carry on
December 28th, 2007
This little bag was my present to my daughter even though I didn’t wrap it or even call it a present. Because December was so full of presents my daughter started expecting them everyday–well before christmas–and when there weren’t any she demanded More! Presents! But I still wanted to give her something. We did a lot of traveling for christmas, which if you have kids means schlepping an amazing amount of stuff around. I though it would be nice if my daughter could carry some of her own things. I followed one of the millions of tutorials on craftster (does anyone else remember when it was in it’s infancy?) for a simple bag. I’m new to making bags, not being a bag person myself, but it wasn’t all that hard really. I used a sew in interfacing, which made for a lot more cutting and sewing but I didn’t think to put it in the flap or the strap and I should have. Two year olds get frustrated easily (and all the time, ugh) so I think it’s important that the bag has some structure. I used a magnet closure thinking that it would be easy for her to use, but damn those are some strong magnets! It was filled with almost all handmade toys, which made me incredibly happy and very proud. And it meant that I didn’t have to shove even more crap in the diaper bag. She carried it the whole way.
The fabric (because a couple people have asked) is Alexander Henry and I’m not much for little kids prints, but I really like this one. And the inspiration for making the bag in the first place came from Beth at writemamawrite. She has a great list of things to pack for toddlers in that post as well, but let’s hope you have no more traveling to do–this year at least! We have one more plane ride home (home!) tomorrow and we’ll see if the excitement of “my new purse!” can last until then. Hell, I hope I last until then.
December 28th, 2007 at 10:43 am
I want one for me! :)
December 28th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
It’s a great idea and a lovely bag - I made my boys backpacks in the summer. They refer to them as ‘goodie bags’ and keep all their bits and bobs in them when they’re on the move.
December 28th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I love the bag…and the ginger bread it AWESOME!
December 29th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
It’s so cute it makes me go “SQUEEEEEEEEE!” Xxx
December 29th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
That bag is so cute and it looks great. I’m sure it will last the distance and I hope you do to.
December 30th, 2007 at 8:29 am
perhaps you should consider peddling it on etsy.com - it really charming.
December 30th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I do remember Craftster in it’s infancy! It is SO overwhelming now. I guess that shows our crafty age :) I recently rediscovered some patterns from Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching) I bought way back in 2000.
The bag is super, and such a great idea. I think I’ll use velcro for my munchkin (she loves that ripping sound!).
December 30th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
That is sooooo cute!
Great fabric. And I’m glad someone has a child who carries her own stuff. I was dragging three child size wheely bags because my boys were ‘tired’.
Boys. tse.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
And I’ll bet your daughter looked great too carrying her own bag. Hope your trip home was uneventful. Welcome back.
December 31st, 2007 at 10:31 am
I love it… So fantastic!
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 am
The bag came out wonderfully. Do you happen to know which tutorial? I have looked at a ton of bag tutorials, and not found one resembling this. Thank you!
January 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
This is a lovely bag, I love the strap.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:33 am
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