Diaper Bag

Pattern: Butterick B4560

This bag was a toughy, but it was worth the work! I got a great deal on this 14" x 13" x 5" messenger-bag-style diaper bag pattern on eBay.

I made this diaper bag as a gift for a friend. Together, we chose the outside fabric--an adorable stretch denim with pink butterflies from SewBaby.com! The inside is a pretty pink and white gingham.

I modified this bag by interfacing the lining sides and a few other parts with my usual Decor Bond interfacing when no interfacing was called for. I hate floppy linings! Otherwise, I followed the pattern instructions.

The construction of the bag was pretty simple, however, I ran into some issues with fabric layer thickness. The pattern calls for fusible fleece fused to the outside pieces. Kinda cool stuff, however, at some points there are literally 3 layers of fleece and up to 8 layers of fabric that you need to sew through all at once! Uh, my sewing machine CANNOT sew through that, so I ended up having to hand-sew quite a bit of this bag. I'm not really thrilled with doing a lot of hand-sewing (although I suppose it's good practice), so having to do that really slowed down my work and made the whole process take a lot longer. Bless my friend for being patient!

I ended up throwing away the fleece-lined handle and making another, shorter handle with the denim interfaced with Decor Bond. I just would not have been able to sew through that thick fleece and denim on the handle. Personally, I thought the handle was entirely too long anyway (I'm a shorty!).

I also had issue with the pattern directions! The directions made no mention whatsoever of when or where to attach the Velcro to the flap! I had already sewed the flap pieces together, trimmed the seam allowance to reduce bulk, and topstitched only to find that I *should have* sewed the Velcro onto the lining first! I had to hand-sew that darned Velcro on! Argh!

Despite all the issues I had making this bag, it was still a fun and interesting experience. I love all the pockets on this thing! It was fun to make the gathered and elastic pockets. There's even a key-keeping swivel hook, so you don't lose your keys in the bag.

As a bonus, I decided to make a changing pad to go along with the bag. I made it without a pattern and flying by the seat of my pants. The vinyl-backed terry I found at SewBaby.com was pretty neat! I used a layer of the terry, then a layer of quilt batting, and two layers of the gingham. Turned out pretty cute, but best of all, it's very useable!

So, would I make this bag again? Yes and no. I would make it again, but not using the fleece--it's just too thick to sew through a lot of layers. I would rather use either the Decor Bond interfacing throughout or maybe a slightly stiffer interfacing on the outside pieces.

Everyone who has seen the diaper bag has really liked it and most importantly, so did my friend!