PakMod: Modified Military Bag

In this Instructable I will be showing my steps for modifying a small military bag that I got 
off of http://www.sciplus.com/ 
For this little project I was mainly interested in getting more acquainted with the textiles 
equipment that we have at TechShop . I made three modifications: added a handle to the 
top of the bag, straps to wear it like a back pack, and a clip to attach my mini skateboard.

Things used:
Basic sewing machine
Industrial Walking Foot
Hand Press
Awl
Airbrush (acrylic paint)
Cotton Belting
Upholstery thread
Rivets
Side Lock Straps
Rectangular Rings

So at the fabric store I found some plain white cotton belting, which does not really go 
with the drab military theme of the bag. Therefore my first step was to paint the belting.
I grabbed some of my acrylic paints and one of the airbrushes from TechShop and got 
to work. I just thinned down the paint with some water and started mixing away with different 
colors to create a sort of mish mash camo effect.

Next I measured out the top of the bag to find the placement for the handle
and back straps.
And then cut the belting to size for each of my new features.

After I cut the belting I used the basic sewing machine to 
serge the edges, to prevent fraying.
For the rectangular rings I had to double up the belting, 
at which point the material was too think for the basic sewing
machine to handle. I then moved over to the walking foot to 
close the loop with a couple straight stitches.

Once serged, I used the basic sewing machine to attach 
the belting to the top of my bag, using the measurements 
I made in step two to align the two attachment points.

For the back straps I used rivets since I could not get the bag 
inside the sewing machine (and did not feel like taking the 
whole thing apart)
Using an awl I punched holes in both the belting and the bag 
itself for the rivets to sit in. 
Then using the hand press I set the rivets in place.

And the final step....
Thankfully the bag already had some straps sewn on the back of 
the bag which I gladly used to simplify by skateboard strap. 
Using a small piece of the cotton belt I made a loop to hold one 
end of the strap, and then sewed a small overlap on the adjustable
side to prevent the strap from falling off.
Slipped that strap through the existing strap and my modifications are complete!