Made By Rae Toddler Backpack

I took a little break from bridal sewing to make Logan a much needed backpack for Preschool. Poor little guy had to take an old diaper bag the first day! He didn't care, of course, but I felt terrible. I've had this awesome pattern by Made by Rae, and I had fully intended to have it ready for his first day of school, but between bridal skirts and petticoats, just didn't get it done.Well, here it is! Logan choose the fabric and color scheme completely on his own. In fact, I had a dark blue embroidered cord in my head, but Logan wanted the animals on green.
Here is the bottom contrast fabric. Logan chose this blue to match the "hickopotimus". He also elected to go with a blue zipper and thread, but green piping and lower straps.
I think he did a great job!! The pattern is great and went together well. Since Logan takes a folder to school I did expand the pattern both length and width by 2 inches each. Rae includes directions for doing this in the pattern, but for the width increase, don't forget to also increase the front and back panel and to purchase a zipper that is 2 inches longer! You'll also need an extra package of piping, since your panels are bigger. Another tip that I learned the hard way is to stitch the front and back panels on with the "side loop" on top so that you can get really close to the edge of the piping. I ended up ripping out my front panel the first time because there was a huge gap in the stitching between the piping and the side panel.

This was such a fun project! I need some pink twill to make one for Myra - sometime AFTER the wedding!!