more messenger bags – teacher gifts

The girls wanted to make something special for their teachers this year. We have been lucky enough to have the same teacher for two years in a row for our younger daughter, and have truly enjoyed interacting with her over the last several years (she was also our elder daughter’s teacher). G announced that her teacher loved her doll’s messenger bag when she brought it in for show and share – so G felt this would be a good choice, : ).

I know that her teacher is a fan of Cath Kidston, so set out to find if there were any options for finding Kidston fabric on Etsy. There are disclaimers for the fabric, which is apparently ends from the bag manufacturer for Cath Kidston in China. It is however priced at $16 / yard, as opposed to $54 / yard on the Cath Kidston site, which put the fabric in reach for this project.

At 8 and almost 7, they are a bit young to complete the entire messenger bag from MMMcrafts on their own. The parts I did were rotary cut all pieces, pressing, sewing the bag lining to the outer bag, and the final top stitching. They were however, able to complete the remaining top stitching and bag construction on their own.

Taking a hint from my favourite Orla Keily bag, I purchased lobster clips and colourful elastic to include two tethers in each bag, for attaching keys and a small zippered pouch for each bag. Larissa at mmmcrafts suggested this zippered pouch tutorial, with French seams. These seams were a bit challenging to complete with the very heavy canvas fabric, but I think the results made the bags much more practical – able to securely hold cell phones or other more valuable items.

zipper installed

Their teachers both loved the bags, and G’s teacher has promised to deliver a picture of her and her bag on their UK trip this summer. As usual, I forgot to take pictures of the final projects (my just in time delivery always seems to blow this up).