Last year when we went to Florida for our trip, I made my girls cute little cross body bags to carry. Because Boo and Kadoodle were old enough to carry their own bag with their own stuff (and the gazillion Mickey Mouse stickers they acquired all week) and their own spending money, their bags were tailored to their size and desires. These bags are almost big enough for a full grown adult to carry if it weren't for the shorter straps. They wanted them big enough to tote a water bottle and some snacks. Seems they are always hungry and as this kept them from asking me for one every thirty seconds, I was all for it. This is what we came up with last year...
The top two are the individual cross-body bags, but the baby had to have an actual diaper bag. BUT my baby is no longer a baby and after almost nine years, I am growing accustomed to the idea of NOT carrying a diaper bag. I often feel as though I am missing a limb, but we just don't need the diaper bag any longer. Fully potty trained, Nayners insists that since she is a big girl now, she needs a big girl bag. Enter the bag makeover. I hate to throw things out, especially things that have taken time, effort, energy, money and my own personal blood, sweat and tears to make! So I have decided to take her Disney themed personalized diaper bag and turn it into a bag like her sisters'. The problem is we leave tomorrow, so I am going to have to do all of this TODAY!!!
I am hoping that since the bag is already lined that this will be easy.
Oh, the carnage!!!
My bestie saw this pic and cried,
"NOOOOO!!! You've ripped it's poor guts out."
Why yes, yes, I did.
So I started by cutting the bag apart and ripping out the corner miters (this is where you sew that little triangle on the inside so that you have a gusseted bag).
I needed my "fabric" flat so that I could make my cuts.
Once I had the bag flat, I evened off the top. See when I made this last year, I set the fabric in my embroidery hoop lopsided so I have lived with this bag cock-eyed for a whole year. It has nearly driven me to drink! lol
Next I made a "zipper sandwich." To do this I placed the lining fabric down right side up, laid down my zipper (I always start with my zipper head on the left, that way I never get confused as to where I am) and then place the outside fabric down right side down. Then I put on my zipper foot and sewed them together.
Next I flipped the zipper over and made another zipper sandwich. This time I added a yard of coordinating ribbon in between the outside fabric and the zipper creating a strap for the bag.
Once my zipper was sewn on, I gathered up the ribbon and pinned it in the middle of my fabric so that I didn't catch it on the needle and accidentally sew it somewhere I didn't want it (again, also didn't take a picture of THAT). Then I opened the zipper about half way and laid everything flat right sides of the lining together and right sides of the exterior together and pinned the fire out of it (I'm a copious pinner). By the way, I always pin with the teeth of the zipper towards the lining. I find this makes it easier and things lay better.
I started sewing at the bottom of the lining and sewed all the way around leaving about 4-5 inches for turning (that whole 2-3 inch thing may work for some, but my poor arthritic hands need more space. it also cuts down on the amount of times I jab myself with the pin holding the ribbon in place).
Next I cut the corners so my bag would be nice and crisp on the edges when finished.
Then I turned the whole thing right side out, tucked under the open edges and sewed them closed. I used a little wooden stick to poke out all of my corners.
Here's the completed bag next to the pile of scraps it came from. I guess one could say it lost some weight. Wish it was that easy for me. Looks like this thing went from a size 16 to a size 6 in one afternoon!!
So here are my big girls' bags all together....
**sigh**
No comments:
Post a Comment