix the strap.

The first image shows a quick running stitch used to "tack weld" the strap back into place. The second image shows the same joint from the other side with the quick running stitch in place.

Red strap and backpack loosely sewn together with yellow thread Red strap and backpack aligned but not yet repaired

The repair is based on the iFixit Torn-Off Backpack Shoulder Strap Repair Guide. The most important part of the tutorial was the introduction of the backstitch, video by Mary Corbet. In previous projects, I'd used a running stitch that worked ok for short durations but tended to fall apart over time or as soon as any part of the thread frayed.

One of the key deviations I chose from the tutorial was to use a webbing material instead of a normal nylon cloth patch. The backpack already uses webbing in the design and it seems to me that the webbing material will be easier to sew than the patch (although this is more of a conjecture than a fact).

Webbing with yellow thread woven in to seal the ends

Setup

Initial stitches in yellow thread to align the webbing and backpack

Initial stitches in yellow thread to align the webbing and backpack

Small yellow stitches holding the webbing to the strap and backpack

Small yellow stitches shown holding the webbing to the strap and backpack

Stitches viewed from the other side

Stitches viewed from the other side

Planning

The stitching follows a figure eight pattern to allow for one continuous thread to stitch the full repair on each side. (Technically, the problem is a variant of the Seven Bridges of Konigsberg and isn't solvable but I cheat and use one side from the existing stitching in the webbing to complete the look)

Planning out the pattern to allow for continuous stitching, starting from the top left and traversing a figure eight pattern

I use four smaller needles to hold the two pieces of fabric in a consistent position and as reference points for the stitching.

Four smaller needles are inserted to hold the backpack material steady relative to the webbing

Sewing the Bag

In progress

In progress stitching showing part of the figure eight pattern completed for stitching to the bag

Completed

Completed figure eight pattern on the inside of the bag

Completed figure eight pattern on the outside of the bag over the webbing

Sewing the Strap

In progress

In progress stitching showing part of the (incorrectly woven) figure eight pattern for stitching to the strap

In progress stitching showing part of the (incorrectly woven) figure eight pattern for stitching to the strap with about half completed

Finishing Touches

Outside of bag showing two complete figure eight patterns for stitching the strap and bag

Close up view of the strap showing the back of the figure eight pattern

View of the strap and inside of the backpack showing the back of the figure eight patterns

The Result

Bag shown hanging as if it were worn with yellow stitches in a figure eight pattern contrasting with the red backpack material