Monday, February 18, 2013

Pint-Size 241 Tote

My youngest turned three a few weeks ago, and she requested a couple of handmade items for her birthday. Last week I shared the bubble dress that I made for her. Today I'm going to share the other gift she asked for... a bag "like mom's." I started thinking about which bag would work best for her to carry her "treasures" − a stuffed bear, a set of plastic keys, and an old cell phone − around in. I decided to go with Anna's 241 tote pattern. I've made two of these in the past (which you can find here and here), and it's just a fun bag to make. I started thinking about how much I wanted to shrink the pattern. I almost went with 50%, but then I figured that someone must have tried this already, and I was right! A quick internet search brought me to LRstitched, where Lindsey had sewn a mini 241 bag for her daughter about a year ago. She had shrunk the pattern to 75%, so I decided to go the same route. It's the perfect size for a three year old...


Love it! My daughter picked out the fabrics herself (Well, by "herself" I mean that she picked out the ladybugs and polka dots, then I gently guided her to the pink solid. Otherwise, we would have had some purple panda bears in there :)


Fabric:
  • Spring Ladybugs from Urban Zoologie by Ann Kelle
  • Scattered Dots in Summer from Remix by Ann Kelle
  • Kona Cotton in Bright Pink


I will say that it gets a little tight sewing the topstitching around the side panels when you shrink the pattern to 75%. I had to pick the stitches out twice, then I almost said to heck with the topstitching before I gave it one last try. It's difficult, but it can be done.


And no bag would be complete without a matching zipper pouch...


And she was very happy to find three dollar bills and a little mirror compact inside :)


Next post, time to share that tooth fairy pillow I mentioned way back in December...



8 comments:

Naturally Carol said...

A sweet bag for a sweet little miss. Gwen you did a great job. Have a happy week!

Unknown said...

Such a cute little bag! It's great when they want to be 'just like mommy', isn't it? :-)

Amy at Ameroonie Designs said...

So very cute Gwen! I love the ladybug fabric, and although purple panda bear fabric would have been fun- I think you steered her in the right direction. ;)
xoxo

Anonymous said...

This is adorable! I have this pattern too, been planning to make a summer bag for myself but this now meens my daughter will need one too :)

Life With Lucy said...

This is just the cutest! Love the yellow polka dot fabric with the ladybugs. So cute!

Claire Jain said...

So insanely cute! I'm so glad you made it and shared :-D Nice work battling the top stitching!

Fowl Single File said...

Oh my gosh! So cute! The fabric, the mini size, the matching pouch - everything is perfect!

Tennjenny said...

No you didn't! That is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Love it.

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