When Betz White contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in trying out one of her Sprout patterns I was more then happy to say yes! If you aren’t familiar with Sprout Patterns, it is a new service that offers public indie sewing patterns that you combine with Spoonflower designs to create customized cut and sew projects. I adore Spoonflower and have been meaning to try Sprout out after seeing some really cool projects on instagram.
The website was very easy to use. You can pick from a design someone else has created, like my Witches & Ghosts bag, or use designs from Spoonflower to create a custom bag design. You can also go into an already created bag and edit it. Like say you want a Halloween purse, but want to change out my ghosts for a solid colored fabric, you can do that too. Once you have your fabric picked you can even move the fabric around so you get the designs you want lined up where you want them on your bag.
When your fabric arrives you simply cut it out (you will have some nice extra printed areas of fabric to save for another project too). Everything is clearly labeled, and besides the printed fabric you also get a PDF of the purse pattern. This is nice incase you ever want to make a second bag from fabrics in your stash.
The instructions were clear and I didn’t have any issues at all assembling my bag. It went together fairly quickly. This was my first time working with Spoonflower’s faux suede, and I really enjoyed it. It has a soft feel, but is sturdy. It was not difficult for my machine to sew, even with multiple layers.
The bag itself is such a great design. Lots of storage space with two roomy pockets on either side. Inside the main bag it has smaller slip pockets on one side, and a zippered pocket with design on the other.
The only change I made to the written pattern was leaving the top of the zippered pocket open. This way I added another pocket to my bag, perfect for sliding my phone into.
The bag comes in two sizes (I made the smaller size) The size I made is perfect purse size to me, and now I have my fall purse all ready to go come Sepetember 1st. If I can wait that long to use it. You can check out the Smile And Wave Tote here, and all of Betz White’s Sprout Patterns here.