Swim Bag, Take Three

I think I'm going to keep gifting these until every kid I know has one.  It's a practical gift, but still kinda fun.  This bag was for a five-year-old who likes pink.  I made hers the same as my niece's, although I must have marked the drawstring openings wrong, because they were off a bit.  Still functional, fortunately, since I didn't realize it until it would have required serious tear-inducing seam ripping.

The birthday girl really likes pink, so my original plan was to have a pink zipper and drawstring, but Joann's didn't have any appropriate pink cord.  The PUL lining is very, very pink, though! Hopefully that pinked it up enough for her liking.

I love this print.  After making a play sling and a dress from it, I'm down to just a few scraps.  It's so girly and spring-like.  And I'm so very done with winter.  It appears that winter is not done with me, however.

In completely unrelated, but nonetheless awesome news, check out the envelope art on this pattern I won from What Nancy Drew Wore.  Pretty much the coolest ever.  I think I'm going to frame it to hang in my sewing room.

Doodle Swim Bag

One of my nieces had a birthday earlier this week, and my sister suggested that she could use a bag like O's for swim club.  I was happy to oblige.  I've probably mentioned this before, but one of my favorite things about blogging is that it's so helpful for gift ideas for friends and family.  That and my project notes are in one permanent place instead of scribbled on scraps of paper that I subsequently throw away or lose.

My niece is still into peace signs, so I was excited when I found this fabric that looks like it's been doodled.  Isn't it perfect for a tween? I thought the black background would be good for the dirt and muck potential of a locker room floor too.

I made it almost the same way as I made O's, but I did make the changes to the drawstring casing that I mentioned wishing I'd done.  This time I cut the two outer pieces to 14x20" (2" longer") and the one PUL lining piece to the same 14x35".  I left openings in the side seams of the outer between 1 5/8" from the top and 3/4" further down.  When I sewed the lining and outer together, then turned and stitched in the ditch, it created a casing just of the outer cotton turned to the inside.

As I'd hoped, this cinched up much more tightly than O's did with the PUL in the casing.

PUL-lined zipper pocket

The drawstring straps are probably too long, but that's easy enough for my sister to customize for my niece.  She can just retie the strings a bit shorter and trim the ends.

Iron-on Vinyl Update

Before I made O's backpack this fall, I spent some time searching to see if the iron-on vinyl would be durable enough, but couldn't find much of anything in the way of reviews. Maybe everyone else knew something I didn't, because it hasn't worked out well.  About two weeks after school began, it started pulling away near the zipper.  By November, it looked like this:

I've been giving it regular trims ever since.  Bummer.  Now it has started to peel away all over.  Before the last trim, it looked like this: 

I'm more than a little disappointed. 

Other than that major problem, I've been happy with how the bag has held up.  I did at one point need to pick out the shoulder straps and go back and serge them (should've realized that rip-stop nylon is not fray-stop!), but it's doing well otherwise, even though it looks shabby due to its shedding.  Poor thing.

Anyone have a good source of laminated cottons in boy/gender neutral prints for next year's backpack?  That market seems to be dominated by extreme girliness.

Star Wars Swim Bag

O's class recently started swimming lessons at the local YWCA, and it seemed he needed a special wet bag to put his things in.  A regular plastic bag did not seem to offer enough incentive to not just throw his damp towel and swim trunks right in his regular backpack...  

I suggested a drawstring backpack, and he requested that it be Star Wars, specifically with a light saber on it.  The original plan was to applique one on, but when E. and I made a quick trip to Joann's a few weeks back, I spotted this comic print and knew he'd love it.  He'd just gotten this old Return of the Jedi graphic novel at Goodwill and thought it was pretty cool.

I used this lined drawstring backpack tutorial, but enlarged it a bit.  The outer fabric pieces were 14x18", and for the PUL lining, I just cut one 14x35" piece, eliminating the bottom seam.

I also changed the pocket to use an inset zipper, like this.  My zipper was 9" long, so I added 2" to the PUL I used to line the pocket.

The one change I would make next time would be to cut the outer a bit longer and the lining shorter, so that the casing was just the outer fabric folded to the inside.  The PUL is a bit bulky to close, especially with the fabric from the seam allowance taking up room as well. It's still functional, though, and O. likes it a lot. So far he has come home every week with the wet stuff IN it.  Yay! 

Pirate Map Backpack II

Two years ago, I made O. a backpack for 4K. He picked out the fabric and piping, and I enlarged the made by RAE toddler backpack pattern and added some pockets to it. It was much loved, and held up better than I would have imagined, only getting a few tiny holes in the non-interfaced side bottle pockets near the end of last year.


When I told the boy that I was going to make him a new, bigger backpack, he was adamant that it be the very. same. fabric. However, it was nowhere to be found in quantities larger than a fat quarter.  I happened to have another pirate map print in my stash which he deemed acceptable.  I ripped apart a ready made backpack that had seen better days to use its padded back panel, bottom fabric and strap padding and constructed it in the same way as his other backpack. 

I wanted this one to be more weather-resistant, so decided to try iron-on vinyl.  I'm not entirely certain how I feel about it yet.  It was easy to apply, but it's quite noisy -- crinkly sounding -- and not as sturdy feeling as I'd hoped.  Which I would have known if I had taken the time to make a test project of some sort, but you know me.  I was sewing up the bag the day before school started.  If I were to use the vinyl again for a bag to be used daily, I'd probably add some interfacing as well.  We'll see how it wears over the school year.


O. wanted a simple front pocket like on his other bag, and side bottle pockets.  I used rip stop nylon for the box-pleated side pockets and for the straps. 

 

Once it was done, it looked ridiculously gigantic, especially for a first grader, but when we got to school, most of the other kids' bags were just as humongous.  The increased capacity has already come in handy, and I imagine we will appreciate it even more come snow pants season.