Waffle Patterns – Hopefully Creative

Duck to Go

Quacking and carrying away.

Waffle Patterns, the designer of the Penguin Bag and the Whale Bag, released two new bag patterns recently. A piggy (biggetje) and a rubber duck (eendje). I loved them, and they went on sale upon release and I couldn’t help myself. Does one need four animal bags? Probably not. Do I have them now and do they come out to play? Absolutely.

Beak view of black bag shaped like a rubber duck.

Side view of black bag shaped like a rubber duck.

I grabbed some of the same black fabric and gray lining that I used for the Penguin and got to work. As usual with waffle pattern bags, the internal bag was a little bit too small for my liking, but I only figured that out after already cutting it out and adding a zipper to the bottom. So I performed some minor surgery and added a strip all the way around the edges so that the bag innards are now a lot bigger. The wings double as extra pockets. They are not very big, but I did put the optional snap in them for some extra closure.

Apart from that, the instructions were very good again. If I remember correctly, I followed them pretty closely. There is no nap indicated on the pattern, but my fabric has some. So I tried to think about it while cutting out the duck. That was quite helpful, and he’s very pettable now. I think only one section is upside down, but I wasn’t going to take it back out again. The beak was already quite hard to sew.

Bottom view of black bag shaped like a rubber duck.

The duck has one hand strap, and it’s supposed to have a shoulder strap. I stole that one from the penguin temporarily, until I have the materials to make it its own strap. The one problem it still has is that the zipped opening is very small. Only 12-ish centimeters and my hand is not big, but it’s fairly hard to get into it. It can hold my wallet and pens, but not much else. But it wasn’t intended for a giant trek. Still, I think he’s very cute and I look forward to taking him on the go!

Cape Coat

I finished a coat but I don’t like it.

I want a coat with a cape(let).

That’s how this started. I found a fun pattern online that I bought and printed and taped together and tried to figure out. And then I wasn’t convinced by my mock-up. So I chucked that in the corner and let it be. I restarted the project by buying the Tsubaki coat from Waffle Patterns. I was so enamoured with the Dinosaur Momiji that I hoped that this would also do well.

The pattern comes with options: hood or collar, several different pockets to mix and match, and some options for cuffs too. I opted for the hood, one zippered pocket, two welt pockets, one inside pocket and knit cuffs but detachable. I also widened the bottom of most of the pattern pieces to make it more a-line and I drafted a capelet.

Inside view of blue coat with yellow-leaf lining

Inside view of zipper pocket of blue coat

For the lining, I chose a brownish stretch cotton with Monstera leaves. I really like the look of this fabric. For some reason, the lining was shorter than expected, so I think I probably made a mistake there. The buttons came from the hoard and were all different, so I made pairs and arranged them in an (to me) aesthetically pleasing order. Unfortunately the welt pockets are too low, so I cannot comfortably reach the bottom, but I do like the look of the zippered pocket.

I don’t like wearing the end result. The look is great, the functionality not so much. I tested it when it was raining and the hood doesn’t stay on my head, the front blows open in the rain so my legs still got wet and my knit cuffs are not long enough so they are too cold. Most of those things are probably my fault but I’m not sure how to fix them yet. So for now, this thing is just hanging on my coat rack waiting for my inspiration to hit.

The thing I do like is the capelet that I drafted. I quite like the detachable nature of it. It buttons onto the already existing buttons on the coat and a hook on the back. I made two straps so that it is theoretically wearable by itself too. I think I probably made it too wide, so if I make one again, I’ll narrow it more. For now, I don’t think either the coat or the capelet will see much wear, but who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind.

Penguin Bag

Tiny penguin companion for storage.

As mentioned in the Whale Bag post, I also purchased the Penguin – Pinguïn pattern from Waffle Patterns. Since it’s of course imperative to make that penguin bag as soon as possible, I set out to gather my materials. I wanted the bag to look like a real-life penguin, so I bought a white felt-backed curtain fabric for the belly. For the body, I used the same kind of fabric as for the whale, just in black. While the penguin closest in markings might be an Adélie penguin, I didn’t have appropriate orange fabric for the feet, so I chose the whale grey curtain again.

Bag in the shape of a penguin, side front view

Bag in the shape of a penguin, front view

I looked over the instructions and the pattern pieces and decided that I did want to make one major change to the pattern. To increase the size of the inner pocket, I wanted to use all available space to store stuff in. So I measured the body pieces and made an estimation of how big I thought the inside could be. To make the biggest possible pocket, I added circular end sections so that the inside pocket would be shaped like a cylinder. The other addition is to add a zipper to the bottom seam, so I could stuff it after finishing all the sewing.

Bag in the shape of a penguin, back pocket view

Bag in the shape of a penguin, pocket zipper view

As usual, the instructions for a Waffle Patterns pattern are very thorough and clearly laid out. In the end, I did almost all the steps but in a very different order. I added some extra d-rings, one to the belly pocket as an embellishment, similar to the snap in one of the original examples. All the way at the end, I undid a little bit of the tail seam to add the other extra d-ring as an attachment point. I had just recalled this pin and this pin and thought I could combine the animal fanny pack and thigh bag thing together.

Bag in the shape of a penguin, back view

Bag in the shape of a penguin, flipper detail

It all came down to the straps to get those ideas working. So I set out to build the those straps. I wanted two separate ones with side release buckles for easy on-off. A long one that could transform from waist to cross body/over the shoulder strap and a shorter one for thigh or hand strap. I didn’t have enough of the webbing to make the shorter one, so I used the same strap that I used to attach the d-rings for that one.

Bag in the shape of a penguin, handbag option

The long straps comes in two parts, a short part that just has the swivel clip and one side of the side release buckle. The long section has a swivel clip, a slide buckle and the other side release buckle. The length is such that when it’s fully doubled, it fits my waist, but it’s also extendable enough that it fits as cross body. The thigh strap measured to be somewhat too long for my leg, so I could also wear it with wide pants and stuff. I added a snap to the end so that the excess length could be doubled up and snapped away when it was used as a hand strap. I think this will work really well. I can use any of the three top d-rings for whatever configuration of strap I want.

Bag in the shape of a penguin, waist and leg wearing option — Camouflage thigh strap

Bag in the shape of a penguin, waist wearing option — Camouflage thigh strap

I really like this penguin too. I’ve found that I’ve taken the whale bag out a few times the last couple of weeks. It’s really fun and super nice to pet. I hope that will be the same for the penguin. I cut him in such a way that the nap would run down his body, and forward on his beak, so he would be super pettable too.

Whale Bag

Having a whale of a time making a plush bag.

When I got a notification that one of my favourite pattern companies (Waffle Patterns) had just released two new bag patterns, I couldn’t resist. Off to the sale section of the website I went and before I knew it, I’d hit ‘add to cart’ on novelty bag patterns shaped like a Whale – Walvis and a Penguin – Pinguïn. While no longer on sale, I do think these are particularly adorable.

I’d been looking to make a whale bag for a while, ever since coming across the whale shark bags on Pinterest. I spent a decently long time clicking around the internet at that point to find something I liked, but decided I could probably draft it myself if I really wanted to. But then the pattern was released and that plan was out the window and a new one was quickly formed.

The pattern has 10 pattern pieces, of which three are shapes for stabilizer. There are two rectangles for the different pockets and the main body is really only 5 (doubled) pieces. This meant that I could cut it out from the leftovers of the fabric I used for the curtain cape. Since it’s a curtain fabric, it has some stability of itself and it’s very pettable which I figured would be great for a bag.

Finger inside the front pocket of the whale bag

Since some whales have baleens, I thought it would be really cool to give him some baleens with the fabric I also used for the reversible dragon egg. This meant that I cut two layers for the body base section. Bottom layer was the curtain for stability and then the soft, fuzzy, white fabric for the overlay. That was sewn down along a few ‘stripes’ and cut to size. This front section also doubles as a pocket and I used the egg fabric for the lining and the pocket piece.

The back end of the whale bag hanging over a dressform

Front end of the whale bag hanging over a dressform

The pattern is great! The markings line up and the instructions are detailed and easy to follow. I made my own life a little harder by doing that overlay for the body base, which meant a lot of layers in one go. I also think it would’ve been better if I had found 12mm tape for the d-loops that hold the strap. It was a bit fiddly now with the wider tape.

Inside the whale bag — Inside the pocket

Close up of the zipper that closes the inner pocket. — Inside the pocket

I only changed a few things from the pattern; the side pocket is on the wrong side (my bad), the mouth doesn’t have visible topstitching but it is tacked down nearly invisibly, I added some fun extra d-rings on the side as in one of the examples and I put a zipper in the bottom of the large pocket. Since I am unsure if I’ve put enough stuffing in, I wanted to still have it be accessible. This afterthought zipper actually works great, so I can stuff mr. Whale more or less depending on what turns out to be my preference.

If I make one again, I would make a few small tweaks. I’d make the big pocket bigger, put the side pocket on the left side of the whale and put the zipper in the big pocket bottom a lot sooner. I’d also change the shape of the tail, it’s a little pointy now and I think it would look better if it was more filled in. All in all, I do love this little project. It’s absolutely bonkers but I’m sure I’ll find some place to bring my whale!

Dinosaur Momiji

Manipulating origami dinosaurs into a new winter coat.

After breaking yet another coat zipper and clearly not learning my lesson, I set out to make myself a replacement Dinosaur Coat. I’d fallen in love with the Momiji walking jacket from Waffle Patterns and desperately needed one with dinosaurs on it. So the internet was scoured again for dinosaur printed softshell fabric and I landed on some from Takoy. I wasn’t fully sure what the colours would turn out to be, but when it arrived on my doorstep I really liked it. Off to the haberdashery for some new zippers! I tried to line up the dinosaurs so they went around the entire coat and almost matched along the zipper. That seemed to work out quite well.

The pattern works in such a way that you pick the elements that you want to include and follow the relevant instructions for those. I chose to use A: Hood, C: Chest pocket, E: Kangaroo pocket + hand warmer and H: Knit cuff. There are only four adaptations from the original pattern, I think. One is to have larger eyelets on the hood because the ones that were the right size just kept coming loose. The second was to do the pleat on the front pocket to the outside instead of the inside, mainly because I couldn’t find a way to have the dinosaurs show nicely with the inside pleat. Three, add some elastic to the inside of the chest pocket to keep my wallet in place, because I didn’t measure it beforehand. And lastly, to add a hanging loop to the inside when attaching the lining hood to the neckline.

The coat is lined with some fairly thick and smooth orange-y fabric that was a close enough colour match to the outside dinosaurs. The pattern comes with separate pieces for the lining. All in all, I’m very impressed with the pattern. The pieces all match up and the instructions all made sense and were very clear. While the project wasn’t even that difficult, it did take me a fairly long time to complete. That was mainly because I was very unsure on how long to make the sleeves. So the two pieces of the project sat on the back of a chair and on the couch for weeks before I decided to just follow the pattern and make nice long sleeves.

There are a few things I would do differently, if I make it again. The first is are to decrease the height of the hood. It’s too big, so I have to scrunch it down a whole lot for it to stay on my head. Second, the pocket opening for the hand warmer pockets is too far down, which means that I never feel secure in putting something else in there as it would probably fall out. The outside pocket pleat also means that if I put stuff in there, I get a massive tummy, but I guess that was all my choice. Lastly, the zipper doesn’t really comfortably close all the way up so it generally ends where the hood attaches to the neckline. The first time I wore the coat, I wasn’t convinced. But it’s been in stable rotation for weeks now and I really love it.

Tag: Waffle Patterns