So for most I know March 14th doesn’t mean much of anything, and for a select few nerdy types like me it means Pi Day. That’s all well and good – I love both kids of Pi/e :3 But for me, March 14th will always be White Day. In Japan and some other Asian countries Valentine’s Day is celebrated where girls give chocolates (either hand-made or store-bought – obviously hand-made is preferred) to the men in their lives, anyone from fathers, brothers, to sweethearts and coworkers, etc. While little store-bought chocolates are done out of social obligation, hand-made chocolates given to people close to you are obviously something to feel special about.

White Day comes in one month after, where the men are expected to return the favor by giving a gift to the women that thought of them. These gifts are also confections, like white chocolate or marshmallows. But they could also be other tokens that sometimes follow the white theme, depending on who the recipient is. Of course, this was invented by the confection companies decades ago to sell marshmallows, but I don’t sweat it 🙂 Basically White Day is a chance to reciprocate from Valentine’s Day, and for that reason I love it! ^0^

You see, my boyfriend and I aren’t big romantics when it comes to Valentine’s Day. We go all out for birthdays and anniversaries, but Valentine’s Day feels like kind of a forced holiday so we usually don’t do anything, especially if we know we want to save money and avoid spending crazy dollars on gifts. But every once in a while, we’ll agree to have a quiet Valentine’s Day, and BOOM! he gets me an awesome present. Of course I’m all confounded and happy but also frustrated because we agreed no gifts! But because of White Day, now I have a good excuse to reciprocate! So come March 14th, I’m like BLA-DOW! GIFT! and he gets to feel as kerfuffled as I did 😀

So why the egg bag then? Well, obviously it is white 😀 But when I think of White Day, I think of this adorable scene from the manga Cardcaptor Sakura. When Sakura gives hand-made chocolates to her father for Valentine’s Day, he reciprocates on White Day by giving her a handmade backpack that looks just like this.

Yes, her grown father sews. He’s just that cool.

If you’ll pardon how long this diatribe on White Day has gotten, I just have to say it’s things like this that inspired me to keep on sewing through high school. Reading this manga and thinking “that bag is amazing – why can’t things like this exist in stores?” And that’s what made me go to my machine and make it happen. Any costume or other design — from the sweet and sophisticated to the elegant and elaborate — I thought they deserved to exist in real life and not just on paper. So I was inspired to make a bag just like the one in Cardcaptor Sakura, and, of course, Sakura calls it the “Egg Bag.” So for my White Day present to you, I give you this adorable little backpack! x3

Continue reading “Happy White Day! Bonus Pattern: The Egg Bag”