Back to school

I had planned on making a backpack for Jared 'cause he's going into preschool (no suitable bag yet), but just as I was buying fabric for his, the older two suddenly realized that their bags from last year had mysteriously sprouted holes. "Big holes, mom," they said seriously. "Too big for you to fix."
So it was three bags I had to make. As I cut out the pieces for Jared's (using the same pattern I had used for Jonah's preschool backpack--which, by the way, is still in perfect shape. Who told my sixth grader he's too cool for a T-Rex backpack, huh? Sheesh.), I was thinking, This is so easy! I am going to just whip through this thing. Then as I started sewing all the little parts of the many-pieced straps, I remembered very clearly why I had sworn a solemn vow eight years ago that I would NEVER NEVER make that backpack again. But it turned out okay.


So here's Jonah's. It's so hard (sigh) to find nice fabric for a boy his age. Skulls look a little iffy to me, but they were really the only choice. There was a weiner dog print, but it looked a little cutesy. Poor guy. The lining is all the skull fabric and it has 4 interior pockets and two big ones on the exterior of the bag (one under the flap and one on the back). I left some of the edges raw (on pockets, mostly) to make it look cooler--more distressed as it ages.


And here's Lauren's. You really don't get the full effect of its cuteness without a shot of the lining, but I forgot to take a pic of that. I bought two fabrics for the lining. The one (stripes) shows up in the body of the bird, and the other is a print with small birds and flowers and trees. I used a bird from that fabric to sketch the pattern for her applique. She has two exterior pockets and four interior too.
She wanted one really big pocket that was part of the lining--one that zipped closed to hold colored pencils, etc.--but I just couldn't figure out how to get the thing in there and still look good. I made the pocket, realized it was too small, cut the zipper off (instead of ripping out the seam) with a 1/2 inch edge of fabric all around the edges, and tried to recreate a larger pocket--only to realize I didn't have enough fabric left. I kept the zipper but ditched the pouch idea. Told her we'll just get one of those zip-up pouches for supplies.
Turns out, she already has one. So that's all good.
So we're ready for back to school. Just need to get the rest of the stuff to go IN the bags!