From Dress to Purse Vol. 3-Orange and Pink Backpack

Once again, I found a dress that I loved at a thrift store that didn't fit. I absolutely loved the print. It was a sad day when I realized it was way too small. But happily, I know how to sew! It is a really pretty orange and pink floral. Orange has always been my least favorite color, as long as I can remember. But apparently I love it when mixed with pink. So weird. But whatever. I adore my new bag.

I'd never really made a backpack, so I thought I'd do that. When browsing my patterns, Simplicity 1439 caught my eye. It has several dainty and precious bags plus a backpack included in the pattern. It seems to have been inspired by Laura Ashley, perhaps? I loved it. For some reason, I really wanted to quilt the fabric. So I did. I quilted diamonds all across, at 1.5 inches apart, I believe. I always love using my walking foot on my machine when quilting any straight lines. That metal “arm” on the side helps me keeps my lines nice and even. A major goal for this year is to try to reduce my stash of fabric. So when I started to cut out pattern pieces, and I found I didn't have enough fabric, I searched my stash. This orange plaid had been sitting around for who knows how long. The two fabrics looked like they were made for each other. Look at these fabrics and tell me they aren't perfect together. I dare you. You can't.

These two piece eyelets took some muscle and time to install, let me tell you. I took a cardboard box, laid it down in the garage on the concrete, and just went to town hammering. Each one seemed to take forever, but I finally finished the last one. The orange cord was from Amazon, since I didn't find anything I liked locally. At first, I bought a 1/4” cord, but that turned out too small for the grommets. It looked ridiculous. So I reordered a 1/2” cord instead, and that looked much nicer.

It is a fairly straightforward pattern. I would rate it confident beginner. There are no zippers or much else that is too difficult. Except, like I said before, those grommets. They can be a problem. My tip is practice before on a scrap of fabric and take your time.

And now I have a beautiful backpack to take on adventures that will match my summer wardrobe! Do you have any big summer plans?

Thanks for reading!

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