baby preparations: stuff for toting

Over the past few months I have been spending most of Liam's afternoon naps at my sewing machine. Between Makenna's Quilt, stacks and stacks of bibs I make for The Baby Habit to embroider, and all of the baby crafting, I have had a hard time keeping enough thread on hand.

We are still using the sturdy Kavu messenger bag we bought as a diaper bag for Liam, and I plan to use it for River as well; but even with the best of my intentions towards minimizing the baby stuff I tote around, I know there will be times when I need a bigger bag to get us through the day.

Enter Amy Butler's "Modern Diaper Bag" from Little Stitches for Little Ones.

or

what Gabriel not-so-affectionately calls The Ark

This bag is a real monster, but still oh-so-stylish. It features plenty of generous-sized pockets along the interior, along with a cell-phone pocket on the side. I already have it packed for the hospital, and it handles the load quite nicely.

The pattern was fairly simple to follow. There were a lot of pieces and a lot of steps to follow, but the only part that gave me any trouble was figuring out how to do the pleats for the interior pockets. I think I ripped them out and redid them a total of four times before I finally got it right.

I used some green upholstery-weight fabric I had on hand and lined it with this fabulous organic green and white printed cotton fabric Ben and Carolyn gifted me with (their Christmas gift for me was a basket full of various fabrics...such a treat).

The pockets are made from green flannel that was also part of the Christmas bundle. The whole thing is stabilized with a layer of cotton quilting cotton adhered to the exterior fabric with Ultra Bond. Finishing it off is the snap-button closure.

I also made a nursing cover from the green and white organic fabric, following the tutorial found on Made by the Mama Monster. I didn't have one of these with Liam, but there were definitely times I wish I had. I haven't taken a picture of it yet. Maybe some other time.

Yesterday I made this simple little pouch to stash a pacifier in the diaper bag without worrying about it floating around in the depths of the bag and picking up who-knows-what-kinds-of-crumbles.

I used the fabric Bay Greenhill brought to my Blessingway along with hemp terrycloth for the lining. I didn't have a pattern, instead just making it up as I went along. It is just the right size for our favorite natural rubber pacifiers.

In case it isn't apparent, I've really been enjoying all this baby-related crafting.