School Bag

A spot recently came open in a preschool near our house and I made a quick decision and enrolled my 4 yr old for the spring semester. She's loving it, and I'm loving that she's loving it.

However, we were left in a bit of a scramble to collect all the required items from her school list.  We order most things from the states, but I didn't have time to find them online and wait for spotty shipping before her first day.  Enter crafty mama and her sewing machine!

One thing she needed was a bag to leave at school to hold a spare set of clothes and an art smock.  It was supposed to be labeled with their name.  I grabbed a paper shopping bag and a sharpie before having a head-slap moment and running for my fabric stash instead.  Any excuse to make something, right?

I constructed a simple tote bag using some linen and an adorable Alexander Henry print that I've been hoarding for ages.  The front, back, and bottom are lined with Peltex #70 to make it sturdy enough to stand up on it's own.  I also used my brand new Silhouette to make a freezer paper stencil and painted her name on with Folk Art Fabric paint (click here to see my review of that paint).  Wow, that paragraph was heavy on the product placement.  Sorry about that.  I promise I'm not getting paid.

And that was that!  Fast, easy, and cute - my favorite kind of project.  Sure, it won't get much use sitting in her cubby at school for storage purposes, but hey, a girl can always use a tote bag with her name on it, right?  And since the fabric isn't preschool-ish, and so far she hasn't shown signs of hating her given name, I'm guessing she can use this bag through adulthood.

Now I'm off to make a second one for my mom, who just had a major attack of jealousy on skype.