When I gave our daughter her Sling Along Bag Nora loved it and so she called me and asked me to make her a bag. It is way too expensive to make that bag (I'm going to write a break down of costs post on that next week) but I said I would make her another bag and asked her what she wanted on it and she said owls.
Remember the post from yesterday and the owl fabric? I decided to get some of that.
When I went to the store they didn't have any in the teal colour, just yellow and red. I chose the yellow owls, which turns out to be a drapery fabric, which is quite canvas in feel. Luckily it was on sale for 50% off, but still cost $16.00 a metre. Now as you know I have six grandchildren; the youngest nearly 1 years old and the other's between nearly 3 to 6 years of age. When I make something for one I make for all of them. So as there are two boys in amongst the six I knew the yellow owls wouldn't work, so picked up the fish print and I picked up the green as lining. They were on sale for $10 a metre. Those two fabrics are indoor/outdoor fabrics. All fabric was from Fabricland.
So what did I make for the five eldest, Kid's Messenger Bags. I used this pattern but will give you a couple of suggestions and ideas. The owl ones are for the two eldest girls. The fish ones are for the two youngest girls and Sammy. I did not make one for the baby.
Super cute eh? A perfect size for a child. I used cotton webbing which I get from DailyLike Canada for the straps.
Now one thing I did differently was due to the fact I had directional prints and I didn't want my owls or fish being upside down on the back of the bag which would have happened if I had only cut one piece of material for the exterior, as it says in the instructions. I cut two pieces of fabric which were 12 inches wide by 9 inches high; instead of 12 inches wide by 17 inches high. 9 inches high to take into account for the 1/2 inch seam allowance.
Now despite me doing this I still managed to sew one panel upside down😔 Luckily the front flap covers it, so you don't notice. I put in magnetic snaps in three of the bags.
Although I didn't, you could add inside pockets very easily.
In two of the bags, I added buttons for closure. As Sam and Jeina are getting the same print bag, I added a bird button to Jeina's so it's different. The owl one with the silver button is for Nitara.
This is a fun project, BUT my poor machine was not happy sewing through the many layers especially when sewing the inner and outer bags together where the seams and handles are. I used a heavy duty Jeans needle because if the weight of the fabric.
This pattern could be sized up no problem and I have a few ideas on what else I could do with it.
