«This thing … man … whatever it is … evil may have created it, left its mark on it … but evil does not rule it. So I cannot kill it.»
Van Helsing, about Frankensteins Monster, in «Van Helsing» (2004)
Similarly to the Camera Belt Bag, I wanted to make a holder for two short lenses. The 23mm F2 and the 50mm F2 (Fujifilm) are rather small and light (223 g and 254 g).
In contrast to the belt bag, I tried to do it without drawing a pattern first. Spoiler: Not a good idea.
The idea was simple, just use parts cut from a thermal mattress/sleeping pad (nice, soft but rugged foam) and use it to cushion the lenses.
The bottom is also material from the foam, but with some cut plastic (was the lit of a plastic box). Covered by duct tape. With the plastic on the bottom (the corners a bit cut, so the otherwise sharp edges won’t damage it), the lenses sit on a soft yet firm bottom.
Laying out the pieces, including the lid and the divider:
Next up, cutting fabric to cover the foam. I decided to use stretch fabric. First mistake — it would have been easier to look at how the pieces are used afterwards and cut the fabric in a way that the right side is covered (e.g., the sides that form the opening).
Then sewing the fabric around the foam. I should not have pulled the fabric as much.
The broader inside walls got some velcro (soft side) for the divider. And yup, the sewing machine was able to punch through the velcro, the foam, and two layers of the stretch fabric:
Trying out whether it fits together:
And then sewing the pieces together for real. Did sew on the right side. The idea was that it could look ugly on the outside, as long as the inside is smooth. Well, it does look ugly on the outside. 😉
But yeah, despite the Frankenstein-like sewing, it works fine:
The size is still small enough to fit in a vest pocket (barely but it works):
I even did «sew» a detachable lid. Not rain proof at all, but it works to cover the contents:
So yeah, ugly as hell, but functional.
At least I hope so, will be interesting to see how it fares in the field.
