Back to school drawstring backpack

I’ve been doing a lot of crochet recently, mostly because it’s my favourite, and also because it’s an easy travel project and we have been doing quite a bit of driving around this summer. Fortunately I have never been travel sick so I can put those hours in the car to good use!  This week it is time for a bit of a change, and I’m pleased to report my sewing machine has made it out of the cupboard.

My (recently published) sister-in-law asked if I would make a PE bag for my niece.  She is starting school this week, which is extremely exciting for all of us, and has been told she needs her own bag rather than the standard issue school one.  It makes it easier for all those 4 and 5 year olds to find their own!

Buttons and fabric chosen by my niece

We went and chose the fabric together; if any of you have ever taken a 4yr old into a fabric store you may have been able to warn me that this could be a dangerous excursion.  Too much choice and far too many “blingtastic” fabrics.  In the end she chose this butterfly print, which is a lot less fluorescent than some of the options were!  I thought this was a good choice too because the grey background will hopefully disguise the somewhat inevitable dirty marks.

The cute duck buttons were her choice too.

Make your own lobster cords to match your fabric!

I was planning on posting how to make this but I recently stumbled upon this excellent tutorial so I suggest you click the link if you want to make your own.  I made the drawstring cords using crochet lobster stitch; you can find my tutorial on this here.  I chose green for the cords to neutralise the pink a bit, although I could have bought some white cord I thought this was nicer. :)

Flattened out it looks like this…

How have you been preparing for the new academic year?