New backpack for Clementine!
Toddler Backpack Sewing Pattern - $8BUY NOWTonight I'm winding up the "Back to School Wardrobe" course I have been teaching over the last couple of months with Karen LePage at Blue House in Ann Arbor. We're having a "show and tell" at a local restaurant and I cannot WAIT it's going to be so much fun. We had a fantastic group of women who have been sewing up a storm and have been so much fun to hang out with. There were five projects over five sessions (a basic pant, Tee for Two knit tee, Charlie Tunic woven top, the Toddler Backpack, and the Reversible Jacket from Sewing for Boys), so as you can imagine it was a rather ambitious curriculum. One of the fun things about teaching classes with your own patterns is that you get to revisit them again, and every week in preparation for our class Karen and I would make a few samples to use as demonstration and make sure we knew what we were doing. This little backpack was used as a sample for the class, but now it's finished so Miss Clementine has been proudly carrying it around.
These prints are from the Far Far Away II line by Heather Ross . The cotton/linen canvas with the girls and the horses is (I'm not sure, can see this in the pictures?) a pale grey with orange and coordinates with the lighter-weight orange floral linen blend from that line so well. A half yard of each fabric is really plenty for one backpack, so I think the backpack is a nice way to feature the print. I ordered a yard and am terribly conflicted now with what to do with the rest of it. So many ideas, ack!!! A few of my sponsors still currently carry all or part of this line, so I would love it if you would shop with them (they're linked from my sidebar) if you decide you need some.
The Toddler Backpack was the very first pattern I digitized and began to sell back in 2009 at the prodding of readers, and as I combed through it again I realized it needed a facelift. So Elli (my seester and design-software-extraordinaire) and I are currently re-working the pattern a little bit: improving the section on the larger (school-aged) version of the backpack, which is very easy to make but needed some clarity in the instructions, changing the type-Os and adding a section on lining the backpack, something I have always wanted to do. I lined this version and found it to be quite easy to do. Here's a little peek at the lining, which I found harder to photograph than expected:
We'll be putting up the new and improved version of the pattern soon so I wanted to put the word out on the street that the current version of the pattern will only be available for a little while longer at its current price ($6). The new version of the pattern will include (in addition to the original pattern pieces and updated instructions), a new printable summary sheet, improved instructions for making the larger school-aged version of the backpack (to fit a binder and letter-sized papers), and a new section on lining the backpack and will be sold for $8.UPDATED: The new version is available now in the pattern shop; you can also read more about the updates here.If you're interested, Karen and I are thinking we might offer the kids' wardrobe course again next winter, maybe in January or February. Let us know if you're thinking about this as it definitely helps to know how many people might be interested.And speaking of Heather Ross, did you see that she is offering the always-awesome Blueberry Hill workshops again next summer? AND a new Fabric Design workshop in New York next spring? I don't know which will be more fun, but I do know they sell out fast!!!Finally, we're having another one of our Crafty Meetups here in Michigan on Thursday night at Makerworks -- it's rollicking good fun so if you can join us, let us know on our Facebook page or November Meetup page (more information there as well). If you don't "do Facebook," just send me an email (click on the contact nav button, above). If you can't make it this week, our next meetup will be Thursday, December 1. Hope you can join us!