Back before we started Heather’s room project, I stitched up Brandon a kindergarten sized backpack.  He loves green and dinosaurs so I dug through my stash to see what I could find.  I had already been to 3 stores and decided that it was hard to find a quality back pack that was affordable too.  (I needed it to be less than $15.)  After I was done sewing, my friend told me she snagged a really great quality bag at the thrift store for $2.  Smack.  (That’s me smacking my forehead because I didn’t think of looking at the thrift store.)

My goal was to make the backpack entirely out of stash, but I ended up buying $1.50 plastic pieces for the straps.  I had the zipper on hand, because I took it out of a bag that had worn-out fabric before throwing the bag away, and put in my stash.  It pulled a little rough, so I put silicone lubricant on it (from my sewing machine repair box) and that fixed it right up.

I used this inspiration photo. And this tutorial (I skipped the pocket and used wool quilt batting in the straps because I didn’t have fleece in stash.)

If I had it to do over, I would have made the bag 2 inches shorter.  It would have still held a folder and fit his body a little better. I lined the inside with canvas from the rest of a drop cloth that I had cut up for a previous project.  Then any exposed seams got bound on the inside with blue bias tape.  It about killed me to use the smoky blue bias tape but it was the ONLY color I had in the right size and I was challenging myself not to buy anything.  The kids put it in perspective for me–“Mom, it’s on the INSIDE.”  They were right.

Wrist wallet for lunch money.  Tutorial here.
Happy Kindergarten Brandon!