Daytripper Bag (Pattern Review)

A while back, my mom asked me if I would make a purse/bag for her to include in a gift basket for a raffle at her golf club.  I happily agreed.  Mom said the theme of her basket was "Fifty Shades of Pink and Grey."  She had great ideas of what she wanted to go in the basket, and she said she'd like the bag to be pink and grey.  When I was in Florida for Christmas, we went fabric shopping together.  We went to Three Crafty Ladies, and as soon as we got in there, I saw they had Tula Pink's new Salt Water line.  I ran over and showed it to my mom, telling her how much I loved it. She loved it, too!  I have such a hip mom.  :-)

We found this awesome peachy pink and gray fabric in that line that we both just loved.  We also found a great coordinating fabric for the lining.  In preparation for fabric shopping, I had hunted down a pattern for the project.  I came across Erin Erickson's (of Dog Under My Desk) Daytripper bag pattern.  Mom really liked it, too.  So, both the bag and the fabric were decided.  I went home and immediately got cutting and sewing.  The photo above is the project already in progress.

And here's the finished bag!  I had some photos from back here in Michigan, but they were blurry, becuase the wind was always blowing when I tried to take them outside where there was a little light, and there was all this snow in the background.  It just didn't seem to fit with the whole concept of the bag.  So, I asked Mom to take some photos when she got the bag in the mail from me.  I think the bag turned out just great.  I love it.  And I made a matching key fob to go with it.  I put a cardboard key on it so the recipient would know it's a key fob.  This is one side of the bag, which has two open pockets on the back.

I can't remember what tutorial I used for the key fob, but it might have been this one from the Ribbon Retreat.

I am really proud of myself on this bag.  I think it looks really professional.  I fussy cut the pockets and fabric behind the pockets so they line up really well.  You almost can't even see the edge of the pocket.

Here is the other side, which has a nice zipper pocket on it as well.  This pocket is big enough for an iPad to fit in it.  I also made an earbud case using Erin's tutorial for those.  I made this one larger, however, so that golf tees would fit in it nicely.  I used zippers from Zipit, and I used some of their zipper pulls on the bag, too.  I didn't realize there was such a thing as "purse zippers" when I made this, and I used a typical zipper.  Purse zippers have bigger pulls on them that are easier to grasp.  Since these pulls were smaller, they were more difficult to grasp.  Adding the zipper pull took care of that problem.

I also fussy cut this side of the purse so that the fabric would match on both sides of the purse.  It was a fun task to figure out how to work that all out.

Here is another nice shot of the bag my mom took.

The strap is adjustable.  It has one of these kinds of slides on it.  I had a hard time finding these locally.  Erin was really helpful. I emailed her and asked her where I could get them.  She directed me to a wonderful Etsy shop called Tantalizing Stitches.  They sell lots of purse hardware, and the prices are just great.  Way better than the prices in my local shops here.  I really appreciated Erin's responsiveness to my quesiton.

(In this photo, perhaps you can see what I meant in yesterday's post about things being too grey, dismal, and dark to get decent photos here lately!)  There is also hardware holding the strap to the purse.  You can also get these at Tantalizing Stitches for a good price. 

The top of the purse has a zipper flap to keep everyting inside safe and sound.

Here is the inside.  There are three pockets inside the purse.  Of course, you could customize this as much as you want to...adding more or fewer pockets as you like.

I asked one of my sweet, cute little undergrads to model the bag for you so you could get a better sense of its scale.  She very kindly obliged.  We went down into the atrium of our building in an effort to get some decent light.  While I was taking her photo, another gal was studying at a table nearby.  She said, "Oh, my gosh.  I love that bag!  Where did you get it?!"  She couldn't believe I made it!  I think the size of this bag is really nice.  You can get a lot in there.  And the strap is nice and wide, so it's comfortable on your shoulder.  (See my good fussy cutting on that pocket?  Sorry.  I am really proud of myself on that!)

Here is how mom's basket turned out...There is the bag I made, the key fob, the golf tee bag, a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, pink cosmo mix, pink and grey golf balls, pink golf tees, and the soundtrack of music for Fifty Shades of Grey.

I asked mom how it sold...she said it was one of those raffles where you buy your tickets and then go put them in the bag by each raffle item.  She said during the raffle, she went and checked her bag and it was chock-o-block full of tickets!  This basket by far had the most tickets in it.  Way to go, Mom!!!  And one of her friends won it.  Yay!  That's even more fun.

When Mom and I were shopping for the fabric, I said I was going to get more of the fabric so I could make myself a bag, too.  Mom said she wanted one, too.  Haha!  So, we (well, I use "we" loosely....Mom bought all the fabric!  Thanks, Mom!) bought enough fabric for about 4 bags!  haha!  I think we bought 8 or 9 yards of fabric that day.  I already have two more cut out (almost).  I need to get sewing.  This would make a fun summer/spring bag.  I can't wait to have one for myself!

As far as a pattern review, I want to tell you this is an awesome pattern!  It is a PDF download, and it is about 50 pages long.  It is full of photos, showing you how to do things, as well as tips and tricks.  If you aren't an experienced bag maker, this pattern is so helpful.  I have made plenty of bags, but this one is one of the best patterns I've worked with because of all the detail.

I also feel the bag turns out really well.  It has such a professional finish.  This is because there is a fair amount of interfacing and some batting inside each of the pieces.  I think this gives the bag stability, sturdiness, and body.  I like Erin's attention to those details.  She also gives you lots of details about how to topstitch (i.e., by suggesting stitch length) so that things look really professional.  She also gives tons of photos and tips for sewing around all the curves and corners.  All of this is what helped me to achieve such great outcomes on this project.

Erin explicitly states in the pattern that one should use purse zippers.  I just missed that.  So, that was my fault, not hers.  I have ordered purse zippers for the next few bags I make.  ;-)

Another thing I will mention is that in her pattern shop, Erin includes all of the supplies necessary to make her projects.  This was helpful, because I didn't have the pattern with me when we were shopping, but I could get on my smartphone, go to her shop, and see how many yards of fabric we needed.  So helpful!  Good thinking, Erin!

All in all, I love this pattern....enough so that I'm going to make this purse at least 2 more times...maybe 3!  I would say the project is probably at least an intermediate bag project, due to all the interfacing, linings, etc.  But don't let that scare you off.  None of the steps in this project are super difficult.  There are just a lot of them.  For example, it took me a good day to cut out all the fabric, interfacing, and batting pieces for the project.  I actually think the sewing took less time than the cutting (but remember, I was fussy cutting a lot on this).  I give this pattern two enthusastic thumbs up!  I will definitely buy more patterns from Erin.

Specific information:

Pattern:  Daytripper bag from Erin Erikson/Dog Under My Desk

Hardware:  Tantalizing Stitches

Fabric:  Salt Water from Tula Pink  (Outer bag Coral Octo Garden; Lining Coral Sea Stripes)  Links are to the Fat Quarter Shop.  I'm sure other folks have it, too.

Zippers and zipper pulls:  Zipit

I still haven't read the book, Fifty Shades of Grey, yet.  Have you?  I hear it's pretty steamy!

Thanks for buying all the fabric, putting a deadline on me so I got it sewn, and for taking great photos for me, Mom!

Until next time,

Comments

[Carla]

Great post, Stephanie and what a beautiful bag! What a wonderful daughter you are to do this for your mom.

[Amy]

You did a fabulous job on this bag-especially matching the prints--that's not always easy! It makes such a big difference though.

[Thimbleanna]

Wow Mama Pea. That bag is gorgeous! You cracked me up with your pocket comments -- you SHOULD be proud. You did a fantastic job!

(And no, haven't read the book -- heard it was trash -- part due to poor writing and part due to content LOL!)

[Kate]

Love this bag! I have been hunting for the perfect shoulder bag - maybe I'll have to try to make it!

[Shelly]

That came out really nice! Love it! And the fussy cutting -- wow! Really nice touch . . .

[Caroll]

Wonderful post and so informative. I love your bag. You are so right, it looks so professionally done! You should be proud! Haven't read the book. Don't think it would be advisable for a single, old lady like me. LOL
Glad you are getting some sewing time in and posting time in too.

[Mary on Lake Pulaski]

What a fantastic bag Stephanie! Your fabric choices were perfect for this. That size bage is great with room for an iPad and I love the zipper flap to close it - so many bags that size are open on top. Thanks for the great review.

[Flo@Butterfly Quilting]

Thanks for the great pattern review! It does look like a great bag, and a nice size. Gonna have to check this one out!

[PegVan]

This bag was so beautiful that I hated to give it away! But it really made my basket, so I kind of had to!! I was especially happy that someone I knew won it at our fun golf outing. It certainly was one of the favorites in the raffle. Thank you so much, Mamma Pea, and I am looking forward to receiving my own version of this beautiful bag!

[Deb]

So nice! It really does look professional and the fabric match was perfect. I'm glad to hear that Three Crafty Ladies is still going strong - it's such a nice little shop - maybe we'll get back there some day.

[Amy DeCesare]

What a success! Your bag is awesome in every detail! I've made dozens of purses but never knew there was such a thing as a purse zipper you could buy either...and I love that Tantalizing Stitches shop. This pattern looks fab, especially with the top recessed zipper. One more thing...what a great mom and daughter team you make. It's so sweet of your mom to provide the fabric for the purses.

[Linda in Calif.]

You always do such a nice job on your projects. And pick great fabrics too!

[Lynn]

That bag is on my list of things I'd like to make. Thanks for the thorough review. I especially like the link to the purse hardware seller. I have marked that one!

[Maureen]

I might have to make this bag! Since I am intimidated by bags and purses, that is saying a lot. LOVE the fabric :)

[Christina]

It does look professional! Love how you matched up the design on the pockets. So cool of you to help out with the raffle

[Sam]

Tula Pink just did a trunk show at my LQS, I love her fabric and I just made a vw pillow with the same fabric you used for your bag but in the blue. You can see it on my blog, I just came a follower of yours.

[Jackie W.]

You are hilarious! Love the bag.

[Sherri]

Do you think this bag is too big to carry around at market? Also where did you find the purse zippers? Zippit also? Thanks for the great review!

[Donna]

Love the bag! It looks like it was professionally made! I am sure it was admired by all.
Hugs,
Donna

[Ellie Q]

The bag looks much more at home in Florida than it does in Michigan! Can't wait to see the others you make!