More Back to School or rather, First Day at School

My daughter had her first day in preschool, and that is a shock to the system!

Her first step into the world, independent of her parents and brothers, because except for her grandparents, she has never been away from us for any period of time. She enjoyed her day so much, and I missed her.

I didn't come back home, but went for coffee with my husband, also quite a different experience to be able to have a totally uninterrupted conversation.

I did some sewing for her - a schoolbag and a lunch bag.

The schoolbag was initially sewn as a practice bag using the Liesl&co/Oliver+S pattern "A Day in the Park Backpack/Tote", but I think it will do ok for school also.

The inside of the bag showing the zip pocket

I changed the pattern by adding extra fabric, cord and a stopper instead of the magnetic snap (which I didn't have anyway!)

The inside of the bag showing the other pocket.

The back of the bag showing the rucksack straps...

The front of the bag showing it as the 'tote' version. My daughter didn't want the button put into the front, so there's none. Also I used 'D' rings instead of 'O' rings, though 'O' rings would have been better. I nearly forgot - I widened the side panels and the base, so had to make some alerations to the length of the straps as well.

I like this pattern a lot for how it looks and hope to sew one for myself soon.

Then there was the lunch bag. Many shop bought lunch bags contain PVC, and most oilcloth/laminated cotton do also. The other option is acrylic-coated cotton which I bought from the Scandinavian Design Centre Online. Some of their oilcloths also contain PVC. There is also an Irish shop called The Blue Door which stocks eco-friendly oilcloths.

So not having a pattern, I made one up.


I'm pleased with how this turned out, and it's washable, and leakproof - though this hasn't been tested 'in the field'! yet.

The lining fabric was bought locally and is the same as was used for the schoolbag above

She is enamoured with the bags, and all the animals on them.

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