Years ago a company gifted me a “knitters’ backpack” that I absolutely adored and used frequently. It was made of a cool gray faux leather, and it had all these smart pockets and neat needleworking accoutrements designed into the pack, like a keychain hook attached to a piece of leather with 1” measurement markings painted on it, a metal yarn threader that would feed your skein from the pocket and through a hole so the yarn wouldn’t get knotted, and holders for a variety of hooks and needles. The gray wasn’t in my color palette but I didn’t care because I didn’t know about my colors at the time, haha. I’ve brought that bag on virtually every trip I’ve taken for the past 9 or so years. Months ago I realized that the “leather” coating was flaking off the bag unveiling a white, filmy polyester base fabric underneath. It’s unfortunately not fixable, at least not at a reasonable cost, which meant I needed something to replace it.
I immediately knew I wanted to make the Desmond Roll Top BackPack by Taylor Made. I have made this bag twice before as gifts for other people over the years, so I was excited to finally make one for myself. I window shopped my stash and vacillated between a strange but exquisite velvet jaquard-ish animal print (impossible to describe and impossible to deny!) and a thick cotton velvet with a saturated flower print. Both of these would have turned out beautifully in this pattern but ultimately the animal print was calling my name the loudest.
The story behind this animal print fabric is pretty great. When my sewing bestie and fellow Aries Reneé (@missceliespants if you’re nasty) was in town for her birthday a few years ago, we went to Ragfinders, a downtown designer deadstock store loaded (and I mean LOADED) with tens of thousands of pounds of fabric sprawling across several floors. The place is laden with gems but even I, a not-particularly-claustrophobic person, felt the magnitude of how packed the building was and how I was but one earthquake shake away from being crushed by a massive bolt of denim fabric. The price per yard of fabric at Ragfinders is super low, but the catch is that there is a ten yard minimum on all merchandise. I was obsessed with this animal print when I saw it peeking out from the bottom of a mountain of fabric bolts, but could not for the life of me imagine what I would possibly do with 10 yards of it, so I left the store with only a two inch scrap in my pocket to remember it by.
Months later when I still had not gotten the fabric out of my head (my trick for purchases I’m on the fence about: sleep on it for a few days/weeks/months and if it wont leave you alone, go back and get it), I went back to Ragfinders, certain that the fabric would no longer be there but hopeful nevertheless. It took some time for an employee to hunt it down (how they manage to find anything in that packed store I will never know!) but eventually they did. Over the next week I posted my find in IG stories explaining that I couldn’t possibly keep it all, and I managed to sell the bulk of it to other IG users in packages of one or two yards. I kept a couple yards for myself and made a Heather Blazer out of it a few years ago but still had a nice chunk of yardage left to make a bag (or two) with. I’m not sure what this fabric was initially intended for but it has a backing which makes me think upholstery or bags/accessories. My blazer is a great pair for this fabric but because the backing makes the fabric very stiff, it’s less appropriate for clothing that needs a bit of drape, like a dress or pants. It works so well as a backpack that at some point I might make myself a little matching weekender bag to go with it.
The backpack is pretty straightforward with interesting construction, and it’s a delight to see it all come together. I took liberties with the pocket placement in the lining, adding an extra pocket to keep my ipad or laptop leaned against the back of the bag and adding a snap so that pocket can be closed when my big items are not in towe. I used wider webbing than the pattern called for cause that’s what I had in my stash and only had to make minor adjustments for everything to fit together around it.
I do recall from using one of the rolltop bags I made for someone else that if the bag was filled up to the brim, the roll would come undone a bit and make it possible for things to fall out. I contemplated putting a zipper at the top of the bag, which would be a functional fix, but ultimately decided to add a couple snaps on either side of the bag instead- I think I might add one more to the middle for safety’s sake.
I had a nice leather in my stash that looked great with the animal print so I decided to incorporate it in just a couple places- the side pocket and the back strap cover. Speaking of, the leather is doubled over in this area which made it difficult for my machine to sew on top of the straps and webbing, so I had to come up with a clever way to hide the extra lines of stitches you are instructed to sew to make sure the straps are solidly held in place. Fortunately my twill tape label matches the color and vibe of the bag and hides the messy lines of stitching underneath it.
I finished this bag just in time for a cute little day trip to Santa Barbara by train this past weekend. I wish I had taken a picture of it while I was on the beach, but I was too blissed out so you’ll have to trust me that it looked terrific sunbathing by the ocean.
NailTalk: I had a weird/sad day yesterday and I think it came out in my weekly manicure! I started three different sets of nails but none of them were the right vibe and I was removing the polish on each set by the time I was nearly halfway through. Very rare for me- I’ve missed the mark before, but usually just once, not THREE times!
I initially wanted to try a new technique but I didnt have the right kind of nail tape and they came out looking gross. So then I tried something else, but didn’t have a clear vision of what I wanted and the colors looked wrong together. I didn’t even take a photo of the worst set, which had my nails looking like a zombie’s because of the weird green and gray colors I used. Anyways, here is where I landed- a repeat of a past nail, so a bit uninspired, but at least I got them done. There is no lesson to learn here. Sometimes sadness seeps into the crevices of the things you are doing to combat the blues in the first place. No way around it, may as well welcome the weather in.
Lastly, my manager, who I have been with for over twenty years (!!!!) had a birthday recently. He’s been thinking about opening a bakery, and I was so inspired both by his idea and how great he would be at it that I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I drew this image for him as a bday present (while I was on the aforementioned train, actually!) to offer some love and encouragement to keep following his dreams, since he’s been playing that role in my life for two decades now. Happy birthday, John!
BTW he never shared a name for his potential bakery, I just needed one for the image and “John’s Goodies” is hilarious, haha.
Thanks for reading, y’all! Happy making!
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