Making a backpack for my boy!

 Here's a funny, messy and also gross story for you! 

My boy's backpack had been rather old and tatty already but I dragged my feet getting him a new one cos "mummy can make you one, just wait a bit". Well, he waited quite a bit and mummy hadn't found time to. Then, one day, his classmate had a little tummy trouble and the story goes "he ran to his own bag, took off his pants and liquid poop blasted everywhere. (OMG right?) And cos my boy's backpack was next to his, the backpack got a bit of that too. eww. 😂

So, when he came home that day, his bag was very wet - his teachers (poor things) cleaned his bag up for him but with just water, no soap. And that was when I resolved that this bag I promised the boy is going to HAVE to happen. 

Back to the fabric stash again for the boy to select his bag fabric. True to his nature, he picked the darkest of dark Batman Canvas cos "I like BLACK colors mama!"

I was determined to put some color on his bag so from my zipper stash, i dug out the remainder of my rainbow plastic zipper. Unfortunately, there isn't enough for the front pocket zipper so for that one, I just used a 2 dollar zipper from Daiso. 

I used a pattern I found online from this website as a base but hacked it to suit our needs: increased backpack depth - added 2 cm width to the side panels, side pockets for water bottle, no flap. 

I also sewn the lining directly and then binded everything instead of bagging it as per instructions. I ran out of black bag binding but I didn't want to wait to complete the project - I'm rather impatient like that =p So, digging through my stash again, I found a rainbow bias tape. PERFECT! 

Isn't it adorable! 

The bag is a lovely size. Great for all his childcare stuff and not too big that it weighs him down. 

He's been using this for several days now and so far, it's holding up. I think I just found a keeper! This backpack pattern (with the hacks) will be my go-to when my girl needs a new bag. =)