Caving on My Terns, Redux

Joining Nicole for KCCO today. Also, I just learned about Needle and Thread with Elizabeth, what fun.

As I said last week, the Elder has, for the first time in her school career, supplies that belong to her alone.

The first thing we did was make her a pencil case and this weekend we realized that she needed a new backpack as well. The binder that was required is bigger than the messenger bag that I made last year for my sweet lady.

Her old bag was pretty grubby anyway, so I wasn't too bummed out that we needed a new one. 

The first edition was made of linen and felt squares, and I was a little afraid to wash it, so this time I decided that we should make it from material that was easy-to-clean.

As she was still in the Hello Kitty mood I set off for Google and found a photo of Hello Kitty.

I got small amounts of solid-color oilcloth in the 5 colors in the photo, and went to work.
Next I taped the printed photo to the window and traced the little shapes directly onto the oilcloth.

This plan didn't work with the black for the outlines, but I cut the photo up and taped it directly on to the oilcloth and I could cut out the shape I needed and the tape peeled right off. 

I decided to use the black under the other pieces with overlap for the borders, and I snipped out the whiskers so that the face could just slide into place.

I measured the huge binder and made up a new messenger bag with the vinyl that I used for the pencil case. 

There was a hairy moment when I was turning it inside out and the vinyl started to rip along the seam, it was a good thing that The Elder was out enjoying the last day of summer playing with friends, since I was not in control of my language...
When I was about to top-stitch around the whole thing I realized that I couldn't use pins, since they would leave holes, so I grabbed a package of barrettes and used them to hold the layers together.

So here we have it - 

The Elder was excited to see that I was able to make the straps adjustable (for the first time! she cried) and the binder fits. 

I was able to make this whole thing with stash, and that's pretty awesome, since it's Labor Day and the fabric store is closed, but I still have to attach something as a closure. I was thinking velcro, but I might go with snaps depending on what is available at the shop.

Happy Back to School to you all out there, I know we're all excited around here to get back into the groove.