Wayfarer Sling backpack
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My son’s jeans pockets couldn’t hold his ID/ keys/etc since he got his first car. He needed a fun bag (and not the Jive pattern I had in mind).
I found this trendy bag, the Wayfarer*.
Buying the pattern….what a mess!
Not a nice start at all!
The pattern was available either on the designer’s website or on Etsy*.
I opted to order directly from the designer since Etsy has enormous fees for the designer. But…I never succeeded placing my order.
There were big warnings from both of my banks about buying from an Indian shop, even if this one was legit!
I caved in and bought from Etsy*, paying way more than expected (said fees…). But I needed this pattern…
Instructions and options
Firts look at the instructions was rather positive, the designer seemed to walk you through the steps with ease. There are photos, not diagrams, as visual support.
It is nicely detailed. There are a lot of pieces, which can be expected from a fully lined bag.
You can sew a bag with one or two main compartments.
And there are zillions of pocket possibilities:
- NEEDED back zippered pocket (for birthing the bag)
- NEEDED: front flap pocket
- NEEDED: zippered pocket in the main compartment
- main compartment’s pocket
- card-slot pocket
- pen pocket
- mesh pocket
- smartphone pocket
We decided to sew the one-compartement bag with some pocket options (pen pocket and carry-all pocket).
My son chose the colors and fabrics: navy blue with pleather accent.
Fabrics and hardware
Main fabric is Luggage canva (think of the Eastpak fabric to get the feel of this fabric).
Accent is pleather with lining being the It-bag fabric.
I wanted some elegant harware and chose the color “Electro Black”. I find it tricky to source harware in Europe.
You can click on any of the pictures below to get to the website I bought from.
Sewing the Wayfarer
It took me 3 tries before really starting the Wayfarer*.
Try #1: my sewing machine couldn’t handle the 2 thick layers of webbing.
Try #2: no more webbing, replaced by fabric straps. Good, it works beautifully. Now, to the zippered pockets… AAARGH: instructions give you the length in inches, I converted it in cm, ordered, and they were TOO LONG. A nightmare to work with and shortening the metal zippered ones was a big non-no. Back to ordering shorter ones.
Try #3: Looking good…
Well, not *so* good, the instructions are so compact that I got lost! I had read them a few times before starting, but the names of the pieces are so close that I got lost, even with the little labels provided for each piece.
I’d say that this pattern is for people having already sewed a fair number of bags because there are some points that would need to be clarified.
End product
I probably chose the wrong fabric combination for a first Wayfarer*.
It was tricky to handle it, because of all the layers. I would advise to have a very powerful machine (mine is a Janome 6700P and she was great with the HP plate and professional foot+ a denim 90 needle).
However, I like this pattern. I added this personal touch.
The shop I ordered evyrthing from always includes a little bag of swatches. I keep the similis to add behind the labels as reinforcement.
Wayfarer* is full of potential, once the tricky questions have been answered. I even added notes on the instructions PDF file to save time!
My plan is to sew mine with denim, cotton as lining, and these beautiful rainbow bag notions from Serial Bag Makers.
A Quaint Stitch released the evoluton of the Wayfarer, the Wayfarer 2.0*: it has more space, side pockets, a split strap, etc. Could be nice too, as a travel bag.
