Desmond Backpack: :

There's a new bag in-town. A handsome, stylish, and completely practical bag. His name is Desmond!

If you haven't seen Taylor Tailor's new backpack popping up allover the place, then head yourself on over to his site here.

As my dear husband has now started is university degree (mech engineering), he was in obvious need of a bag. A backpack to be precise.

So I hunted through online patterns to find the right bag for my man. And Voila! And new bag was born.

 

A thousand apologies for the off-focus photo. He was holding a squirmy Little Miss S, who was more than ready to go to bed, so it was hard to get a good shot of the bag (and of course I couldn't wait till she was asleep).

But anyway, you get the idea. This bag is FANTASTIC! and not only does it look great, it holds heaps, has loaads to reinforcing in all the right places, and is really comfortable to wear. Seriously, I want one!

To begin with I was a little worried that it wouldn't be big enough, but I decided to just go with it after reading some other reviews on other blogs. I'm so glad I didn't change the size, as its perfect.

The material was Kaufmann Linen in Indigo, which I picked up for a steal on ebay. I lined the bag with the same fabric, as sometimes the innards can be seen peeking though the roll top (if its not rolled properly), and I think its nice to have the same fabric.

Mr Handsome has already been using this bag (which is why its a little crumpled) and he gives it two thumbs up!
It holds a surprising large amount, and he says its nice and comfortable on his shoulders.

Pattern Alterations:
This pattern is made exactly to the instructions, with a few small exceptions. I put some nice cushy quilting batting (iron-on) in the straps to make them nice and soft, and I lined the lining fabric with medium weight interfacing.

I didn't want to go too-heavy a interfacing, because I wanted to avoid a really stiff, but I did want it to hold a little bit of its shape.

I do want to order some otter wax sometime in the future to make this bag water proof as well. Ill update if and when I do that. 

I also ordered all of the hardware from Taylor Tailor, and its top notch. I'm really happy with the quality. Its probably the best I have ever used!

And that's it! I know this bag is going to get plenty of use, and with the amount of reinforcing I did, its going to last a very loooong time!

Jessica