Thursday, May 8, 2014

Ballet Messenger Bag

Anna started ballet lessons last Saturday. She is absolutely thrilled with the whole situation but we realised after we went shopping to buy her dance gear that she needed a bag to take to ballet classes.


I love it when you get an idea and then all the fabric you need is happily awaiting you in your stash! This messenger bag is made using the awesome Zaaberry Kids Messenger Bag tutorial.

I made one last year but wasn't all that happy with the finish - the tutorial suggests using medium interfacing but I only had heavy interfacing so I used that, and it was way too stiff - it was really awkward to work with. Lesson learned, this time I didn't have any interfacing so I used some quilt batting scraps which worked perfectly.


I used denim and a piece of cherry blossom fabric that I had in my stash. Initially I thought I'd use a pink for the feature fabric but I decided to steer clear of the ballet cliche colour and go for something a bit different but still feminine and pretty.


I guess Anna feels the same way about ballet - her outfit is all pink but she had her choice of pink, gold, silver or white ballet slippers...and she chose zebra print! Ha!

The interior of the bag is lined with a pink and aqua polka dot cotton. All the top stitching is in hot pink.


It was a nice quick sew - I had lots of interruptions and ate lunch between the start and finish of the project, and it still only took about two hours. Without interruption (or lunch!) you could probably get one made in 45 minutes, easy.

Anna loved it so much that she crash tackled me with cuddles and kisses when she got home from school! Aww cute girl - I will enjoy those kinds of reactions now because I don't think it will be quite the same when she is a teenager...

12 comments:

  1. LOVE the fabric choices on this bag!! I've just sourced some octonauts fabric for my boy and am planning to make one of these for him with that as the feature. Bound to be a winner!!

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  2. Aww that's gorgeous! I can imagine her skipping into class with her back in tow :)

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  3. "bag" that should read ... what a weird auto-correct!

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  4. Nice!
    I just did the same for my oldest. Made a ballet backpack. Alas, no cuddles. Maybe a messenger bag is the golden ticket. Drat. ;)

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  5. Hugs and kisses to say thank you to her mummy for making such a gorgeous bag - awww :)

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  6. Her zebra ballet shoes are just the cutest! And this is such a pretty bag - just for her. No wonder you got lots of love!

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  7. Lovely. My son already has a messenger style bag that he takes whenever we go out (pack your bag with toys, pen and paper for a lunch out type activity). I've been wanting to make one for Miss 5 so she has one too. Looks like a perfect size!

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  8. Gorgeous bag Ros! And I love the zebra ballet shoes - alas in my day they only had the pink ones (I did ballet from age 4-12!) But my Mum pretty much made all our recital tutus and outfits!

    Thanks again for helping get the word out about my swap, I have a few participants who have come over from your blog :)

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  9. Thanks for the inspiration! I've made two of these in the last two weeks. Both for 4 year old girls. such a hit! thank you!!

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