A Disney Backpack

The Pattern

I’ve been admiring the beautiful Violet Backpack pattern by Knot and Thread Design for quite a while. It is the perfect mini backpack size for a Disneyland bag. It has just enough space to store a day’s worth of park essentials but still looks very cute. The Violet pattern was easy to follow, had helpful diagrams, and printed correctly on the first try (which is always a bonus).

Materials

Although the pattern recommends Annie’s Soft and Stable for the backpack stabilizer, I ended up using Pellon two-sided fusible foam. I think that Annie’s would have worked better and had just as much shape without all the bulk. Oh well. Pellon was a lot more affordable and available locally. The dark blue exterior is a broadcloth fabric from Joanns. It’s horrible. The lowest quality fabric I have ever worked with. I was sucked in by the perfect color and alluring pricetag of 2.99 per yard, but it was a very bad decision. As I fused the foam to the broadcloth, the fabric burned slightly and then shrunk at least an 1/8 of an inch on each side. So annoying! But also totally my fault for not realizing that I needed 100% cotton, lesson learned.

The accent fabric is also fron Joanns, but it was a dream to work with. Nice quality fabric with fun colors at a good price. Shopping at Joanns can be so hit-and-miss. The light blue interior and striped binding were both found in my stash.

Putting it Together

I struggled working with all of the bulk. The spots that had two layers of foam, folded over pockets, binding, interior and exterior fabric were the most difficult to sew through. I also broke three needles sewing through the exterior zipper end. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by the third time. I also threw my needle bar out of alignment somewhere in there and had to get it repaired after I finished the backpack.

The person I was making the backpack for specifically asked for no quilting on the backpack front. This complicated things. I had to fuse foam to fabric that didn’t want to fuse and try to keep everything without wrinkles while sewing.

This wasn’t the easiest project, but I think that my choice of poor quality materials and lack of experience sewing bulk contributed to the trouble I had. If I made this backpack again, I would use only high quality 100% cotton fabric, Annie’s Soft and Stable, and sew slowly to avoid a costly repair.

In the end though, the recipient was happy with the outcome and the backpack served its purpose and got a lot of use during last month’s Disneyland trip.