Baby bag

After making myself several nappy (diaper) bags over the last few years, and using them til they fall apart, I consider I am well placed to design and make a useful one. So before my new little nephew was born I offered my services to my SIL and she accepted. Yay, another excuse to sew :-)

I gave her a choice of fabrics (via phone pics at fabric stores) and she chose this very cute bird print from Ikea. When I cut out the main panels I made sure I got some of the sweet and quite humorous little birds in prominent positions. For the lining I used a robust denim, as the main fabric is a mid weight and needed a bit of structure.

I based the design on this bag and gave it more rounded corners. The adjustable strap, magnetic snap, outside zipper pocket and various inside pockets are all things I find useful so I included those.

And, in what was the most fun aspect of this project, I made a matching change mat to keep in the bag for outings. I first made one a few bags ago and based it on the design from Lotta Jansdotter's book "Simple sewing for baby". It uses a layer of wadding in the middle and is topstitched around the perimeter. Even though I am definitely no quilter, occasionally I love to try a little kinda quilting type stitches and in this case I stitched diagonal lines through all the layers to hold them together well, then stitched around the  birds for a little extra detail. I finished the mat with some blue grosgrain ribbon and velcro. I also used the same ribbon on a pair of slippers and blanket that I made for bub. Ah, gotta love that feeling you get from a bit of coordination ;-)

Bags are something I never get sick of making and this was no exception. I hope my SIL uses it to death like I have mine, then I'll consider it's a job done well.