This week Lena and Parker started school! Second and 6th grade! They are growing to fast. This mama can't handle it!
Lena changed her mind, as always, and decided to wear a pretty dress that she got from her cousin for the first day of school instead of her awesome mama made (by request!) camo skirt. Parker opted to wear his "epic" batman board shorts that I made earlier in the summer, and a store bough t-shirt.
Because of the lack of mama made back to school outfits I wanted to still make something for them for school, but what? They already had backpacks all ready to go, so that was out. I am still to scared to mess with the insulating fabric for lunch boxes, so thats out. Shoes? Nope. Well now I'm out of ideas since they don't need jackets.....
In comes Rebecca Page to save my day...again....
Now, I know I said they didn't NEED backpacks, but what if I made them for a purpose other than school supplies and books? The backpack pattern looked too tempting to not make it, not gonna lie.
My justification: In winter they can bring their tennis shoes in it since they go to and from school in their snow boots. Yes!!
Well, it has been established that Parker LOVES Batman, so of course I had to go with that theme. I used quilting cotton for both the bag and pencil case, but I added heat transfer vinyl that I cut on my cricut machine for the actual Batman designs.
I went with the medium sized backpacks size they would be used for shoes, and possibly extra gloves and hats. There is a pocket on both the inside and the outside of the bag that would be perfect for those.
The pencil cases have slots for 5 pencils, a large zipper pouch, and a pocket under the pencil holder. You can load those suckers up!
Lena is in love with all things galaxy at this particular moment, and this glittery galaxy fabric from Joann Fabrics jumped at me screaming her name.
Since I made all of these from quilting cotton I had to add some interfacing to make them a bit more study. I used medium weight for the backpacks, and lightweight for the pencil cases. My iron got a workout!
Both patterns went together very smoothly, and I can lie, I was a little intimidated by how many pieces were involved.
My biggest struggle was making buttonholes for the drawstring, but that was only because I had never done it before. I read my sewing machine manual, and tried twice on a scrap piece of fabric with my automatic buttonholer foot, and it was so easy! I can't believe I was so scared of buttonholes before!
I am so glad that I was able to find something to make the kids to bring to school, even if it wasn't clothes!
You can grab the patterns here. I truly recommend checking them out. Who doesn't need a pencil case?!
