Monday, May 17, 2010

a backpack for rainer

I have finally finished a little backpack for Rainer. He has been wanting one like his brother's for forever. I've been working on this for a long time. The main holdup was that I rarely picked up the embroidery, so the whole project was stalled. Then I finally made the bag and had issues with the straps. Then it sat unfinished in my studio for two weeks. At last on Saturday I made new straps and finished the backpack. And he loves it! Alas, neither boy wanted to pose with it. Hopefully next weekend I'll get a shot of one of them carrying it.
I have to say, Dieter uses his all the time to take his lunch to preschool--and it has held up amazingly well in the wash, even with the embroidery. I'm happy to say we're a cloth bag instead of brown-bag family. For our lunches, Dieter uses his little backpack, Ken uses this bag, and I use this old bag. It is fun to look back and see that we are really getting a lot of use out of these home sewn items!

Details: the backpack pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's book. Even though it's not specifically a child's pack, you can't shorten the straps by much, if at all. Also, don't make the (other) mistake I made which was to piece fabric together--it won't slide through the casing! I used a linen scrap, lined with muslin, for the pocket, Ikea fabric for the bag, and linen for the straps.

16 comments:

Cadi said...

It's adorable.

Nova said...

gorgeous *and* useful! i love the wee owl :)

Daniela B. said...

It's really lovely :-)I love the little howl!

Holly C. said...

I really love this. Beautiful embroidery!

Kristi said...

love that owl. too cute.

Anonymous said...

you did such a great job!!

Joy said...

That's just amazingly beautiful, Mary Beth! I even showed my husband this morning. Your boys will appreciate the love and warmth poured into such amazing handmades. :)

Rain said...

So sweet! Your embroidery is gorgeous.

Andrea said...

I love the little owl and mushrooms. Adorable.

Anonymous said...

So cute! Do you have a source for the embroidery pattern?

Mary Beth said...

It's from a Japanese craft book. Maybe I'll show you in a future post!

Anonymous said...

Mary Beth that looks great! I love the embroidery. That is just such a special touch.

Annie

momma rae said...

oh, i LOVE your embroidery!! some of my fave subjects. ;)

aly in va said...

how adorable.

Allison said...

this backpack is wonderful! i love the stripes and embroidery.

hanna said...

This is just SO SWEET! Love the striped fabric and the embroidery is adorable - you clever mamma.