Laura here, fresh from the sewing room, ready to tell you a little about The Epiphany by ChrisW Designs.

My inspiration for this bag was this paisley print that I’ve been holding on to for a little while waiting for the perfect pattern to make a bag for a friend...I love the bright pop of color you see when the bright green batik peeks through! All of these fabrics are perfectly accented by the orange zippers I used from Zipper Island.

I may have gulped a little when I opened the PDF and saw that it was 82 pages long! But there was no need for concern...This pattern includes pattern pieces for the rectangles as well as a cutting list if you would rather use a ruler. It also includes instructions at the end of the pattern that you can print out to sew with no pictures. This is great if you are the type that can follow along without needing pictures to guide you every step of the way.

I especially love the “no pictures” instructions found at the end of the pattern. Since I followed the advice at the beginning of the pattern and read through the whole thing, I could easily construct the bag without referring to pictures along the way.

Did I mention that there are awesome labels you can print to keep track of all those pieces you spent so much time cutting out? This made it so easy to grab what I needed to work with at any given time.

I almost used ALL of the options available for this bag! (The only thing I left off was the grommets. I was too nervous about cutting my bag, lol!) I even added the feet, my first time using them! SO many pockets, but that’s a good thing, right? ;) Two outside pockets and four inside pockets means that you will always have a place for your things. While I didn’t face my grommet-installing fears, I did include the adjustable strap-So easy to hook onto the rings connecting the straps.

Be warned, there are a lot of layers to feed through your sewing machine! Mine balked when it was time to sew everything together at the top edge and needed to be babied a little, lol. Remember to follow the tips and use a fresh jean or heavy duty needle when you get to this point.

Every great handbag needs an equally impressive wallet, don’t you think? I chose Brandt’s Boulevard to complement The Epiphany and couldn’t be more pleased. Not only does it utilize this groovy tongue lock, it is also packed full of pockets! There are three slip pockets large enough to hold my phone, a zippered pocket perfect for change, a clear ID slot, and four card slots to round it out. It also has the option for a wrist strap, which I chose not to include

While the construction isn’t difficult, there are a lot of steps. Make sure to read through the pattern first so that you will be familiar with each step as it comes along. I decided that I like this style so much that I will be adding one for myself to my sewing to-do list!

Have you made an Epiphany yet? What’s stopping you? ;)

Happy Sewing,

Laura