TRINA HOLDEN


Long-time readers of this blog (or those interested enough in the minute details of my life to go back and read archives!) will remember that I made a diaper bag for Jesse. Actually, I made two – not knowing the gender of our baby, I made a purple one and a blue one. He was a boy (obviously), so we used the blue one, and the purple one went into storage.

While pregnant with Claire, I once again got the urge to make a diaper bag. Technically, I had absolutely no need for a diaper bag. Jesse’s worked great, and I had a girl’s one in storage if I needed it. Ahh, but I figured I could improve on the previous design, and I found this lovely fabric on clearance…so I bought it. But I restrained myself from actually cutting it out till after we knew we had a girl. (I did recover our bouncy seat before the birth – I figured if we had a boy he’d just have to put up with it!) Then, after birth and recovery, out came the shears, and the pattern I’d sketched out weeks previously. An old purple skirt would work for the lining, and leftover bias binding from another project would add another lovely shade of purple.


1. front exterior pockets

2. back interior pockets

3.inside of side pieces

4. exterior side pockets

5. back exterior pocket

6. bottom and flap

7. all the ‘walls’ of the bag sewn together and bound.

I chose a very simple method to assemble the bag – I made each panel seperately, complete with exterior pockets, interfacing, lining, and interior pockets. Then I just sewed them together and bound the salvages with the bias tape. This helped me get the stiffness I required – I wanted the bag to be able to stand up on its on even if it wasn’t stuffed full. The thick, bound seams in the corners of the bag act like ribs. In my mind this was easier than creating the bag and its lining seperately, then trying to figure out how to make them all stay together.

I had just a little fabric and patience leftover, so I added a cell phone pocket with a velcro closure to the wide, interfaced strap. This is my favorite part of the bag! 🙂 Other features include two elastic-edged water bottle pockets (one for me, one for Jesse), an interior diaper pocket (keeps all the little diapers from floating around unfolded in the vast interior), and a wide, flat, zippered pocket on the back of the bag for non-baby related items. Nine pockets total, and magnetic snap closures on the flap.

Next time I will make pouch-pockets for the front like the water bottle pockets – the flat ones just don’t hold enough stuff, and are hard to fish in. Otherwise, I love this bag!

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Comments

  2. Trina says

    Hi, Jenny! The bouncy seat was really easy to do – I simply seam ripped the whole thing apart, and used the pieces as a pattern. I reused the batting and the velcro and the only difficult part was remembering what went where when I put it back together. I suggest taking notes or pictures as you rip it apart to help you know the order to put it together again!

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  4. Kaley Ehret says

    Hi, Trina! Thanks for your nice comment. I love how blogging connects people. I LOVE this diaper bag. Sewing is something I wish I could do, but have never been willing to put the time and effort into it. But when I see the results of other people’s work, I almost feel inspired to learn. =) We’ll see…

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  11. Serena says

    I am definitely going to try your method of putting the bag together next time I make one. The binding also looks sooo nice! It turned out beautifully, and the strap looks wonderful!

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