The Awesomest Diaper Bag Ever

As a preface to this most awesome of projects, a little bit of a background on my little son. He was born 3 months premature and because of this still needs oxygen, even though he's been home for almost 2 months. He's doing very well otherwise, which I am soooo grateful for, but for now it is a PAIN to take him from place to place because of the need to haul around an oxygen tank and oximeter everywhere he goes.

Due to this, I really really wanted a diaper bag that would be easy to carry with all of this other stuff my baby needs. I also wanted one that would hold everything I need without looking like I was going on a weekend trip out of town. It took me a while to figure out, as nothing I found in stores and online could quite fit the bill.

Enter the Favorite Purse Pattern from Blank Slate Patterns. I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it! I was hesitant to pay the $7.95 for it, as I don't usually pay for patterns unless they're on sale at Joann's, but I don't regret it AT ALL. The instructions were easy to follow for the most part, and being an experienced sewer I filled in the gaps. BEHOLD!

 

I LOVE how it turned out! I wear it over my shoulders so it's COMPLETELY hands-free. Plus, I love the two HUGE open pockets on the outside and the white zipper pocket that holds all of my normal purse necessities (my wallet, cell phone, keys, gum).

 

Fabric Selection: I loved the look of the purse in grey so I opted for grey bottomweight (on sale, of course) from Joann's. I found the teal cotton at an Eastern Idaho local fabric store (Porter's, for those in the area) on their cheap flat fold table, which made me excited. I also found the two smaller white zippers and the 1 1/2" D rings there. I couldn't find a white metal zipper for the top, so I got beige. I still like the way it turned out- especially since I found it at Walmart.

 

I made a couple of minor changes to the pattern to get it just how I wanted. First, I scaled the size of all of the pattern pieces to 105% of the original size. I wanted it a bit bigger to make sure I could fit everything I wanted into the finished product. This didn't affect the product much, the original zipper sizes and fabric amounts worked and everything. In addition, when I cut the pieces out I gave an extra 1/8" to the seam allowances because 1/4" seams on functional pieces kind of freak me out- this gave me 3/8" to work with. Because I got a ridiculously long metal zipper for the main opening, I cut it to size and sewed a tab on the end to prevent it from fraying. I also lined the main purse body and gusset with medium weight interfacing to give it a little bit more stiffness.

 

I hadn't used the continuous bias method of making bias tape in a while, but I am SO GLAD that I did! It made the process much easier. I used this tutorial to re-learn continuous bias. Another cool tool I really liked was a bias tape folder- it worked even better than the metal one I bought forever ago. I made too much bias to use it all, but this turned out okay because I ended up using a decent amount on the strap.

 

The straps took a bit to figure out for me- I didn't have a "slider", like the pattern says, but the D-rings I bought came with 4 of them so I just used the 2 left over for a belt-like adjustment. And, I found a 1-1/4" webbed belt that I was just going to use by itself, but I didn't like the look of that as much as I wanted to. Instead, I used the extra grey fabric and bias tape to make a tube that I put the webbing in. I really don't like the look of stuff moving around inside of fabric, so I ran a couple of "quilting" stripes down the center. The result is a nice, thick strap that matches the bag perfectly:

 

Anyway, I think that's the gist of it. Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any questions!

 

-Jackie