backpack tutorial

Wow, this post has been a long time coming!  I've actually been working on this post for a while, and nearly gave up because it's taken so long.  But I did want to share a more complete tutorial for the blue jean backpack. This is another backpack I made for charity, and I took photos of the steps this time!  Disclaimer:  I've worked on this post in such fits and starts, please let me know if I've left out a step or if something is unclear!

To make this backpack, you will need an adult sized pair of jeans, a little fabric, a zipper, and something to use for straps.  The exact measurements will depend on the size jeans you use, so read through the tutorial to see how much you will need.  Theoretically, you could get two backpacks out of one pair of jeans.

Here you see the jeans, with one leg marked for cutting. I cut off one hem and laid the leg out flat, with the fold at the side seam.  I measured over from the fold to cut the straightest, largest rectangle possible. If your jeans are smaller and you really need the room, you can take out the hem stitching and press it flat for a little more fabric (instead of cutting off the hem). My finished rectangle of fabric, once laid flat, was 17" x 30".  The rectangle will be folded in half, and the fold will form the bottom of the backpack.
Then, cut off one of the back pockets. Instead of taking out the stitching, it's much easier just to cut around it. Leave a little extra fabric for fraying, if you like that look.
Then cut your other pieces from fabric: one piece for the big front pocket, this one was 17" x 12"; and 2 casings, these were 17" x 6".  Note that your pocket and casings should be the same width as your rectangle.  You'll also need a zipper. Here are all the pieces, laid out as they will be assembled. (You will notice that my zipper is too long - that's okay. It will be cut off.)
First, stitch one side of the zipper to the top of the pocket, then flip up and topstitch.  If your zipper is too long, line up one end with the edge of the fabric, and we'll cut off the other end later.  You'll notice that my zipper is a separating jacket zipper, so I had to cut off the bottom end.  Just using what I have on hand, here!
Pin jeans pocket in center of large fabric pocket and stitch around the sides and bottom, following the original stitching lines.

Place pocket assembly on one end of your denim rectangle. Pin in place at top and bottom.
Turn under the bottom edge of the pocket and make a couple of rows of topstitching, so it will be nice and sturdy.  The sides of your pocket will be sewn into the side seams of the backpack, so don't worry about them right now.
Now stitch the top edge of the zipper to the top edge of the backpack. If your zipper is too long, like mine, carefully stitch over the end of the zipper within the side seam allowance. Cut even with the edge of the fabric.

Now, prepare your casings for the drawstring at the top of the bag.  Make a small hem on each short side of your rectangles.  Fold the casing in half, and line up the raw edges with one of the top edges of your backpack.  Be sure to center it - you should have the seam allowance of the backpack extending past the hemmed edge of the casing on both sides.  Sew the seam and finish the raw edges.  Flip up the casing and topstitch.  Repeat for the other casing, at the other top edge of the backpack.

Measure your strap/drawstring.  I am using ribbon here; you may use any kind of sturdy ribbon or trim, or make straps out of fabric.  You will need one piece for each side, and each piece needs to be twice as long as the measurement across the top of the backpack and down the side.  Add just a smidge for a seam allowance.  In my case, each piece is about 66" long.

Run your ribbons through the casings for the drawstring, with the ends of one coming out on the left side, and the other coming out the right side.  Take the ends and baste near the bottom corners, so that they will be attached in your side seam.

Now sew your side seams, stitching a couple of extra times over those drawstring/strap ends.  Finish the raw edges.

Turn right side out, fill with your stuff, and go!

If you make a backpack, please send me a photo or leave a link to a photo of your backpack in the comments!

just so you know...

If you intend to turn on the stove eye with the pot of green beans, but accidentally turn on the eye that has your PLASTIC FLOUR CANISTER sitting on it, this is what happens.

Just thought I'd clear that up.

As I said in my first post, if I can't be a shining example, I guess I'll just have to be a horrible warning.  ;)

pure joy

Yes, Lydia liked her Team Umizoomi dolls.  :)  (Please excuse the Christmas morning unbrushed hair.)  It's been a good Christmas - it even snowed today, which is unheard of in Alabama.

I hope you had a merry Christmas as well!

Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

and here's Geo!

Whew!  The Team Umizoomi dolls are complete, and with two days to spare!  I am pretty pleased with how Geo turned out.  His suit on the show has a lot of variations in color, but dear reader, I just didn't have the time for that.  Instead, I used a mottled blue fabric and hope it has about the same effect.  And his belt is not a square, as on the show, but again, time.  I don't think Lydia will mind.

And here's the whole "tiny team."  Lydia is going to be ecstatic!

If you'd like to see the other posts about making the Team Umizoomi dolls, with pattern ideas, etc:

First post

Progress

Milli

Bot

Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

and finally, Bot!

Bot has been slow going - a lot of little details to figure out, and not much time to sneak around and work without Lydia seeing what I'm doing.  Thankfully, Chad kept her occupied for a while yesterday so I could make some headway.  I'm not as thrilled with this one as I was with Milli.  He's too flat - I should have made him more cylindrical.  But it's 5 days till Christmas, and I still have Geo to finish, so he'll have to do.

For more on the Team Umizoomi Dolls project for Lydia's Christmas:  See the finished Milli here.  See the first post and second post with pattern ideas.

See finished Geo here.


Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

here's Milli!

If you've read the blog over the last couple of weeks, you have seen a little of my quest to make Team UmiZoomi dolls for Lydia for Christmas.  While she was out yesterday, I had some prime sewing time to finish Milli!  I'm most critical of my own work, so I could point out a number of flaws.  But none are likely to be noticed by a 5 year old on Christmas morning as she is flipping out over it!

See the original post here and progress here.

See finished Geo and Bot.

Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

team umizoomi dolls - progress!

I'm home with a cold this morning.  But since Lydia is gone with the rest of the family, it was too perfect an opportunity to work on her Team UmiZoomi dolls for Christmas!  So I bravely soldiered on and made a pattern, then started painting faces.

What I finally decided to do about a pattern was to print out Nickelodeon's Milli paper doll, enlarge it a bit, and use it as a guide to make the pattern pieces.  Geo is basically just like Milli, only with no dress, so I'm going to use the same pattern for both.

I intended to use fine point Sharpies for the face, but those bled too badly on my fabric.  So I fished through my fabric paints and found close enough matches for the colors I needed.  The features are so tiny, I painted them with the tip of a toothpick.  I used my handy dandy light box to copy the face onto the fabric.  Again, Geo's face is nearly like Milli's; the few differences I could spot were that his eyes don't extend quite so far on the sides, he normally has one eyebrow raised, and I chose to do a sideways grin to make his a little different.

If you're making your own Team Umizoomi dolls this Christmas and are posting your own progress, feel free to leave a comment with a link so we can all see!  And you may also see the previous post for other pattern ideas.

See the finished Milli doll here!

Also see Bot and Geo.


Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

finished off

Some have asked for more information about the handstitching project a couple of posts ago, so I thought I'd show the finished product.  It's a moleskine cover, pretty much as the one in the Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin.  Since it's from a book, I can't give much detail as far as how-to, but you can see that it's not really that complicated.  A kit can be ordered from Alabama Chanin, or it can be made from purchased fabric (as this one), or it could be made from pieces of a t-shirt.  I used the stencil provided in the book for the leaf design.

My changes are:
a heart inside the front cover;

signed and dated inside the back cover;

and a bookmark, which I think is essential.  One of the properties of knit jersey is that it curls when you pull it.  That can be annoying, but can also be used to your advantage.  I just cut a strip of jersey with a leaf shape on the end, then cut another leaf to match, and stitched around the two leaf shapes together.  (This keeps the leaf itself from curling so much.)  Then I pulled the strip, and there's a sort of a vine-looking thing.

To attach it, I just tucked the top end between the two layers, and stitched it in place while stitching the folded-in ends to enclose the book cover.

a herd of unicorns

These unicorns are actually lip balm cozies!  I made them for Lydia to give to her little friends for Christmas (with all natural lip balm inside, of course).  The pattern is by Funky Orange, and you can find it here.

Did I mention that Lydia loves unicorns these days?  She also arranged the unicorns for the photo for me.  ;)

the gentle art of hand sewing

One of the tales I've not told from my Incredibly Busy Summer is of the workshop I was fortunate to attend in August.  For some time, I've admired Natalie Chanin's work.  She hails from my hometown of Florence, Alabama.  She left to work internationally in the fashion industry, but a few years ago came back to Florence to start a new kind of company.  The emphasis is on hand sewing, using sustainable and even recycled materials, and helping bring jobs to the community.  Another aspect of her work is teaching these techniques so that sewing does not become a dead art.  She has written two books - Alabama Stitch Book and Alabama Studio Style.  They are not your run-of-the-mill craft books; in addition to the simple instructions for projects, they contain wonderful recipes and stories.  I have enjoyed reading them because the stories are all about places and people I know!

So, back to the workshop:  it was a dream come true to be able to go.  The money to attend was a very generous gift.  I was nervous at the prospect of sitting in a room full of people who'd been able to pay their own way, because I thought I would feel out of place.  But in truth, I met some delightful ladies that day, besides Ms. Chanin herself.  And the lunch was just amazing.  Good Southern fare, but over-the-top delicious.

I didn't really expect to learn anything new as far as stitches or techniques, but the application was new to me.  I really had to get over my professional-seamstress OCD to try something new - *gasp!* Exposed knots??  Unfinished edges??  But it's really freeing to not have to worry about the finishing and just concentrate on the decoration.  And seeing some of the garments in person - even without finished hems and seams and all that, they are exquisite.  And I might add, they take more time than you'd think.  But the work is pleasant and mindless; no counting or fretting, just tie knots and follow the lines.

It was a good day, and I'm glad to have something new to add to my repertoire.  The photo is of a project I've started for a Christmas gift - wish me luck!

Jewelry gift card

So our homeschool group's Christmas banquet is this evening.  I made these tatted pendant and earring sets for the other moms, and I've been puzzled as to the best way to wrap them.  I didn't want them completely enclosed, because I wanted everyone to be able to choose a color they like.  And attaching them to a plain card seemed too unceremonious.

So here's my solution.  I made tri-fold cards, two to a page, with "Merry Christmas" printed on the front. I punched appropriate holes for the jewelry inside, and there ya go.  The card can be opened so that the colors can be seen, but the earring hooks are not hanging out the back to get bent or caught on anything.

Just in case someone else needs it, here's the page.  You'll need to set your page orientation to landscape, and perhaps tell your printer not to print the headers and footers, if it wants to put extra writing on there.  Print it, cut the paper in half, and fold the cards in thirds.  If you glue or tape the ends, it could also be an envelope for a gift card or folded check.  

Happy Gift-Giving!

(Oh, and see my freshly painted porch railing in the background?  Isn't it great?  It used to look like this!)

Advent time again!

Wow - it seems like just a few days ago I was cutting out all those little doors!  It's a good thing there are printable Advent calendars for people like me who are characteristically late.

Lizi's Advent calendar this year is a free printable sent to us by Classical Academic Press - a Latin word a day to translate!  How fun is that?

Lydia's is this calendar, from the Etsy shop Calobee.  And it's on sale!

The Toymaker also has a cute one on her Christmas page, if you're looking for a free one.

There's still time - fire up that printer and get a sharp knife and a glue stick!  (watch your fingers!!)

you can have the mall...

...because there's not a Black Friday deal out there big enough to make me roll out of my nice, warm bed in the wee hours of the morning to go fist-fight some other shopper for it.

I am still doing some Christmas gift prep today, but mine looks more like this:

Much more pleasant, to my way of thinking.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)

And hey, if you need some Christmas gift crafting ideas, I have a few free patterns/tutorials over here on the right... maybe scroll down a bit...   ------->

Christmas gift quandry

Lydia loves the television show Team UmiZoomi. It is adorable, and she's learned a lot of math from watching it.

The problem? She wants a set of dolls that look like Team UmiZoomi for Christmas, and there are none to be found. I've not been able to find a single toy with that theme.

So I guess I'll have to make them myself. Just in case someone else is in a similar pickle, I thought I'd share what I've found. (Note: I am not suggesting that anyone make Team UmiZoomi toys to sell, lest the wrath of Nickelodeon fall upon you! I am talking about making dolls for your own child or other family member, here.)

For Milli and Geo, there are several options. Bit of Whimsy's Doodle Girl and Buddy Boy could be adapted. A couple of the free patterns on Runo's website could also be adapted, especially the mini doll. (Don't let the clothes fool you - look at the pattern!)

If you crochet, you might try this pattern by K and J dolls, leaving off the petals, wings, etc and just using the basic doll body. Or Owlishly has several patterns that could work, like this one - just leave off the ears? (While you're in their shops, look around at all the other cuteness too!)

As for Bot, I guess we're on our own...

See the finished Milli doll here!

And finished Geo and Bot!


Here's a thought about a Bot pattern - Bit of Whimsy's B-movie monster has the basic shape, just move the eyes, add a belly screen, and change the hands and feet.


Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

tasty science

We've been doing some simple science experiments with Lydia this school year - just enough to pique her interest in the subject, since she's only in kindergarten. Today we went outside to focus the power of the sun with a magnifying glass and zap some stuff.

You can't see the smoke in the photo, but the leaf burned pretty well.
Then we moved on to melting chocolate chips. We also discussed the possibility of making s'mores with the sun and a magnifying glass.
Then the sun went behind a cloud, so we just ate the rest. :)

eyes on the east

I'm home tonight with a kidlet who's under the weather. But on the upside, she's not feeling like bouncing around a whole lot, which is perfect for watching for meteors. She's too sick to go out in the cold, but we went to big sister's room for the perfect east-facing window. We didn't see much - even a sick 5-year-old can only pay attention so long, and it's a bit early; clouds will roll in later and keep us from seeing the best of it. But it was a nice diversion anyway.

If you feel like skywatching tonight, here's some more information on the Leonid meteor shower.

outcome

It's been hard to know how to categorize Lizi's craft show experience over the weekend. The best I've been able to express it is that the craft show did not do well; but within those circumstances, Lizi did very well. She didn't make a lot of money, but there were other vendors there who made nothing at all. The experience was good, and she did a fine job; hopefully the next time she tries something like this, her efforts will be better rewarded.

And being more of a bystander this time allowed me some time to think about this whole handcrafting movement, if we can call it that.

• I was reminded that just because a thing can be made, it does not necessarily follow that it should be made. I saw so many examples, but here's one: You can make a potholder out of cheap acrylic yarn, if you want it to melt the first time you pick up a hot pan with it.
• Don't even try to compete with Wal-Mart. Make something they don't have, or make it so over-the-top better that there's no question of its value.
• And I think I saw more clearly than ever that one mistake I've made is thinking that my customers were people like me. The problem with that is that personally, I go around and look at other booths thinking "I could make that, if I wanted or needed one." Trying to sell to someone like myself has led me to underprice my items, almost apologetically. I'm not sure exactly who I should try to sell to, but now I know that it's not me. ;)

So what can we glean from these random thoughts? Crafters, if you're going to try to sell at all, have enough love for your craft to use the very best of your talents; have enough respect for your talent to use good materials; and believe in your product enough to price it for what it's worth.

fledgling

One of the things that has kept us busy the last couple of months is getting ready for a craft show. "But I thought you weren't selling right now, Kim?" you say. And you would be right. It's not MY craft show. It's Lizi's. She's getting ready for her very first, on-her-own craft show booth. Today we set up a table in the basement, sort of a practice run, to see how it all looked and what sort of display pieces we would need.

See these bracelets? Early this year she learned how to make one, then another, and another, and she was hooked. See that striped one in the middle? I don't even know how to do that. It's called a candy stripe, it's all knots, and you wouldn't believe how much time it takes. See the braided ones on either side? That's a box braid. I don't know how to do that either. The green and white spiral one on the right, there? I think she made that one up, or at least seriously adapted it. Same with the green and pink, second from the left. Cool, huh?
I really have been impressed with the way she's learned how to do this all on her own, through the internet and books. I'm fairly adept at many crafts, but she's learned to follow charts and graphs that I would have no idea of where to even start. And she's proud and happy that she's found her "thing," too. She's really worked hard, not only learning the craft but getting ready for this event. She counted 222 bracelets today.

Nice looking table. There's never a guarantee when it comes to craft shows, but I hope she does well.

long winter's nap

Tonight will be this fall's first frost, so I've been busy making preparations in the garden today. It seems that we went straight from hot summer to cold winter this year, with only about a week of nice fall weather in between. It was sleeting not far from here today, which is unusual in November.

So the strawberry patch got a nice blanket of hay:

Of course, Bilbo thinks it's his bed. "Thanks, this is nice" he says. That's okay, he can stay there a while. Sadly, our little kitten Frodo died a few days ago, and we all miss him terribly. So we've tried to be extra nice to Bilbo so he won't seem so lonely. (But when he starts asking me to deliver his canned food to his hay-bed in the garden, we'll have to have a talk.)

Here's the last of the vegetables. My peppers always start doing well right when it's time for a frost. I covered the pepper and tomato plants that still had tiny fruit, but I don't look for them to do much at this point.

The little patch of marigolds has been such a happy sight this year - I'll miss them.

On a happier note, though, I planted a fall crop of snow peas, and they are coming up nice and strong.

Sleep tight, little garden. Dream of lots of strawberries and tomatoes and peppers next year. :)