If you’re familiar with a certain uber-popular Swedish brand, the Raspberry Rucksack pattern from Sarah Kirsten is a nearly perfect dupe for the mini and regular sizes. Since Isabelle’s been using the Fjallraven Kanken regular size as a school bag, I’m pretty familiar with all of its features and have to say that it’s an almost perfect backpack. With that being said, I was super excited to make my own version.

*This pattern was provided to me for free as a member of the #sewmystyle2019 leadership team. All views and opinions are my own.

Pattern

From the designer Sarah Kirsten’s website:

The Raspberry Rucksack is fully lined in the main compartment and in the front popup pocket. The wide opening of the main compartment offers great functionality and easy packing and access to items in the bottom of the bag. It comes in two sizes, Little Raspberry and Big Raspberry. The Little Raspberry is a perfect mini size for day trips or for an everyday bag. The Big Raspberry is a great size for a school book bag, gym bag, or work bag.

This was my first Sarah Kirsten pattern. If you’re thinking about making this, keep in mind that there are no pattern pieces included. All pattern pieces are given as dimensions instead. The idea is to create less waste and for the flexibility to customize. If you plan on making more than one bag, I would highly recommend creating pattern pieces out of sturdy cardstock or cardboard for future use.

I’ve only made one tote bag before this so I’m a relative newbie to bag making and I couldn’t have done it without the wonderful sew along and well written instructions. More on my overall thoughts below.

Size

I chose to make the Little Raspberry size so I could use it for smaller trips and as a purse alternative. It’s a perfect size for use every day and I love that I can pack my wallet, phone, book, and more with each outing. The backpack straps are a great size and I’ve never had a problem with the weight of a fully packed bag.

I did find, however, that the front popup pocket is pretty tiny in the Little size and I don’t use it much because it’s harder to access. I did sew a little too close to the zipper though which is a contributing factor. This pocket is ideal for lip balm, hand sanitizer, keys, etc.

Worth mentioning: The Little bag fits a Kindle Paperwhite, but an iPad barely fits and only at an angle which means it has to go in just right. If you are trying to get a regular sized iPad to fit, I would suggest making the front and back dimensions of the bag slightly larger.

Modifications

I made a couple of mods to this bag by adding a loop strap to snap the top handles together and a leather pull to the front pocket.

I had grand plans to modify this pattern for an outside water bottle pocket and an inside pocket for organizing, but didn’t get a chance to. I’ll be better prepared to add these mods in future versions.

Fabric + Notions

All the fabric was already in my stash. I grabbed zippers locally, but I’m glad I was patient enough to wait for the webbing and hardware. In the future, I’d like to source the zippers with longer pulls online as well. The ones I used aren’t super easy to grasp and I ended up adding a leather pull to the front pocket so I could get to it easier.

• Outside fabric: Navy canvas originally from Joann.
• Lining fabric and self-made bias tape: Rifle Paper Co.
• Zippers: Hobby Lobby.
• Webbing: Cotton webbing from Etsy. I used color number 8.
• Hardware: Antique brass hardware from Etsy.

Final Thoughts

I’m not going to lie. This was harder to make than I thought it would be. Not because of the difficulty level, but because it was so different from what I’m used to. Bag making is not like garment making. I know that, but it was a totally different thing going through each step. With garment making, I generally know what to expect: steps are pretty consistent from pattern to pattern, a lot of pieces are assembled flat, etc. With bag making, I’m a super visual person so it was hard to wrap my head around each step until I completed it.

Now that I’ve made one, I feel confident I could make another without feeling so in the dark. I would recommend this pattern to advanced beginners, like the designer suggests. It isn’t really technically challenging, but does require the ability to work with zippers and smaller pieces. (Be patient attaching the front popup pocket. It’s a lot of layers to sew through, but your patience will pay off!)

Have you made a bag before? What are your favorite patterns?