November 2022

I made a bag/backpack for carrying around my Alphorn. 

As with many things on this site, I post not as an expert, but as a person sharing how he did something.   I wanted a carrying case that I could also wear on my back, to carry the 3 piece Alphorn I made  link to my Alphorn building page here!. 

Finished Alphorn Bag / Alphorn Backpack.

Full grain leather straps.

I will not get into too many details of how I stitched this Alphorn case/bag/backpack, because I do not feel qualified to give advice on sewing, but I wanted to share what my Alphorn bag looks like, so here goes.  We do have a basic sewing machine in the house, shown in the photo below, and I used that for this project, along with hand stitching.

Making felt sleeves for the alphorn bag:

There will be three felt "Bags" or what I would call "sleeves" that I will put the alphorn sections in before putting them in the Alphorn carrying bag.

First I stitched together 3 felt sleeves designed to fit the three sections of the alphorn. These sleeves are tapered to fit the alphorn sections. I stitched them on the sewing machine and then turned them inside out so that the stitched hems were on the inside of the bags. I used a zig zag stitch on the sewing machine to make a strong hem.

In this photo, the Alphorn sections are inside the felt sleeves.

I bought nylon webbing/strap material and two little plastic buckles and made two nylon straps to secure the sections tight to each other.

Here are my stitches securing the buckle in the nylon strap.

Making the Alphorn Carrying Bag:

My Alphorn sections are about 4' each, so I made the bag 54" long to leave fabric for when I cinch up the top.  I bundled up the alphorn sections as shown above, then measured the required diameter of the bag at various locations along the length of the bundle.  I multiplied these diameters by 3.14 to determine the fabric pattern.  I then added an extra inch for hems and 1/2" for foam in case I add that later.

I measured the bundled up Alphorn sections and came up with the shape I wanted to hold them. I left extra room to fit in 1/2" thick foam sheet around the inside of the bag. Here I have cut the shape into heavy cotton duck fabric. NOTE that in this photo the fabric is doubled up. The right edge of the fabric in the photo is where it is folded. I will open this up like a butterfly as seen in the next photo.

Here the heavy cotton duck fabric that I cut has been opened up and laid flat. Now I will fold over the top into a large hem, and I will stitch paracord (red) into the hem so that I can cinch up the top of the bag.

Next I stitched up the bottom and the side of the bag. I did two passes of zig-zag stitched along the whole bottom and side. Then I turned it inside out so that these stitched edges were on the inside of the bag.

Here is the stitched up and turned inside-out bag.

Next I positioned the bag, full of the horn sections, on my back to try to feel which orientation would be the most comfortable to carry it in. Then I marked where to put the shoulder-strap attachment points. I used spacing for the attachment points based on a backpack I have. I hand stitched circular patches of cotton duck fabric over the locations where I will stitch in the strap attachment points.

Next I will stitch in the D-Rings using braided high-test fishing line.

First I stitched the D rings on with tight loops around the ring, and then I made another pass with the stitches going through the fabric maybe about an 1/8" from the ring.....to distribute the pulling forces over a wider area.

Here are the D-rings stitched in. I am waiting for some leather to arrive, and then I will make the shoulder straps and hand carrying straps.

Making a pocket for the other side of the case. This will be for mouthpieces, etc..

Pocket closure flap, including 2 button holes that i stitched all around.

I hand stitched the pocket on , and the closure flap. I made the buttons from a 5/8" oak dowel and stitched them on also. Still using high test braided fishing line for all hand stitching.

Making Shoulder Straps for the Alphorn bag

I again used an existing backpack to determine how long to make the straps.  I found 27" complete length from where the strap leaves the bag to where is returns to the bag, to be the correct length.

2mm thick x 38mm wide full grain leather will be used for the straps.

I used a hammer and this punch to punch perfectly sized holes for the rivets.

Leather has been cut to the width of the hasp, and holes punched.

I used double head metal rapid leather rivets. The post should stand proud of the leather layers by about 1/8" as shown.

Hasps are riveted to the straps.