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Back To School 2017

Back To School 2017 – All The Backpack Details

I’m super excited to finally share the details of Bean’s back to school outfit and backpack. ย We’re on tour with Sprouting JubeJube and Lulu & Celeste for Back to School 2017 and with Bean starting her first grade year way back in early September it’s been so hard keeping the details from you this long!

Back To School 2017

You guys!! That epic backpack, hehe. ย I let her pick out the fabrics and she chose basically every fabric that should never be used for a structured bag, but somehow I made it work. ย I’ll post all the hairy details below in case someone’s just crazy enough to make one too.

Back To School 2017 But first, I want to point out this fabulous Crossroads Dress (or View G For Free would work too!) and Paneled Sunsuit MashUp. ย I’ve made a few of these so far with more versions in the works and they are Bean’s absolute favorite these days. ย Super comfy and stylish. ย Hopefully I’ll get a chance to post all the MashUp details on here soon. ย But seriously, it’s so easy I’m sure you’ll figure it out yourself before I even get the post up!

Back To School 2017 Last year I surprised Bean with a fun Panda Backpack for Kindergarten and she loved it. ย But this year I thought she should be able to pick out her own backpack details and she had very strong opinions about what she wanted.

Back To School 2017 Her first demand – ahem request – was for the backpack to be pink velvet just like a dress I made her last spring. ย Well of course that fabric was a knit and not really the best option for the structure of a bag, but there was no talking her out of it. ย I ended up using stiff interfacing on all the velvet pieces to make sure they could hold their shape and not stretch out. ย Also, since the velvet will pick up every single piece of mulch or dirt, I added a faux leather panel to the bottom of the bag to help with keeping the pink portions off the ground.

Back To School 2017 So of course the crazy town fabric choices didn’t end there. ย She wanted this cosplay stretch gold fabric for the inside of the bag. ย I kind of thought it’d be cool cause it’s slippery and if something got sticky in there (ugh lunch remnants…) it’d be east to clean, but again with the stretch fabric. ย I used more interfacing on those pieces too. ย I had some gold chevron fabric that would work well for the binding inside so I made a ton of it one afternoon to make sure I had enough for the bag.

Back To School 2017 The pattern I used is the Cumberland Backpack from Sew Sweetness which is the same one I used for her last year and then I also made the smaller version for a purse backpack for myself. ย It’s a great pattern and I didn’t make too many changes to it to make it work. ย One modification was to make the straps have a bound edge instead of turned inside out. ย I wanted to use the faux leather (another choice she made) and the idea of trying to turn that fabric inside out freaked me out. ย Plus I was able to use more of the gold chevron binding I made for the inside of the backpack which was fun.

Back To School 2017 Another change I made was to add side pockets to hold her water bottle. ย These were just rectangles where I made a pleat in the bottom and an elastic channel at the top edge. ย Super simple.

Back To School 2017 Inside the front pocket, I used more of the gold stretchy fabric and some stretch mesh sequined fabric for the “mesh” zipper pocket. ย She wanted that sequined fabric soooooo badly and I thought this would be a fun use for it inside.

Back To School 2017 And finally, for the front snap pocket I used more of the sequined stretch fabric to add some bling. ย Since it is a see-through mesh fabric, I backed each piece with a piece of the gold stretch fabric and then interfaced the whole piece. ย The mesh looks great with the gold fabric backing, so I’m happy with how it all turned out.

Back To School 2017 So far (almost a month in) the backpack has held up extremely well and first grade has been a big hit! ย Fingers crossed for the next nine months hehe!

Back To School 2017

Check out the rest of this fun back to school tour below:

Tour schedule:

Monday, September 25, 2017

Host: Sprouting JubeJube

Sewing by Ti * mahlicadesigns * Momma You Can Make It * Kutti Couture * MoonStar – Wondermirakel * Call Ajaire

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Host: Lulu & Celeste

Sew and Tell Project * From-a-Box * Ronda B. Handmade * MeMade * House of Estrela * My Heart Will Sew On * Tales From A Southern Mom

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Host: Sprouting JubeJube

mahlicadesigns * Gracious Threads * Adventures With Bubba and Bug * Elli & Nels * Bellevi * Little Heart Threads * Sewing By Ti * Lulu & Celeste

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Host: Lulu & Celeste

Paisley Roots * The Crafting Fiend * Sewstarly * It’s Liesel * Tales of a Tester * Kaleidothought * auschick sews

Friday, September 29, 2017

Host: Sprouting JubeJube

SewSophieLynn * Sew Haute Blog * mahlicadesigns * Sew and Tell Project * RP Custom Fabrics Blog * FABulous Home Sewn * Sewing By Ti * Phat Quarters

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melissa E of mahlicadesigns

    September 25, 2017 at 10:53 am

    Oh, the work that went into that pack! It came out beautifully and the mash up outfit is so cute too.

    Reply
  2. auschick

    September 28, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    That bag is very fabulous!!

    Reply
  3. Ula

    September 30, 2017 at 11:29 pm

    She’s so cute and that bag is fantastic!!

    Reply

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callajaire

Spent the weekend living that lake life with old f Spent the weekend living that lake life with old friends and it was the perfect intro to summer. ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
#parellosgotomichigan #lakelife
The Diamondback Cami and Crop is the perfect littl The Diamondback Cami and Crop is the perfect little swim top and I love that it doesnโ€™t need any mods to make it swim ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
This one is paired with my FREE Classic Maillot Swimskirt pattern ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ˜˜

#designsbycallajaire #dbcadiamondback #dbcaclassicmaillot #classicmaillotswimskirt
The Rimini Romper is on sale this week for its rel The Rimini Romper is on sale this week for its release back home in my shop!  This girl needs one of the dress views, but for now weโ€™re loving the jumpsuits ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
#dbcarimini #designsbycallajaire #wolfandrabbitfabric
And here are the first day/last day of preschool 2 And here are the first day/last day of preschool 2s pics! ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•
It was a busy last week of school, so Iโ€™m late w It was a busy last week of school, so Iโ€™m late with the posting, but here are the first day/last day of 5th grade pics! On to Middle School!! ๐ŸŽ“๐ŸŽ“๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•
Weโ€™re back in Sardinia โœˆ๏ธโœˆ๏ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น again today, with these stunning fabrics from @littlecocalico 

Check out all the details on this Rimini Romper and the Passport to Paradise backpack I made in coordinating prints over on the blog today. ๐ŸŒธ๐ŸŒธ

#dbcarimini #littlecocalico #projectjetset #projectrunandplay #designsbycallajaire
And theyโ€™re offโ€ฆ. โœˆ๏ธโœˆ๏ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น And theyโ€™re offโ€ฆ. โœˆ๏ธโœˆ๏ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

These girls are exploring the island of Sardinia (from the comfort of our own backyard ๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜†) over on the blog today with the Project Jet Set patterns and @knitfabricdotcom ๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ˜˜

#projectjetset #prpdesignercapsule #projectrunandplay #knitfabricdotcom #designsbycallajaire #dbcarimini
Itโ€™s the final sneak for my Project Jet Set look Itโ€™s the final sneak for my Project Jet Set looks!! 

I have two blog posts to showcase all the looks and the first one went live this morning if you want to hop over to check it outโ€ฆ
#projectjetset #prpdesignercapsule #projectrunandplay #sneakpeek
Only two sneaks left!  But that pocket ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜

#dbcarimini #projectjetset #projectrunandplay #prpdesignercapsule #designsbycallajaire #sneakpeek
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I've always loved making. At an early age I started cross stitching and sewing and I taught myself to knit and crochet during college. When our seven year old daughter Bean was born I was filled with all sorts of inspiration, so now I find ways to manage my crafty time and treasure those moments. Though sewing is what I'm most passionate about these days, there's something about the portability of yarn crafts and embroidery that keeps drawing me back in. Read Moreโ€ฆ

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