How to attach a strap without having access to both sides of material?

sew your strap to an oversize patch then glue the patch to the bag. If your take the time to prepare the surfaces and use the right glue it will take a decent load

Thanks. Good idea. I have repaired rafts and glued “D” rings to them like this. But that was hypolon and this material is cordura. I’m unaware of an adhesive that will stick to it and would be very surprised if there was something available….that would take the load this will require.

If  the material is heavy duty and solid enough a pop rivet gun (with aluminum rivets) might do the trick. Simply take a hot nail of the exact diameter of the rivet you want to use and hold it over a flame until almost glowing hot and then run it through both strap and bag with the strap held over bag in desired position. With enough rivets concentrated in area it might just hold without ripping out.

Yes, the material is heavy enough for rivets. However, the backside of the rivet…which would be on the inside of the bag….would not be flush with the material. Therefore, it would wear through the liner and damage my gear in a short amount of time. Thanks for the idea though.

Actually a speedy stitcher sewing awl would be better come to think of it.

Thanks, but that requires access to the inside of the bag which is the issue.

Oh I see, I thought you meant you just couldn’t get the sewing foot over everything. I don’t know of a tool or technique to tackle the job, perhaps someone here on BPL can come up with something, but I do know you could just burn multiple small holes in a grid pattern and then weave 1.2 mm dyneeema cord through it all and tie it off. May not be as rock solid as a machine sew, however it wouldn’t fail.

I think Seamgrip would be strong enough, or another flexible polyurethane glue. You would need to clamp after gluing.

Two ideas:

If the bag is such that you can run the compression strap entirely around it, you could attach a couple of patches with “belt loops” on them to hold the strap in position.  These would be lightly stressed because the strap itself would take all the force of compressing the bag.

Or, carefully pick apart a length of the seam joining the liner to the bag’s shell, enough to access the inside of the shell where you want to attach the strap.  When finished, restitch the lining seam.

Third idea – cut a slit in the lining at the spot where you want to attach the strap.  When finished, patch the lining.

get a needle that’s curved

I accidentally bent a needle and use it occasionally

I think you can buy such a needle

Thanks, Monte. That’s a possibility.

Thanks, Chris. I have a lot of experience with gluing (or trying to glue) various materials with various adhesives, including Seam Grip. I’m confident it would not hold as I need it too.

Thanks, Samantha. All great ideas! Even if I were to pick apart or slit the liner though, I still could not get the bag on my sewing machine. I could hand stitch it with an awl but I haven’t the confidence I could do a decent job.

Thanks, Jerry. Great idea. I have a curved needle…but it isn’t tough enough to go through the cordura which is over a truck-like tarp material. It’s super heavy duty!

amazon – “SINGER 01025 Heavy Duty Household Hand Needles, 1 Canvas, 1 Carpet, 1 Leather, 1 Sacks, 1 Sail, 2 Upholstery” – $3.58 free shipping for prime

I have those ^ needles…used them to sew some industrial 2″ wide velcro to a kayak skirt using monofilament fishing line. They will do the job. Get yourself some gloves with strong leather fingertips…it’s going to require some muscle and hand strength.

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate each response and idea!

I think you could simply sew it by hand on the outside. If the fabric is too heavy for a regular needle, use the speedy stitcher and instead of pushing it through to the inside to make the lock stitch, pinch the material and sew only on the outside.