baby things.

A friend lent me a neat novel by Emma Donoghue called Room. I’m about 1/3rd of the way through, am enjoying it very much and have laughed out loud a couple of times as it is written from the perspective of a 5-year-old boy. He has a funny/great way of describing things. Without finishing this book just yet, I wouldn’t hesitate at this time to recommend it.

I have projects on the needles but what I am actually excited to share with you is my new diaper bag. I finished it over the weekend so this isn’t a knitting-work-in-progress but I think that’s ok :)

A simple Kwik-Sew pattern (no. 3464), this bag was the perfect use for this fabric. I used heavy weight interfacing on the outside fabric and medium weight on the inside. The pattern calls for fusible fleece, but it just isn’t stiff enough for the amount of wear-n-tear this is going to endure over the next 5 years.

I fussy-cut the front so that the pocket would showcase the bird – otherwise, with such a large pattern repeat, it would have been lucky to see a bird at all. That is one problem with drapery fabric – the repeats are enormous!

The cutting was the most amount of work. It took me a day just to cut out all the pieces. After that, the sewing was fast and easy. About a day saw the bag finished.

The button loop was fiddly – I ended up making it the same way the handles are made, which worked perfectly and scraped the method in the pattern.

I changed the lining significantly. Rather than 2 zippered pocket inserts on each side, I made the same pockets as the outside (instead, I interfaced with medium weight rather than heavy weight and lined with a yellow cotton rather than the same striped drapery), then stitched up the center to create 2 side pockets (4 in total). Worked beautifully. If I were making this again, I would absolutely do that again.

I can’t wait to see what you are reading and working on! Happy Yarn Along :)