Got Weed(s)? You'd be a lot cooler if you did...

Alright, alright, alright....

It never seems like there's a baby here and a baby there--it's more like all the babies come at once and their mommies want diaper bags. I showed you my geek-inspired bag last week, and this week I've got another for you (with an order for one more that might prove difficult to bring to fruition in the requested fabrics so we'll see how that goes). But if there was an interest I might do it as a sew-along? Let me know in the comments if you think you'd be interested--keep in mind this bag is basically a very functional pocketed tote that I have just made my go-to design for diaper bags, so you can make it for any purpose, really.

So I've noticed people don't want their diaper bags to really look like diaper bags, whether it's because daddy thinks it's unmanly to carry a pink bag with teddy bears, or because mommy's taste doesn't tend towards the cutesy. Either way I get to try out fabrics and combos I normally wouldn't as they might not lend themselves well to an ordinary bag. This bag came about after my friend viewed her niece's registry, sent me the photo, and then requested her niece to take it off her registry (subtle, eh?). I tried to match the fabrics in color and feel, and felt quite lucky to snaffle up some yardage of this fabric as I'm always late to the party and want things when they're on their way out.

This fabric is from the Weeds collection by Me and My Sister for Moda. Last week I hit the jackpot with pattern matching without trying. This week I tried and it's slightly off, but the fabric is so busy you don't really notice. Normally I pull up the top edge and do a sort of faux piping with the lining, which works great when the lining and the details on the outside are the same. I didn't do it with these recent two, but I can say this--it makes top-stitching along the top so much easier without all that bulk (which is a bag demon I want to iron out--it gives me slight anxiety when I come to a bulky seam to topstitch over and I can't always say if I'm pep-talking myself or Harriet when we come to that point in the final step of this bag).

As per the usual we've got handmade piping around the gusset, and elastic pockets on the sides. The fabric is also quilted on this one (which was a huge time sucker--this would have gone quite quickly if not for that detail being added).

This one has a suspension bridge zipper in there as well. Again I've used a larger handbag style zipper and it is really so much easier to work with (and feels so much sturdier for a larger bag).

Again I made the 'bridge' nice and wide so that the bag can really be filled without any concern over the zipper busting with tension. At the same time it's not rigid so it will simply hunker down in the bag if it's not stuffed to capacity.

The straps and piping (the textured dark gray) and this dotty lining are both from Joann's. I know dots aren't everyone's cup of tea (those people aren't to be trusted, BTW), but I really feel like these are a fabulous complement to the red. Lots of elastic pockets and a wide gusset make this bag easy to organize and roomy.

I think I've made about a dozen of these bags, and on this one I hit the "Duh!"jackpot. I think there are maybe about five things I realized I was making quite difficult on myself (regarding the pockets, the straps, and the piping) that I figured out on this one to make it much easier (again I can't say how much time I saved because of the quilting I had to do but it felt easier going together so it must have saved some).

This one was a little out of my color-comfort-zone for babies, but I was informed that the mom-to-be is quite thrifty and adores handmade, so I imagine this bag will be lovingly used and cared for and have a life that extends far beyond the need to lug around diapers and such.

Up next I've got a few knits to show you--some fun socks, and a shawl/scarf (because that's what you make when summer is on the way, right?). Plus some progress on my PITA afghan (pain-in-the-dot dot dot). It's a bugger to work on as I can't sleep through it but I love it so much now that it will definitely be finished. Maybe even this year. Unlike this quilt that I also love but haven't touched (but have full plans to once my weekend social life calms down with picnics, parties, showers, and weddings).

Tata for now, and have a fabulous holiday weekend!!