The holidays always bring a bit of stress when it comes to gift-giving, especially when it comes to handmade gifts. I always find myself having too many incomplete projects too close to Christmas Day and adding more unnecessary stress on myself. This year, one of my goals was to make a Grainline Studio Field Bag for my mom.
The Grainline Studio Field Bag is a popular supply bag that primarily functions as a place for knitting, embroidery, or other crafty projects. The Field Bag was a coveted bag handmade by Fringe Supply Co., a popular crafting retail shop. The indie sewing pattern company, Grainline Studio collaborated with Fringe Supply Co. to make the sewing pattern accessible for home sewists to make on their own, especially as Fringe Supply Co. unfortunately closed due to the pandemic.
The Field Bag has a large interior with various pockets to keep tools like knitting needles, scissors, pens, measuring tape, and more all in their place, as well as a section with grommets to organize multiple strands of yarn. A wrist strap and gathered pull-string closure makes for easy and convenient toting and storage. The pattern consists of only three pieces and only requires interfacing for the interior pocket.
With colder weather and more time spent inside during the pandemic, my mom had been starting to experiment with knitting in her free time. I figured a beautiful Field Bag handmade by me would be a practical and special gift to keep all her projects and knitting gear organized.
I chose a fun abstract cotton canvas fabric for my mom’s Field Bag, and a leather wrist strap to make it a bit more luxe. The fabric I’d chosen was a bit more lightweight than I’d envisioned making the bag a bit more floppy, but the sewing pattern can be made in either more structured or less structured fabrics. The fabric I used was a recommended Field Bag fabric from Fancy Tiger Crafts. I was a bit disappointed with the cotton piping cord I ordered because it ended up super wavy and looking a bit ruined. I used the better parts of the piping for my mom’s bag but can hopefully change it out with something nicer looking.
The Field Bag was actually pretty quick to sew, with so many simple yet beautiful details that elevate the overall end result. The step-by-step video tutorials from Grainline Studio’s YouTube channel were also very helpful in addition to the provided instructions. I was very pleased to learn how to sew French seams and some other innovative sewing techniques with this project.
After successfully making a Field Bag for my mom, I decided to make one for myself to contain my growing knitting projects. With everything I had learned about the process of making my mom’s Field Bag, I set out to customize parts of my own Field Bag.
I couldn’t find any heavy-weight fabrics that I loved, so I chose the same cotton linen fabric I used for my mom’s bag but in a different shade. I knew I wanted a slightly sturdier construction so I added some fusible interfacing to the outer layer, and a second inner layer in a contrasting linen that I had leftover from a past sewing project. It was a bit of a shot in the dark but happy to report that the result was exactly what I was hoping for! The added layers not only gave the lightweight linen a thicker, structured look and feel, but the contrasting linen lining also made this look more unique. The linen lining also made for a nice trim on the outside of the bag. I even remembered to add a fun fabric tag while topstitching. (I always forget to do this!)
The pattern is thoughtfully planned with easy-to-follow steps, and it is pretty fast to sew up. My mom is thoroughly enjoying her Field Bag and started using it with her current knitting project as soon as she unwrapped it! I love using my bag too, though I admit I’m thinking of making a different bag for larger projects. The Field Bag has gotten a bit tight for large sweater projects especially when using thick yarn. Any suggestions?
Not only is the Field Bag the perfect gift for someone crafty in your life, it is also just a simple, professional-looking supply bag that you could use as a purse, makeup bag, or really anything! I loved sewing these bags and can’t wait to make more.
Pattern: Grainline Studio Field Bag, $16 (PDF) or $18 (Paper)
Notions: 12″ leather strip, cotton piping cord also from Fancy Tiger Crafts.
