Flashback!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Good Morning!

Since I have a bunch of stuff on my plate right now, I'm trying not to take on any new projects. I'll be finished with everything that I have going on right now in 11 days, so until then I should focus on the heap of stuff I have already taken on. Unfortunately, that doesn't help me with producing blog content. I'm putting together a bunch of posts about my sister's baby shower, but I won't publish those until after the event (October 9)!

So I have decided to take you guys back in time to see some of my favourite older projects that I completed before I began blogging. :)

For my first flashback post, I'm going to pick diaper bags as my theme! When I was pregnant I didn't find a diaper bag anywhere that I liked that would cost me less than $100. As a soon-to-be parent, I wasn't really willing to drop that kind of money on a diaper bag. In hindsight, I know that the cash would have been justifiable because of how much use the bag has gotten/still gets. I'm really glad I made my own, though. I remember a couple of friends of mine saying one day, "We were talking about your diaper bag, and we both think it's so you!" They didn't know at the time that I made it myself, but it made me proud of it.

I also made a bunch of matching accessories to go with it. They also got a lot of use. I used flannel fabric for the bag because it was soft and appealing to me (vs. the nylon of most diaper bags). Also, I can just toss it in the washing machine when it gets dirty. Let's face it, baby things always get dirty.

The next diaper bag I made was as a gift to a girl I had never met. I had heard about her struggles and felt for her. I knew she didn't have a lot, and that I didn't have a lot to give, but this felt like the perfect gift to me.
I also made accessories for this one, including a receiving blanket that matched! You can see the inside of the bag here, it has two elastic pockets. When I was first making my bag, I didn't like the idea of these pockets. I'm glad I didn't skip them, though, because they are awesome! This bag was also made of flannel.

This next one was my first diaper bag that wasn't flannel. I love the fabric, but found that it showed wrinkles very easily with the interfacing I used. Not a huge deal, but something I took note of. I also padded the strap with fusible fleece on this one because after using my own, I thought it would be a nice feature.



I've already showed you guys this next one. It is the most recent diaper bag I've made, and definitely the most well-thought (and expensive!). My sister and her husband picked the fabric and then I went to work. Instead of just using interfacing, I used fusible fleece and interfacing. This made it sturdy and also fixed the wrinkling problem of the last bag. I also added an inner zipper pocket on the front side. I hope they love it as much as I loved mine!

There is also this other bag I made that is similar to the diaper bags. I made my own pattern, but based it off of the diaper bag pattern. The bag is ginormous, to say the least, but I still really like it.


As you can see, my huge Western Civilizations textbook looks small in the bag. That is how ridiculously large it is. I decided it wasn't quite what I wanted and my cousin's wife ended up buying it from me. :)

OH! By the way, the pattern I used was Simplicity 2924. I'd love to know if anyone else has used the pattern. :)

4 wonderful comments:

Tara said...

I do love my diaper bag! It still has a lot of room to fill up, but that will happen fast once Ben learns about toys :) Thanks again for making it - it couldn't be more perfect!

Balancing Lisa said...

Those are really nice! You are very talented!

http://lisafergus.blogspot.com/

Beeshebags said...

Hi again, just wondering if your sister has had her baby yet? Hope all went well with the birth and that mom and bubs are doing great and that Cookie Crumb enjoys having a little cousin to play with....do y'all live near each other? Hugs Naomi

Erica @ Acire Adventures said...

Yay! Tara left me a comment :) (That's my sister, the owner of the green bag.)

Thanks for the compliment, Lisa. Your such a fun follower, always leaving comments :)

And thanks for stopping by and all your kind words, Naomi! My sister did have her baby, they are doing wonderful. Cookie Crumb has only met him via iChat so far, because we live 7 hours apart, but they will meet in just over a week! We're all very excited about it. Nice to meet you :)