everyday backpacks
next month my mom and i are taking nora and etta to disneyland and universal studios. naturally I've decided to sew the girls a few things for the trip. first up: my mom requested some bags for the girls to have in the park.
having had such a good experience with the 'love your lunchbox' (blog post here) and 'on the go organizer' (blog post here) patterns i went to see what gingercake offered as far as backpacks. the day off backpack immediately caught my eye and since it was only $10 i bought it.
a few days later I was cleaning out my closet and came across this everyday skirt I had made a few years ago from the cotton + steel tangram print.
i don't know why, but i just never got a ton of use out of this skirt. however i do love that tangram print so i set about chopping it up to make the backpacks. it did take some planning and a little piecing but i managed to squeeze two kid sized backpacks out of one everyday skirt and a few random scraps from my stash. (probably helped that this fabric is pretty non-directional). waste not want not!
i went through my stash for coordinates but couldn't find anything that would work, so I jumped on my bike and made a quick trip to stonemountain & daughter to pick up the aqua and purple kona cotton, matching thread, and associated hardware.
the backpacks game together perfectly. i did end up skipping some of the edge stitching a because i didn't want to distract from the adorableness of the tangram print.
i added ribbon tabs to both the zippered pocket and main compartment, so the girls can hook keys or whatever on them.
i also added a patch pocket on the inside, complete with a mother of pearl button to keep it shut.
love,
aunt maggie
Â