Elf Son's New School Satchel

Just a reminder that you still have time to comment on the previous post to participate in the anniversary giveaway!

After the successful bag making session I moved swiftly to use all the new knowledge by designing a new book bag for my son. This was sort of half planned as a Christmas present as well, but I thought that it did not matter if he would get it as a New Year gift. His old book bag is one of those nylon numbers the schools get their logo printed on and all the kids have the same. There is a cuteness to it, but he is on his second or third of those already. Its velcro has stopped sticking and it has holes in the corners. He is now that much older that he is quite happy to have something different. He had another bag for his morning fruit snack as well. Some days he is carrying four different bags to school.

The satchel looks deceptively similar to my bag, but I honestly made the pattern myself, using my knowledge of "how to make" supplied by Lisa Lam via her book Bag Making Bible. I used Elf son's old satchel as a guide for the size, although I added a bit both to height and width. I had enough of ticking fabric from elf husbands apron left over to line this bag. It has a big pocket, which I hope will be used for newsletters and all the other handouts mummy needs to read...

On the other side we have similar, but lower pocket divided into three smaller compartments ready to hold pencil case and such. I had meant to buy all the hardware for this bag too, but had forgotten the d-rings, so one end of the strap got sewn and another got a strap loop fashioned from the same jeans fabric with a mega buttonhole. I did get the magnetic snaps and strap adjuster.

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One of my goals making this bag was to reduce the bag load he is carrying, so I made an elasticated strap to hold his water bottle

and enough space for a new snack bag.

It is a watertight zip-bag made of dark out blind cut-outs. I knew that they would come useful! And to lessen the frustration with the zip, it has a mega pull with his initial in red felt! What's more the bag has been approved by Elf son, phew....(His comment was that it had a pillow inside. I think this is a reference to ticking).
My blogging might suffer a bit as I am heading to the BIG city for the weekend and then having some work...(REAL work, rather than crafting) to do. I shall be back next week though.

I am also eagerly waiting for my birthday present to arrive. Yes, it's my birthday today, but the present is not going to be here before the end of the next week. I will show and tell when it arrives as it is craft related and I am VERY excited!