So while I’m waiting for my fabric swatches to arrive in the mail, I thought I’d tell you about the pattern I’ve chosen for my bag.

At first I thought about making my own pattern for the handbag. I like my current bag, so with a few mods I could make up a pretty good pattern. But I quickly realised that I would have to make at least 1 prototype, probably more and that it would be a long time before my sunflower bag was hanging from my shoulder. It was an easy decision to defer to a real sewing pattern.

It was an even easier decision to go with The Emmaline Bag pattern. I can’t remember how I first discovered Janelle’s blog, but I’ve been following along for a while and The Emmaline Bag pattern ticks all the boxes of what I like in a bag. Just check out the Flickr pool of bags made from her patterns. I like that it’s big, but not too big, there’s lots of pockets and it looks so professional! There are so many options for personalising this pattern too. Contrasting straps, pocket options, strap length, contrasting fabrics… the list goes on. There’s even a leather version in the Flickr pool…yum!

The pattern is very thorough with heaps of big colour pictures. Janelle also has the hardware required for the bag in her shop, so I picked up a set of that while I was there and it’s great quality.  I can’t wait to get sewing!