The Buckthorne Tote

Historically, bag making hasn’t really been my thing. I owned a couple of “designer” bags that I used most days so didn’t really feel the need to make them. I also found it could become really costly due to all the interfacing that you needed to use during the process.

However, after suffering a back injury earlier in the year, I was finding my leather bags really heavy and uncomfortable, making them unusable.

So, I decided to have a go at bag making.

My oh my, how I loved the process! Who knew I loved to make bags all along!

The pattern that I decided to use was the Noodle Head Buckthorne backpack and tote. I love its simplicity. The pattern is mainly rectangles that it provides measurements for (with a base pattern piece included), but there are good instructions to follow.

For fabrics, I decided to use the most gorgeous oilskin combined with a lovely Liberty of London quilting cotton. I love how oilskin ages and wears like leather, but its no where near as heavy.

I really love how this bag came together. It’s just the right size for everyday use and would also be perfect as a project bag. It was such a pleasure to sew.

I absolutely love how the oilskin crinkles, it gives it personality and depth. However, if you don’t like this look you can also use a hairdryer to even out the oil. Another huge benefit to oilskin is that you can omit the interfacing as it’s stable enough without it. On this version I just interfaced the lining.

The bag has some handy pockets both inside and out, helping to keep that bit more organised.

I’ll definitely be making more of these but may add a few adaptions/personalisation, I’ll also be giving the rucksack version a go.