Category: Bags

Doctor Who Backpack

What young Dr Who fan wouldn’t want their own Dr Who backpack? Certainly not this one!

When I saw this Dr Who fabric it was crying out to be made into a backpack, and it came together quite quickly. It is a pattern that I have used before, when I made the blue monkey backpack, using the preschool backpack pattern by Pattern Play.

The main outer of the backpack is a TARDIS print, with a Dalek print for the bag and pocket flaps. The lower pocket, lining and straps are all a plain black cotton.

It’s a good pattern for using novelty prints, as you don’t need huge amounts of them to make a reasonable sized bag. As a children’s bag it’s not huge, it’ll just about fit an A4 sized book in the interior and has four small car/crayon slots under the outside pocket flap and two slip pockets behind the outer pocket. I started with a half metre of the TARDIS print and a fat quarter of the Daleks, and have a small amount of each left over.

The straps are adjusted with two D-rings on either side, and both the main bag and front pocket are fastened using velcro.

I particularly like the piping around the bag flap which I did in black.

I really like this bag. It’s certainly very cool!!

 

 

 

I’m linking up with And Sew We Craft Together

And Sew We Craft

Bag of the Month 2015 – January

This year I signed up to the Bag of the Month Club, where you receive a new bag sewing pattern every month from January to June. The bags from last years club looked really good and I thought it would be a way to try out patterns that I possibly wouldn’t have chosen had I seen them beforehand.

January’s bag was called the Companion Carpet Bag, designed by Sewing Patterns by Mrs H. I did actually start it in January, but saved it for my sister’s birthday in March, and then we went away for a month, and somehow the photos have only just made their way from the camera and onto the laptop ready to be uploaded!

I chose an upholstery weight spotty fabric to make it in that has been in the cupboard for several years waiting to be made into something. There is a layer of fleece inside to give it shape which I quilted in place first. It is lined with cotton and contains a layer of plastic canvas at the bottom to make a rigid base.

The handles are leather and were bought ready made. I sewed them on by hand with extra strong black thread.

I like the frame that is the main feature of this bag. It opens so you can see everything inside. It stays open when you open it, and stays closed when it’s shut! It was actually a lot easier to install than I was expecting, although it did take two of us to hold it and screw the little screws back in once we’d slotted it into the channel!

On the bottom are 4 bag feet. I’m not convinced that they do a lot, but they do make it look quite nice.

I think it turned out well and my sister was pleased with it 🙂

Now just to finish the rest of the bags!

 

 

I’m linking up with And Sew We Craft Together

And Sew We Craft

Teacher Christmas Gifts

Last August W started P1 at our local Primary School. So this Christmas was the first that I needed to find a gift for him to take for his teacher.

I decided to make a pouch. I used this tutorial from Noodlehead, and followed the medium sizing for the pattern.

I think it looks quite Christmassy in dark red and cream cotton:

And then I filled it with chocolates and other goodies!

Digger Bag

My nephew has the last birthday in the family before Christmas, and this year I made him a bag.

I asked my sister what kind of things he was into, and one of the things on the list that came back was diggers!This bag is made from the Fun-to-Go Tote Kids Bag pattern by Fishsticks Designs.

The digger on the front under the zip is paper pieced, and I then used yellow cotton around it to make the pieces the right side. I had some leftover digger fabric to do the band above the zip.

When it came to the back I was originally going to use the digger fabric, but when I measured it there wasn’t enough left, so I made a band across the top to match the front like this: The handles and the lining are yellow cotton, and there is a layer of yellow fleece inside to give the bag some structure. (It didn’t need to be yellow fleece, but there was a piece the right size and it matched the lining so I thought why not!) The zip pocket runs the entire length of the bag. The pocket is lined in grey cotton (see how all the colours from the digger are used somewhere else as well!)I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I think it looks great 🙂

 

 

I’m linking this project up for Sew Cute Tuesday on Blossom Heart Quilts.
Sew Cute Tuesday

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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Bright Children’s Messenger Bags

Children like bags. They like to put toys in them and carry them to another room and take them out again, and repeat, all day long – mine does anyway!

So I thought it was time he had his own bag to do this (so I could claim mine back!). I let him loose in the fabric cupboard to choose which colour he would like for his – he chose the blue cord. Inside it is lined with giraffe cotton that he also chose in the shop a while back when we talked about making him his own bag. At the same time I also made this pink one for his friend whose birthday party we were going to at the weekend. I had a little helper ‘helping’ me sew parts of this one – having a child press the foot pedal of the sewing machine for you really isn’t helpful at all, but he was very excited about doing it! Hers is lined with brown and pink owl cotton. The pattern is from a seller called Puperita on Etsy. It’s a bit different from other messenger bags with its curvy flap. The method it uses to give its boxy shape was also quite unusual, but I was really pleased with how they turned out.I think the smiley face says I wasn’t the only one please with it! 🙂