Blue Calla Boronia Bowler Bag

えんま市に里帰りするので、旅行用ハンドバッグを作りました。普段使いのショルダーバッグは財布と携帯ぐらいしか入らないから、いつもよりちょっと大きめの鞄が欲しかったのです。カメラとか飲み物とかお菓子とか入れる用に。
型紙はBlue CallaというとこのBoronia Bowler Bag。
布はポーチを作った時のあまり布で。
まぁまぁの出来ではあるんだけど、機能性と形が私の求めているバッグとはちょっと違ったかな。

I will be traveling soon and need a bigger bag than my regular shoulder bag that only fits my wallet and a phone. So I made a handbag.

I know, the pattern match is not perfect, but close enough for me.

The pattern is Blue Calla's Boronia Bowler Bag. It has a zip from one side of the bottom to the other so it opens VERY wide. In fact it opens too wide for me that I consider shaving off the gusset pieces by 1" if I ever make this again.

I think there is a big divide in pattern quality between garment PDF patterns and bag PDF patterns. Or maybe the expectation is different? I think many bag pattern makers come from quilting and craft sewing background so the "patterns" are quite different from what I, a person who's used to garment patterns, expect. So I need to remember the bag patterns are not as user friendly as garment patterns.

And this particular pattern did not match very well. The pattern I got was supposedly a revised version but I guess nobody complained about the pattern pieces not matching? The exterior main piece and the contrast overlay did not match about 1/8" at the bottom corner. It really bothered me so much that I had to re-print the pattern pieces and trace the shape and re-cut the pieces.

Anyways, the fabrics, both the main exterior (upholstery weight cotton) and the contrast vinyl (faux suede), are a left over from my Blue Calla Clematis wristlet. I gave away all the wristlets so I don't have a matchy-matchy set, unfortunately.

My very first purse feet! These were 12 mm and I think they can be bigger.

I also added a "Handmade" metal label.

The pattern has an interior zipper pocket on one side and a slip pocket on the other. I added an extra slip pocket under the zipper pocket.

The bag zips out wide so the final construction was relatively easy.

I did make a cross-body strap as well (seen in the bottom picture at the bottom of the bag).
The handles were perfectly fine for a handbag but I tend to carry my bag on my shoulder and the handle length as instructed was a bit short for that purpose.

It's a pretty simple handbag, and maybe a tad too simple for me. I'm too picky about bags and this one just did not have all the things I wanted in my bag and the shape was slightly off for me. Nothing wrong with the pattern (other than the corner shape not matching), it's just me... I bought a couple other Blue Calla bag patterns so I will try them after my trip. My search for a perfect bag continues.