Little Things to Sew - Backpack

It's DONE!! Barely. I actually finished it about 5 minutes before Mommy arrived to pick up Courtney this afternoon. And then I still had to take pictures, so being in a hurry, the quality of the pics leaves a lot to be desired. Oh, well... you'll get the idea. ;)

It's a backpack for Courtney! The pattern was from the Little Things to Sew book that I'd gotten last spring. Here's how it turned out:

Since Courtney's no longer a toddler, I enlarged the pattern, adding 3" to the height and 2" to the width. I interfaced all the outside pieces with fleece interfacing, which I fused on by topping it with fusible woven interfacing. The interfacings gave a nice, firmly-cushy body to the bag. There is fleece in the straps to pad them. And obviously, I added piping. I love piping! I think it adds a lot to the looks of a bag, and it's so EASY to do!

I changed the way the straps were fastened on. The pattern called for them to be sewed on at the bottom of the yoke, but I didn't know if that would then make the top of the bag ride too high and bug her in the neck, so I opted to sew them on at the top of the backpack. I think that was a good decision, seeing how it fits on her back (photos below).

The fabrics for the outside and lining are "Beads", from Jess's Amusement Park collection. Because of all the white, I chose to use a solid green for the sides/bottom piece, because I figured that's what would catch the most dirt. I ScotchGarded it, too. But hopefully it'll wash up nicely if necessary.

There's a pocket inside. Note that the lining matches the flower on the front pocket:

The pattern and instructions were easy to follow. If I hadn't done all my "embellishments", it wouldn't have taken me so long to make. Also, if I hadn't made a major booboo, it would've taken less time yet! When I enlarged everything, I was so careful to make sure I did all the pieces so it would fit together right. But though I added the extra width to the bottom and zipper pieces, I forgot to account for them also being the sides, and I didn't add the additional 3" needed there. Aargh! I discovered this late yesterday afternoon as I was about to sew the front and back pieces to the sides. Frustrating but fixable. I cut extra pieces for each side, interfaced them, and then spliced them in. It really doesn't look bad at all. You can't see the seams in the photos, but I topstitched them, and they sort of look like pockets. Anyway, live and learn!

The best part of it all is that Courtney is THRILLED with it! She couldn't wait to get it home and load it up with her 'stuff' to take to Kindergarten Connection tomorrow. Her happiness with it made it all worthwhile for me to make, even with the frustrations. :)

I did manage to corral her long enough for some actual poses standing still. ;)

I also got it done in time for the Oliver + S Sew-along (thanks to the week's grace period) at a little gray's blog.

Now on to the next sew-along project (after I do a little catching up on other things first)!