DIY: Dora Backpack

Courtney would tell you I am crazy, well actually she did. But I do tend to look at a project and think - "That will take me only a few days.." At the time, that doesn't sound crazy - but in the midst of purple corduroy overload - it is. And I am fully aware that I am crazy. But, the kids LOVED these bags. I seriously got e-mails and texts all weekend about how their kid would not take off the bag. We ended up having 15 kids! I had to make 3 little pouches for the littlest one because I was so not making another bag after I had made 12. I do have to give credit to this awesome lady for this awesome tutorial. I did make a few changes since I was making them in bulk to make my life a little easier..

Materials:

1/2 yd of heavy duty fabric. I used corduroy, and so did the other tutorial
Thread
Pins
Felt for the face (1 square of each is plenty)
Washers
velcro
Heat n bond
1/4 yd of scrap fabric for the lining

1. Cut out all your pieces. Go here to download the body and face pattern. Trace and cut with a seam allowance

1 strip - 3" x 28" ( a little larger than the tutorial suggested - I found it easier to deal with excess than not enough.)

2 strips- 2-1/2" x 6"

2 strips- 2-1/2" x 12"

2 squares - 6" by 8" (I guess that is a rectangle :)

1 square: 4" by 4"

2. Do your prep work - Ironing and sewing the straps and pocket. Here is where I strayed from the tutorial. I had 48 straps to sew! And there was NO WAY I was going to turn them all right side out, so I just ironed them down and did a top stitch..so much easier.

Iron a small seam on either side

Fold in half and sew down. do this for the 6" strips and the 12" strips. Sew along the folded side

The next is for the pocket. You will need the 4x4 square and the long strip.

Iron down all four sides

Lay the long strip onto the ironed square and pin the sides to the BACK of the strip. I made it so that the top of the pocket was at about 4" down from the top of the strip. It will not be tight in the front - that is okay

Fold down the excess and iron

Stitch along the 2 sides and bottom. Be careful to only stitch the sides of the pocket.

Voila - big enough for Map!

3. Iron sew the face onto the body. I used heat n bond to place the eyes and mouth where I wanted them to go and then did a zig zag stitch around. I did not make my zig zag stitch very tight because I had so many to make. I also had never zig zag stitched before. I practiced on some scrap until I got the hang of it.

Just with Heat n Bond

Stitching around. Every step I proclaimed to my husband that "this is the worst part!" Ha- looking back- this was the easiest for sure. I think it was just the redundancy of making 12..

4. Sew the long strip onto the body.

Make sure it is face to face and that the pocket is nice and pulled away from the edge. Your machine will have to go through 4 layers once it reaches the pocket- my machine nor did my needles like it. I seriously broke 5 needles during this project! I had only ever broken one before in the years since I've had the machine..

5. Attach the back

First add the long straps. Pin the straps to the front of the back piece .

Place the back piece on top and sew the back piece to the other side of the strip

Make sure your straps are securely fastened (you could sew those on before adding it to the strip) I double backed over the straps just to be sure.

6. Make the flap

Place a bowl along the edge and trace and cut out

It ended up being roughly 7.5" by 4"

Sew face to face along the curve - leave the straight part open

Turn right side out

7. Attach the flap and straps to the top of the bag.

Notice how it is a little uneven on the top..

Trim it up! Make sure that it is as straight as you can make it

Pin the shorter straps down - make sure to line it up with the long straps

Add the flap on top and pin down and sew a seam across the back. At this point I took off the front part off so I could slide the bag around the arm of the machine