PPC21: Revealing the Side Slinger Cover

So…

in our last post we had a little fun letting YOU be the designer and choosing which of our bag samples YOU would choose to grace the pattern cover for our 1st new design for 2020, the Side Slinger. Thanks SO much to everyone who participated! Pattern design can be rather solitary work and I always enjoy hearing the logic behind which bag my customers would choose. But as much as I enjoy these interactions, this really isn’t a democratic process and in my estimation I have good reasons for having chose the bag I have for our pattern cover. Sometimes I agree with the majority of you, but sometimes I don’t. I’ll share these details below, but right now…

It’s time for the BIG reveal!

And now… let me tell you why I chose THIS sample
over all the others for our cover!

First of all, I really liked this sample and if I were choosing a bag to carry myself, it likely would be this one! I love the way our newish gold zips play off these polkadots, but I’m afraid this fabric is just not flashy enough to overcome that black background… so… it’s OUT!

And I fell in love with this fabric from the moment I first saw it at the Quilt Festival in Houston last Fall and I could instantly picture it sewn up in this design. And despite the black background I gave it serious consideration for the cover. The only thing that held me back was that despite how wonderful it looks against this white background, it kinda disappears against the back outfit I would be wearing in order to show HOW to wear it, which in the case of this particular design is pretty darned important, so for this reason… it’s OUT!

Gosh how I love this sample… now that its completed that is! (Because I sure as heck uttered a few expletives while in the process of making it!) I love the contrast, the texture and the way the zippers play off the faux leather.

So why you might ask did I not choose THIS sample for the cover then?

The reason actually boils down to two words… faux leather! And based on how difficult this material was to sew with, I simple could not in good faith have placed it on the cover of the pattern, or that would have amounted to a blanket recommendation for using faux leather, which I absolutely cannot do. So too bad, but it’s OUT!

And here’s the Gold Rush Bag and you might remember from this post that I was a bit disappointed in how it turned out. But beyond that, you might also remember that the only webbing I could find that wouldn’t totally distract from the fabric was heavy-weight webbing that it was a total pain in the neck to work with. I’m not even sure that many of your machines would sew through it the way this design needs for it to be installed, so for that reason…. it’s OUT!

And finally, I made this “Man Bag” to demonstrate definitively that this design could be made up in such a way as to appeal to the men amongst us! That’s because I can honestly see modern day males wearing this bag under their jacket on the subways and commuter trains making their way to work every day!

BUT—- because this bag was created to be deliberately subdued and well… “mannish”, it certainly isn’t going to garner special attention on the cover of our pattern, because after all, there are very few men shopping the pattern aisles are the LQS (except for a few notable exceptions… you know who you are!) So because of this… it’s OUT… BUT not totally, because as you can see, I did include it in a secondary position to show how it would look on a guy! 😉

So… by now you know by process of elimination which sample I decided to go with for the cover of the Side Slinger pattern. I liked this sample best for the cover for several reasons…

1- I loved this beautiful cork from the moment I saw it at Quilt Market last Fall. It’s neutral while still having the high contrast that I LOVE! It’s one of those bags that really GRABS your attention without being right up “in your face” or taking centerstage over the design elements of this bag! In general I think it has a classic look that would have a multi-generational appeal!

2-It looks a whole lot different than any other bag exterior that we’ve EVER featured on the cover of one of our bags! And actually, this is a pretty big thing because afterall, this is the 44th pattern we’ve brought to Market and at this point in my career I think our regular customers know my style well enough that they could probably pick out one of my bag exteriors in a police lineup! But the best part of this is, that even though this exterior is way different from our “norm”, I still doubt anyone would be shocked to learn that this bag design is ours!

3- It photographs like a dream. No matter what feature I want to highlight in a picture, that feature is easy to see (even if the picture is quite small)! Additionally, this bag is pretty from all angles and that’s important, because remember, a pattern cover needs to tell a story and since we may only get to tell that story once, our goal is for the story to be SO compelling that a customer won’t want to put it down!

So did we make the perfect choice?

Only time will tell. Truth is, the Side Slinger design has been very well received so far so I easily could have gone with another choice and it probably wouldn’t make a bit of difference “sales-wise” but I’m pleased with how the cover came out. And just so you know, this is actually the FIRST pattern cover that my new graphics girl has produced for me and I think she did a great job! The cover she created is very compelling and I’m VERY happy with the work she did!

But you know what?

Call me crazy but I always love knowing if you agree with our selection or if you think we totally blew it! So please feel free to leave your comments and/or questions in the space provided below!

AND PLEASE NOTE!!!! — Just as we did in our last pattern rollout in September of 2019, we’ll be announcing our pattern release with a SPECIAL edition of our Newsletter delivered SOON! It will be complete with a time-sensitive discount offer that will be extended ONLY to our Newsletter subscribers and to members of the StudioKat Designs Pattern Group on FaceBook! So don’t miss out… you still have a small window of time to get in on the fun and pick up a nifty discount coupon too by clicking here to join our mailing list, OR by joining our brand new FaceBook Group!

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