Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Book Bags

Did you know it was already mid-May? And that preschool ends before Memorial Day? Yeah, somehow that slipped my mind. I now have four teacher gifts to make in the next week, as well as a birthday gift for a little girl friend of my daughter's. We didn't get the teachers anything for Christmas or Teacher Appreciation Week, oops! Allison has loved her first year of school and I wanted to make something useful for the teachers. My mom was a teacher and I remember her coming home at the end of the year with dozens of mugs. So, mugs are out! I figure everyone can use a good tote bag, especially teachers, so that's what I'm going to do.

I love this Drawing Room print from Anna Maria Horner, and it's such a nice smooth sateen. I snapped some up when it was on clearance at fabric.com (it still is! Just this colorway for some reason, only $4.54/yard!), intending to make myself a library bag with it. I also thought if I had enough I'd do something like this pillow from Parrish Platz. To link where linking is due, she was inspired by Amy a la Mode.How totally cool is that? I'll have to start thinking which book titles I'd use.

But back to the case at hand. Bags for teachers! The pattern repeats four times across the 54" width of the fabric, and I wanted to get as much bag for my buck as possible. My first thought was to just use one column per bag so that I didn't have edges of the next column peeking in. I did french seams, trying to keep it nice and simple. But then I ended up with this sad little 9" x 12" bag. I didn't even bother putting handles on, it wasn't worth it. I guess this one can be that library bag I wanted! After I fix that crooked top hem, that is! Yikes!


So I went back to the drawing board and decided to go wide. I had this teal canvasy fabric that was a close match to one of the "books" so I added that to the sides, boxed the bottom, lined it in a cute ivory and teal polka dot print, and had a much more serviceable teacher bag! I did cut it straight with the grain, by the way, the print is kinda slanty like that.


So do you think it would be odd to give all four teachers the exact same bag? I thought maybe I could use different lining so they'd know whose was whose?

8 comments:

  1. love it. as a sometime supply teacher at the monet, what is not to like! and great idea to add the teal on the sides. must check out that fabric offer...

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  2. This is a really cool idea!!!! Ok, off to find your giveaway!

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  3. Very cute! Do some cute kids book titles...Click Clack Moo, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, Good Night Moon, Guess How Much I Love You, Where the Wild Things Are...

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  4. Oh my goodness! That is fantastic! As a teacher, I have to tell you that if anybody gave me a bag like this, I would freak out and wouldn't find it at all odd if my co-teachers got the same thing. There's a lot of camaraderie on our team though, and we would sport them proudly. Those teachers are a lucky bunch!!

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  5. I think that's the cutest teacher gift I've ever seen!! My mom is a teacher 40+ years and never got anything that cool :)

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  6. As a teacher I can tell you that this is an awesome gift! I've sen this fabric but never thought to write in the book titles. Now i"ll have to go find some!!

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  7. Oh, that is so awesome! I'm a librarian, not a teacher, but I'd love to receive a tote bag like that :)

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  8. Ha! YOu and I loved all the same books I see!

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