'Sock Monkey' Baby Bag

So my friend had her 'expecting' baby shower this Spring.  For those of you who haven't had the experience of adoption, that means that you can 'expect' to receive a baby anytime when you are 'expecting.'  She ended up having a couple of showers, one of which was a Sock Monkey theme.  Since they didn't know if they would receive a boy or girl, it is a decidedly neutral, but easily femmed or boyed up theme!  I went to the 'western' themed shower, so this could have gone either way...  Fortunately, I had bought this fabric (thinking it was going to be knit, but didn't read closely to know it was cotton printed like knit) and was saving it for something...

Well not long ago, I received the email that she and her husband are now proud parents to a little girl!  I am so happy for them!!  I decided to make her a cute little bag, with some sock monkey fabric and her little girl's first initial embroidered on the outside and a striped fabric on the inside.  If it looks familiar, it's because it was in this post.

 Ok, I know...  I changed the ribbon after this picture to a red and white polka dot.  I was trying something different, to make the red pop, but it just stuck out like a sore thumb!  I apparently, don't have the eye for some things... 

I used a heavier weight stabilizer on this bag, which I wish I would have used on this bag.  It was ok to work with, but somehow even though I didn't have the boys with me I managed to pick up the 'non-iron' kind...  I definitely like the results of the stiffer stabilizer.  I went two and a half inches in on the mitered corners, but in the future, I think I will stick with less, since you lose a lot of the bottom of the bag.  In any case, this sucker is going to stand up (with the deep mitered corners and the stiff stabilizer.)  Don't know if you can tell with the pics, but this guy is 12 inches wide (12 inch zipper.)  It will be able to hold plenty, too...  It was still super quick, which I love, made it in less than one evening!

I hope the new parents love this bag!  I enjoyed making it and hope their little girl isn't keeping them up too much!!

Take Care,
Morgan

Monogrammed Bag for Baby

Ok, so all new mommy's need an extra bag to stow away all those baby things, right?  Without smaller bags, the diaper bag becomes this black hole of diapers, wipes, creams, and all those little do-dads that are needed for the babies...  Finally, on the third baby, I have realized these smaller bags really organize the diaper bag and make it a lot easier to find things.  So, I used the fabric from this stash and made a pretty big bag to carry some of said do-dads in...  Ta-da!!!

Check out that TAMU lining!

Fill that baby up!

Now, I love this bag, especially how it sits up and coordinates so nicely with this.  The 'formula' is just so versatile, just pick a width (12 inches in this case) and you are pretty good to go.  I finished this sucker in one evening, but did a lot of prep work beforehand...

Flashback...  My hubby bought me an embroidery/sewing machine last year, I know, most wives might be angry about that, but I REALLY wanted one.  Problem was, this guy was ALL computerized!!  That's why it took me a whole year of walking by it every day, dreading opening the box and dealing with all that new fangled machinery.  My old, no frills sewing machine has always done me right, why would I want to use that mean, old embroidery machine?  Well, because it can embroider, that's why!

It took one whole day for me to thread the thing, with the manual by my side.  Not to mention getting the design on there...  Putting the K and border on the fabric alone took about 6 hours, again, much longer than I thought, expected, planned for, but totally worth it in the end.  Don't even ask me why I tried so many times to spell out the name on the front!  You know, it's difficult re-positioning the hoop to sew everything straight!  Enough about that, let's go back to our happy place...   The silver lining, I have had enough practice to know that (1) I need a bigger hoop already and (2) I can bust out some more designs real quick in the near future... 

I am really pleased with the way this turned out.  Fortunately, the future mommy and daddy already had the name picked out and were willing to share it!  So, nice!  I can't wait to use my embroidery machine again and crank out some more of these bags!  What do you think new mommies need most in their diaper bags?

Take Care,
Morgan

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