The "Perfect Diaper Bag"

About 2 years ago, I offered to make Mel a diaper bag for her first child. She declined the offer, perhaps she thought it was too much work?? When she got pregnant again, I asked her what she needed. The first answer was another Boppy (see previous post regarding these nursing pillows) and she confessed that every diaper bag that she had tried disappointed her in one way or another. Finally, she broke down and asked me to make her a diaper bag. She then proceeded to tell me the flaws of all of the diaper bags she had tried...

The fancy schmancy bag she found had a flap over the top (think messenger style bag) that made quick access to the bag a difficult task. The bags also can be hard to clean and she needed pockets, but not too many of them. Things can be hard to find if there are too many pockets and you can't remember which one you put your car keys in!

I took all of her feeback and gave her some options. One was a modification of a beach bag I sewed a few years back - it was oilcloth and I just "happened" to have a bolt of yellow gingham oilcloth hanging around my stash, just BEGGING to be used up. Did I mention that yellow is her favorite color and her sling is also made of yellow gingham fabric? Sometimes you can't plan things to work out better than this!

The beach bag "pattern" (instructions would be more accurate) came from a book I boughts by Nancy Zieman at a local sewing store YEARS ago.

I scaled down the bag dimensions to 75% of the full size and "edited" the outside pockets. I chose ripstop nylon as the material for the pockets and made a casing for 1/4" elastic to make the pockets a bit more functional. The sides needed to be sturdy, but not too sturday. I solved that issue by glueing "Timtex" (a heavy, but sewable interfacing that is used in baseball caps) to the oilcloth using "tacky glue" - a crafter's "must-have" in any craft supply stash. Originally, I was only going to use the Timtex in the some of the panels, but the pockets needed more stability because of the elastic casing, so we added Timtex to all sides of the diaper bag.,

To add a decorative finish to the edges, I used some scallop scissors that I found on the Nancys Notions website . I added a removable, adjustable shoulder strap and I think we now have the perfect diaper bag.

The "front" view of the perfect diaper bag

The opposite side of the perfect diaper bag - notice how the pockets differ from the other side. This is so you can distinguish the 2 sides and hopefully remember which side you put your keys, wallet, etc. in. Also notice the removable adjustable shoulder strap. Just a little more work for a wonderful custom feature that you can't find in ready-made bags! It is better to have tailor made things since you can edit the design to meet your needs.

What do you think?