My little girl LOVES bags. And lip balm. And anything on the planet that is pink. How has this happened? I didn’t do it! We made some adorable strawberry bags in the spring and she loves hers, but she needs more space to stuff her “treasure” in, so I decided to make her a little rucksack that she can carry around.
I used 2 fat quarters of contrasting fabric and some thick fusible interfacing to make the bag. I wasn’t following a pattern so this is definitely not the “official” way to make a rucksack but I have outlined the process I took below. I guessed my way along but it did the job!
~ How its Made ~
1. I began by cutting 4 domes of fabric, 2 from lining and two from outer. I attached interfacing to the outer piece and then adhered the two together with bondaweb.
2. To make a pocket, I sewed two rectangles of the contrasting fabrics together, pressed and sewed a fancy stitch along the top. This was sewn onto one of the dome pieces.
3. I sewed a zip onto two strips of fabric, pressed and top stitched.
4. I sewed on strips of outer fabric (Strengthened with interfacing) onto each end of the zip piece to create one long strip that was equal to the circumference of the bag. I flipped this round and sewed equal sized lining strips on the other side of the zip to neaten the interior.
5. This strip was then pinned all along the edge of the pocketed side of the bag, right sides together. I sewed the two ends of the strip together.
6. For the straps, I made two strips from lining fabric, strengthened with fusible fleece, and attached some canvas strap to each end. I pinned these onto the reverse of the bag.
7. Tucking and pinning the straps out of the way in the middle, I then sewed the back of the bag on in the same way as the front (NB – it is important to open the zip before starting this in order to turn the bag the right way out!)
Then I turned the right way out voila – it actually looks like a rucksack!!
We went straight to the park with the new bag and it promptly got filled (I mean, totally FILLED) with twigs and acorns and leaves and the odd lollipop stick. I sat and had a cup of tea whilst all this took place so already the bag is a big win!
Tia xx
Little Button Diaries 