The Reveal!

Hello there friends! It’s time for the big reveal….I finished my Lupin Laptop Bag by Blue Calla Patterns and I’m honestly so incredibly pleased with how it turned out! I could keep blathering on, but I’d rather share the bag and then blather on lol! So here we go friends, here she is….

Eeek! Can you see now why I was so excited to share her with you and the rest of the world?!? She’s just such a beautiful bag in so many ways….let’s start with the fabric, because, oh….my….goodness, it’s so stunning!

I definitely let this line of fabric, Another Dimension, guide me in what to use it for, and so far there’s only one issue I’m having with it….I now want to make everything in these prints because they’re stunning lol! I have some left over and somehow there’s still lots left at the shop so I’m pretty sure I will indeed make something else, just not sure what yet! For this project I chose the Turquoise Floral, Colourful Waves and Silver Hexagons!

Now, if you read my post last week, you’ll remember that in that, I shared my process in the making of this bag, which included seeing if you could figure out with 2 exterior items I used to compliment the fabrics….

For the main band you see on the front and the back, as well as in the gusset that wraps all around the sides and bottom, I used #4 which is a deep textrured purple. I had originally intended on using #7 for the strap connectors (the long piece on top of the gusset (so yes Louise, you were right lol), except that I made a last minute decision to scrap the 2nd viny and use the strap webbing for that as well so it would seem to continue on right up into the strap! I didn’t love the idea of having a different vinyl for that one bit and not having it repeated any where else on the bag.

An added bonus to using this finished webbing was that I then didn’t have to make the connector so less sewing time!

This pattern is perfect for my needs as is, but I did see two “hacks” in the FB Blue Calla Pattern Sewing Group that several people used that I thought I might also prefer, one of those was substituting the Expandable Pocket with a mesh pocket. I used the ByAnnie Lite Weight Mesh and the ByAnnie Black Fold Over Elastic to create this pocket and I’m happy with how it turned out. It isn’t quite as taut along the top as I would have preferred, I should have used an even shorter piece of the elastic to give me that effect but it will still work fine to hold my mouse and battery pack. Using the mesh also saved on fabric and sewing time, both huge bonuses!

Across from this mesh pocket is the actual laptop pocket, which, when you follow the pattern instructions, is designed as a soft and secure place for your device. There is foam interfacing on both sides of the pocket, and for this I chose to try out the new to us Camelot Behind the Seams FoamPro Sew In Stabilizer and I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed this product! It provided good stability and lots of “oomph” as it is quite a thick foam, very comparable to the Pellon Flex Foam, which is my usual preference. This pocket has a velcro tab closure that is also padded with some Pellon Thermolam Fusible Fleece.

The other “hack” that I did was to make the adjustable strap removable. The pattern instructs you to make it a permanent part of the bag but I liked the option of removing it and just carrying the bag by the handles. There are lots of pockets in this bag so I will just fold up the strap and put it one of them when I’m not needing it. This did add 2 swivel hooks to your required notions, but totally worth it in my opinion!

Finally, I don’t think this is a hack because I’m not changing anything about the design of the bag, but I did choose to add on a Shoulder Strap Pad using a FREE pattern from Linds Handmade Designs. I love adding this strap pad on lots of different bags that you carry any kind of heavy items in so this definitely seemed fitting for this bag too! This is the quickest project that really is so useful!

I’ve shared before that Blue Calla Patterns is one of, if not my most favourite pattern shops. Celine designs amazing functional bags, and her way of writing patterns is just so perfect to me. She also provides in-depth FREE videos that are such an amazing tool as well! Personally, I like to “sew along with Celine” so that’s what I do, it makes me feel like I’m sewing with a friend! I forgot to also mention that Blue Calla is also a Canadian-owned and operated company so no converting the very reasonably priced pattern fees….two very big YAY’S!!

Well friends, I hope you enjoyed coming on this journey with me, I certainly enjoyed having you hear! Now I’m going to go sit in the sunshine and stare at my beautiful new Lupin Laptop Bag, I’ll be bundled up since it’s only 5° but the sun is shining so I can’t complain lol!

I’m wishing you all a wonderful week, hopefully you’ll take the time to do something nice for yourself because you deserve it! Cheers friends!

Shawna