Perfect Pattern Parcel: Daphne Bag

I’ve made a few bags over the last couple of years – mostly simple tote bags, way too many drawstring bags for Japanese preschool, and only one “real bag” with a recessed zipper to close it up. This week, I braved up and tried a gorgeous pattern that required some more bag-making skills, like an inset zipper and adjustable handles – the Daphne Bag.

The Daphne bag is by Clover & Violet and is a part of the latest Perfect Pattern Parcel release. Parcel #7 includes:

Barcelona Bag and Wallet by Pat Bravo

Butterfly Sling Purse by Emmaline Patterns

Evelyn Hangbag by ChrisW Designs

Midtown Messenger Bag by Betz White

Betty Bowler by Swoon Sewing Patterns

BONUS PATTERN: Daphne Bag by Clover & Violet

The way the Perfect Pattern Parcels work, is that you get to choose what price you pay for the bundle! They also encourage you to allocate part of your Parcel price to the charity Donorschoose.org in order to help classrooms in need. Pattern Parcel donates all profits after expenses from Parcel sales to the charity as well. It’s their goal to raise over $20,000 for Donors Choose this year. If you choose a price of $32 or greater for Parcel #7, you will automatically also be sent the Bonus Pattern! Which is this Daphne bag!

The Daphne bag is a brand new pattern from the girls at Clover & Violet and is designed as a slouchy satchel that can be worn cross body or as a shoulder bag. The zip top keeps your gear secure and the internal pockets (zippered and slip) help keep your accessories where you need them. This is a brand new, never been seen before pattern and is an exclusive opportunity for Parcel #7 customers!

About My Bag

Given my experience with my Super Tote over the past year or so, I know that interfacing soften over time. I also knew that from the start of using the Super Tote, I had wished I’d used stronger interfacing. So this time, I went hard! My bag isn’t very slouchy, and can even stand up on it’s own, but that’s fine by me. I loved adding the inset zipper to the lining, even though it was scary at first to cut the fabric!

Like Clover & Violet’s pattern sample and Gnome Angel, I too used Cotton + Steel! I fussy cut some butterflies, added some tangrams and low-volume(ish) August, with some old-school Melody Miller for the bottom. The pattern calls for home-dec or canvas, but this thicker linen blend with the hardcore interfacing and plastic canvas seems to be strong enough! Talking of plastic canvas, I was wondering what I could use for that as  finding the odd bits and pieces needed for patterns like this can be difficult here in Japan, where measurements and languages are different! But I happened upon some plastic “grid” for kids’ craft – I think maybe for practicing stitching? And it works beautifully!

Aaaaand talking of hardware issues, I seemed to have thrown out the right-sized metal hardware for the handles that I bought at Nippori! And of course the only ones I could find much closer to me were 30mm instead of the required 1.5″. Sigh. And this was after I’d made my handles already! So that’s what I spent most of my day yesterday doing – adjusting and remaking handles! The other Japanese problem I faced was that it seems the metal zippers here are narrower than in America, or at least the one Clover & Violet used! So I jimmied up a solution by adding fabric to the sides so that the binding didn’t eat up the zipper when stitched down. It also means that the bag can be stuffed even fuller with a wider mouth.

I machine stitched the binding down to save time, and I am so proud of my baby Elna for fighting through all the layers of cotton and flannel and thick interfacing! No broken needles! None! The sides with the handles were hand-cranked to get over them, but we did it! I love how the handles turned out in the end, despite tears and growls of frustration (no, seriously, ask my husband!) as I tried to make the original handle work. I was originally going to use the August print again, but had run out, so I used Tangrams again and love it!

I am so in love with my bag, and so proud of my success too! I can’t wait to take it QuiltCon to use as my handbag (with a tote or backpack for class supplies/etc). I highly recommend this bag for a confident beginner bag-maker who wants to learn some basic bag-making skills!! I’ve learnt so much from this pattern that will definitely make me much more confident to try bigger and more complex patterns!