Deep Gashes (ew) and Big Boy Backpacks

This week I accomplished some things, the least of which was gashing my hand on a tin can lid.

It had to be my right hand, too.

I have been wavering between extreme irritation at myself (such a stupid accident) and extreme nausea, because honey: I COULD SEE INSIDE MY HAND. I'm sorry, I don't usually create drama, but this was awful. When I cut myself I took one look, blanched, and then resolved to never look at it again. Then I rallied the troops, since I was by myself with sleeping children and couldn't actually drive, let alone wrangle them all in the car, one-handed, and the troops came through and got me to the ER. Surprisingly enough, I didn't need stitches, owing to the neatness of my deep cut (I like to do things tidily), but the nurse did tell me, right before stabbing me with a tetanus shot, to keep my hand still and not use it much, since it's in a terrible place for healing.

Haha, oh man, she was funny. In a stabby, tetanus shot sort of way.

In conclusion, my sweet husband has been doing lots of the work around here, including washing my hair for me. He is a prince of men.

Despite the gimp hand, I had to work hard at finishing the boys' backpacks in time for school tomorrow. B's has been done for a couple weeks, and I worked feverishly on J's while he waited patiently, confident in his mom's abilities. They turned out great, even though I will never ever agree to make backpacks for my children again.

The boys picked out the fabric on their own and told me, in no uncertain terms, just what design they wanted on the front. B's dinosaur is a brachiosaurus named 'Stripes' (based on an actual toy that B lost on the shore at Ludington--so glad Stripes is now forever memorialized in this backpack) and J's is, obviously, a robot. I didn't get a close-up of the robot's face, but his "eyes" say the word 'HI.' J was very insistent that the robot have teeth, too. Naturally.

Here are the backs:

The reason I say I'll never do this again is because they are just a ton of work. This is one of the more ambitious projects I've conquered, owing to the fact that, in the final step, you are quite literally wrangling a complete backpack through your home sewing machine. Eep. Just a might much.

The pattern I used is this one done by Made by Rae. I did lots of research on patterns, both free and purchasable, and this one seems the most backpack-ish. Most of the others out there, especially the free ones, are drawstring, and very few go beyond the small toddler size. Made by Rae's pattern includes two sizes: toddler and small kid. I did the small kid pattern, and it ended up being the perfect size for my kindergarteners. (C is getting one in the same size, too.) The pattern itself is pretty well written, though I have yet to find a pattern that goes into as much detail as I would like. I also wish she'd include some more pictures--some of the pictures she referenced did not actually line up with her directions at all. However, if you're a confident sewist, I'd say this is the pattern for you. It's well worth the price.

I did make things a bit more complicated for myself by choosing quilting cotton, which means I had to line it with something to give it heft; otherwise, the backpacks would have just collapsed. To beef up the material, I used some heavy grade Peltex sew-in interfacing, which works great to give it needed heft but is pretty tricky to sew with. It also makes the layers of fabric super, super thick. My machine never balked, thank goodness, but I think a lesser machine would have trouble. Ideally, I should have gone with a heavier weight fabric (say, canvas or even a home decor weight cotton) in order to skip a lining. I might try skipping Peltex with C's backpack and using something thinner for lining. We'll see.

Today they meet their teacher and tour their classroom, and tomorrow is the big day. We're all excited and a little nervy, and I, oddly enough, am paralyzed with fear at the concept of the drop-off/pick-up procedure. I think my brain is doing it's normal coping-with-change thing and focusing on the most inane, least important detail and blowing it up in magniture and scope until it is no longer an innocent detail but instead a terrible, slavering monster that keeps me awake at night and gives me stomachaches.

Car line = monster. Yep.

I'll let you know how that goes, shall I? Plus pictures of the boys in their backpacks. I owe you that.