Lion Toddler Backpack for "M"

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle..."  That song has been in my head the ENTIRE time I was designing and sewing this backpack.

Two years ago, "J"s mom asked me to make her son a dump truck backpack for school.  She was really wonderful to work with and is the only Mom who was brave enough to ask for white piping and straps. We went through several iterations for the design - probably because they were on a waiting list and little "M" was deciding between an elephant and a lion.  I really like the end result.  Secretly, I was afraid he would pick the elephant. 

Here's how we started

But then M's mom was looking for a bit more "pop" so went went with a white mane instead of dark brown.

Something didn't look right and after a couple more emails, we decided on some whiskers and a mouth.

Now to finish the bag... I still needed to put an "M" somewhere on the bag but didn't think it would look right on the lion's body.  So I put it on the side of the bag.  The other side has an elasticized pocket.

The lining is the last of my green hippos

Like all of my backpacks, this one has a quilted bottom, padded straps, a hanging loop, and real backpack connectors. 

I really like this guy

He's great at going for walks at the pond (hubby was wondering why we were gone so long)

Hanging out in the old tree

Walking over the bridge

and just being silly with the Halloween decorations.

Good bye Lion!  It's been fun making you. 

Until next time,

Tutorial: Printing on Paper Lunch Bags

Earlier this month, we had a birthday party for Baby Bunny. To keep things easy, I made my own loot bags.

This is probably the easiest thing to do.  You need brown paper bags and some tape.  I use green painter's tape because it doesn't tear your bag when you take it off.

Tape the top and the bottom flap so it doesn't get stuck in your printer.  My printer made some strange sounds whenever I fed the bags through but it all worked out.

Use your favourite font and if you're lucky enough to have a colour laser printer, go wild!  

Remove the tape and stuff the paper bags with treats.

Enjoy!

Tractor Toddler Backpack

This little guy is heading onto a plane and flying all the way to Australia. This is the first tractor design that I have ever done and I can't wait to see little H wearing his new backpack.

The tractor on the left was my first design but H's mom and I both liked design #2 better.

A lot of thought goes into the design process - my rough sketches are just the beginning.  Once I get approval on the design, I then make the lines a little straighter, the wheels become rounder, and work towards a final design.

Then we play around with it in colour to make sure it still looks good.

Whenever it's a "first", I spend a little bit more time asking questions

Once I have approval, I begin sewing

At the final checkpoint, if Mom says "go!", then I sew the rest of the backpack together to get this:

It has two pockets on each side and a pocket on the inside.  This time the lining is a solid brown with dark brown piping.

Quilted bottom (or "bum" as my little one likes to call it)

And here's the back view

And it's a wrap!  Off to work on a new design... this time, it's an animal.