Here is a bit of a process post. I was asked to make a diaper bag as a gift for a new mother. The only requirements were that it be massive, use the Michael Miller “Yippee” fabric that the mother was sure to love and have inside and outside pockets. Fortunately the awesome Stitch Lab here in Austin came through with a random acquirement of said Michael Miller print! So I bought a yard and brainstormed.
At first I thought of how much I like those elastic pockets that hold bottles and that I should definitely include those. How to stitch those onto my normal messenger bag style though? I had no idea, more brainstorming. The pockets would be much easier if the sides were flat, making the bag have 4 sides and be more of a rectangle box shape. I had never actually done a bag in that style, but was confident I could pull it off. Anytime I am cutting fabric for a new design though it requires much pre-planning so that I cut the right size and don’t waste any fabric. Measure twice, cut once!
Here are some sketches I did to figure out the finished size + seam allowance pattern. I always write notes for anything that I make not only to help figure it out, but also so that if I have to go back and re-make it I remember what I did. At first I was planning to patchwork a stripe onto the bottom 3rd of the bag, thinking that it would maybe help the bottle pockets not stand out as much. The more I looked at the Yippee print though the more I thought I should leave that as large as possible. I ended up cutting out 2 fat quarter yard panels, layering them with quilt batting and a thin cotton and doing some ‘stitch in the ditch’ quilting on the cheater print. This left me with 2 tiny baby quilt looking panels which I cut to the exact size I needed for the whole side of the bag, 13.5″ x 16 and then stitching on stiff sides and bottom.
I LOVE that it came out so quilty and soft on the sides. I think the open top design will be handy for easy access. Fortunately the stiff sides and bottom along with the dec weight lining being interfaced still gives it enough body to stand on its own. The Denyse Schmidt county fair ginger dizzy dots & scallops fabric was a pretty perfect fabric match too! I used that as the sides, lining, inside pockets and straps. I also made a little covered button and loop with it. Another feature I added to this bag that I normally don’t is that I padded the sleeves with some fleece. They are puffy soft and awesome! I only wish I would have gotten better after shots. I have a bad habit of not doing that for my best most time intensive items and always feel like an iphone snap is enough (most of my sewing gallery photos here are iphone shots quickly snapped after completion). I was especially happy with the elastic inside pockets. I had never made them either and kind of winged it, but they turned out great. You will just have to take my word for it or study the shot above with my sketchbook because it is sitting on one of them prior to being stitched into the lining.
I always compare sewing to cooking and say it is kind of like a stir fry- tons of chopping and prep work, but once you heat up the wok and throw everything in it comes together fast. Once I had a pattern sketched out and got into cutting the whole thing came together relatively quickly. Well I say quickly, but I spent the better part of 2 days on this thing! Phew! Making a new bag pattern for the first time always takes much longer than making a repeat would. Fortunately my own mum made the trip to Austin and spent the weekend sewing with me, which was nice. It helps to have a cheerleader in your sewing room. She enjoys hanging out in my sewing room while I work and we always wish we had more time to do that when they come down for the weekend. In fact I was done and we were still hanging around so I decided to throw together a little changing blanket made out of some left over Yippee and some blue flannel. I also threw in a nice big oilcloth pouch thinking that would be handy to keep any messy diapers or clothes in the bag. I think the next diaper bag I make will probably be all laminated cotton for super easy cleaning!
