Brittni's Diaper Bag

My daughters sister in law needed a new diaper bag.

So of course, I had to make her one! ;D

Brittni purchased the fabric and shipped it to me from Arizona.

She chose the sweetest fabric!

These birds are just AMAZING!!

There are tons of divided pockets and bottle pockets.

My friend Marilyn Cowan designed this bag over 40 years ago.

She revived the pattern for me when I had my first son 14 years ago and then again when my girls had their babies .

I am still trying to figure out how to make the pattern available to y'all!

It's all cut from large pattern pieces.  

I will let you know a soon as I figure it out!

If you would like a copy of the pattern, please let me know and I can mail one to you :)

DewberryCrush Diaper Bag

Here is the diaper bag version of the Temple Bag I made for my daughters, sister-in-law.  It is super cute!!!

TOO many pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

I LOVE this Notting Hill poppy print.

Pockets for cell phones and keys or binkies or whatever :)

Aren't those pink bunnies CUTE!!!

The inside.

This divided grey bunny pocket is an addition that I find useful in a diaper bag. *Instructions at the bottom*

Side bottle pockets.

Inside zipper pocket.

The back side :)

The back zipper pocket.

And finally the strap :)  I officially LOVE this bag!!!

Because I made this bag with what I had on hand from the Joel Dewberry windfall, I needed to modify the size.  It is the PERFECT size.  Here are my modifications.  All measurements are the cut size, unless otherwise noted as a finished size.

Measurements:
Exterior 19-1/4" x 27-3/4"
2 large inside pockets 13-1/2" wide x 22" high
front pocket finished size 7.5" x 12"
bottle pockets 8" x 17"
flap finished size 12-3/4" x 16"
finished size for the additional  shorter divided pocket on the inside 5-1/2"x 12-1/2" *

*to add this pocket, place the finished shorter pocket on top of the finished larger one and top stitch the dividing seam down the middle of the shorter pocket, THEN top stitch the whole unit into the interior lining to form the large pocket.

Temple Bag QAL Diaper Bag Modifications

So, for the diaper bag you are going to make everything the same except, you are going to make two more pocket, as shown below :)  These pockets go in the sides of the bag for holding bottles :)

**** this step is done right after the interior bag's sides have been sewn but the corners have not been formed yet, but you have marked them :)****

Cut your pocket fabric ~9"x17" ...it can be a bit longer or a bit wider, you will see that slight variations wont matter.  You will need two of these.

Cut a piece of pellon to fit half way across the pocket ~10'x8" ;)  Press in place.

Fold in half and press.

Now, put the pocket rights sides together and sew down the two sides, but leave the bottom open.

Clip the top corners.

Now you can turn it right side out and press.

You need to find and lightly mark the center of the bottom.  You can measure or...

Just fold it in half, as I have done and finger press the center :)

I am not exactly sure how to describe this next part :(  You need to make a pleat in the center bottom, so that the total width of the bottom is under 5".

Here you can see that it is just about four inches wide.

Here it is just under 4"... it is not going to matter too much, it just needs to be smaller than 5" and not too much smaller than 4" :D

Tack down your pleat with a scant 1/4" seam.

Before this next part, you need to have drawn your corner lines on the bag interior. ...but DONT SEW IT UP!!!

The bottom is tacked and you will need to pin the pleat together up higher on the pocket.

Now carefully insert the pleated pocket end into the corner a good 1/2-3/4 inch.

From the outside, feel to make sure the pocket is in far enough all of the way across.  You may pin if you like.  Then sew across the line.

Your corner pocket will be firmly in place now.

Do this for both sides.

Now turn your interior right side out.

Pin the top corners of the pocket in place.

Now for the SUPER FUN part!  NOT!  You are going to need to snuggle your bag  onto/upto your machine and top stitch the pockets down.

It is a bit tricky and irritating!  You will likely not be able to top stitch all the way to the bottom seam.  I figure that is good so any crumbs will  fall out :)

See!  Not so bad!  Take you time and try not to swear ;D

Now you can proceed back with the regular bag assembly instructions :)

***The measurements for this bag are slightly different than for the temple bag (the lady this bag is for wanted this fabric and I only had a little bit, so I modified)  The measurements I used will be posted later this week.  HERE

Check the schedule for the QAL HERE.  Visit all post's tagged Temple Bag Qal HERE

**** As a special side note, if you live anywhere close to Payson, Utah, we will be doing this project together on the last Thursday of January.  Please message me if you would like information about coming to sew with us :)  No creepy murderers, please ;D

***One of my quilty BFF's is an Embroidery Guru!  She has templates for many of the LDS temples :)  She will embroider an LDS temple for your bag, if you'd like :)  It is $5 if she already has the template, and $10 if she needs to order it.  Please leave me a comment, if you are interested.  Be sure that you are not a "no reply blogger" or I cannot get your info to her :(  If you are not sure if you are a "no reply blogger" please include your email in your comment.  One hint that you might be a "no reply blogger" is if I never reply to your comments :(:::.....