I needed a bookbag...

for my book club notes, books, schedules, etc. It's been a long time since I needed a bookbag, so I decided to come up with a cutsey one just for fun. I took a purchased blank tote, removed the outer pocket, embellished it with a bookworthy design, and then sewed it back into place.

Bookbag photos:

Design used:

The little owl design came from http://www.urbanthreads.com/. I love that site! If you haven't gone there, and if you are a machine embroiderer, hand embroiderer, or just like to print interesting designs onto cardstock, then that site is for you!

photo credits at http://www.urbanthreads.com/

The lettering was placed around the design using the Embird program and a purchased Embird font. I'm not horribly Embird-proficient, but it is really a good program, and so far suits all of my machine embroidery design modification needs.

Materials:

Tote bag purchased from http://www.embroidery.com/
Robison Anton polyester embroidery thread

Sulky Tear Easy stabilizer

Size 90 Embroidery needle

Janome 300E embroidery-only machine

Method:

The pocket was removed from the tote bag, and strips of cotton were basted to the edges so that I could have a piece large enough to fit into my 5x7 hoop.

Once the pocket was embroidered, I fused some French fusible tricot to the wrong side of the pocket after having clipped extraneous threads, and then stitched the pocket back on to the tote bag.

The canvas in this bag, along with the webbing, is very thick. Accordingly, I used my Janome 6600 "bad boy" machine which handled the several bulky layers like it was sewing through butter.

I used the built-in walking foot to make sure that everything stayed in place as I stitched the seams back together. It worked like a dream. Goodness, I love that machine (but don't tell my Bernina 1630). I used Tires silk thread, only because it was the closest match, and a Universal 110 needle.

Final comments:

Every now and again I get itchy to play with my embroidery machine. If only my DD or DSD would procreate, I could be embroidering little ducks onto baby things. But nooooo! Instead of that, I get to make a bookbag.

Next up: an embroidered apron, since I'm always needing a clean one.