Tutorial Tuesday: Adventure Bag

My godson turned 7 this month! Wow! I can't believe that he is already 7!! He is a wonderfully outgoing kid who has the heart of an adventurer. He is forever catching bugs, toads, and other creepy crawlies. Any boy who goes on adventures needs certain tools, right? And if you are going to carry tools you need a place to stash them, right? So I made him an adventure bag. (I think that this should be said with an echo setting, Adventure Bag Bag Bag.)

I started with a half yard of fabric that I cut into four rectangles measuring 11 inches by 14 inches. I stitched two rectangles to each other on the sides and bottoms. (I added a looped piece of bias tape to one side as I sewed.) And repeated for the remaining two. I added squares of interfacing to the bottom corners for reinforcement. I then pressed 1 inch under all the way around the top if both sets. I turned on bag right side out and slipped it over the other bag. (Now I had a lining and an outside of one bag.) I stitched an angular top stitch across the bottom corners through all four layers and then sewed a button hole in each corner. I then sewed two more button holes at the top of the outside of the bag only. (These button holes are set a bit down from the top and about 1/4 of an inch apart.) I then sewed the tops of the bags together just down from the top and then again about an inch below. (This will create a channel.) I then threaded cording through the bottom button hole on one side and secured it with a knot and wooden bead. I ran the cording up the outside to the top button hole and threaded it all the way through the channel and out the other top button hole. I then ran the cord down the outside to the remaining bottom button hole where I threaded it through and secured it with another wooden bead.

Now I had a bag that could draw open and shut and be worn as a backpack--a true adventure bag. I filled the bag with a magnifying glass and a child's binocular set. I clipped a compass carabinar to the bias tape loop. Now all the bag needs is a 7 year old adventurer.