Green Elephant Baby Changing Bag

This bag has been a long time in the making!

My sister originally asked me to make it about 8 months ago. I spent a while finding a good pattern to use to make it, and then went hunting for fabric to make it with.

8 months later, with the baby not far from being born, I finally finished it – hooray!! I’m very proud of it – it looks good doesn’t it 🙂

The pattern I used is the Does It All Diaper Bag from Peek-a-Boo Pattern shop. And it does really do it all – it has loads of pockets and features!

 I made the outside with lime green spotty drill. The end pockets are a contrasting fabric – an elephant drill. The pockets are edged with piping. This was my first ever attempt at piping. I had some red ribbon that matched the apple the elephant is holding perfectly, and used that to do the piping. Using something other than satin ribbon for your first attempt at piping would probably be a good idea – but after much fiddling and complaining, it is nice and shiny now it’s done! The pocket on the other end is elasticated. I expected this pocket to be tricky but it was actually really easy to do – after doing that piping everything seemed easy though! Inside the fabrics are the other way around. The sides are the elephants and the pockets are the lime green spots. Between the outer and lining there is also a layer of sew-in interfacing which helps the bag keep its shape. One of the long sides inside has a big pocket split in two. There is a hook/key fob on one end inside so you don’t lose your keys amongst everything you put into the bag. The other long side has a smaller pocket split into two, and also a  zipped pocket above. This is the point that I started to diverge from the pattern instructions. The pattern shows you how to add a magnetic clasp to close it, but we wanted it to have a zip so when it inevitably gets knocked over or falls off the sofa everything doesn’t fall out. You’d be amazed at how few changing bag patterns there are out there that have a zip and one long strap from end to end (as that was the other requirement). There really aren’t any. But apart from lacking a zip, the Peek-a-Boo pattern had everything we wanted, so I just had to figure out the zip part on my own! You can also see the square rings I added to the strap so that I could make the strap adjustable.This little slider is the thing that makes the strap adjustable. If you have a cross-body bag or backpack you probably have a similar little thing that does the same job. Because if you’re hanging the bag over a single handlebar pram you’re going to want it longer than if you’re carrying it over your shoulder.(I know I’ve used this picture twice, but I don’t have another good one of the whole bag)

And it’s finished, and posted, hooray 🙂

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