Diaper Bag and Lots of Goodies

A very, very dear friend is having a baby in about a month and tonight I went to her baby shower.  It was so much fun and this baby has a special place in everyone's heart.  My friend knew I was making her a diaper bag and she selected the fabric.  The fabric had to have fabric from  Anna Maria Horner, the mom-to-be's favorite designer.

The pattern is Cargo Duffle by  Noodlehead  (free by the way) with just some changes in size.  I am putting up lots of pictures for this bag, I just love it.  The shape and size are perfect for loading up baby things.

I did use Soft and Stable for the stabilizer and it is just perfect for any bag, it really holds the shape.  The handles also have the soft and stable, inserted after the handles are made and turned right side out..  Speaking of the handles, I made mine longer and narrower, reducing the suggested size by 1".  The straps are 27" long.  Originally, I made the straps as per the pattern.  After having the bag completed except for binding the interior seams, I just wasn't happy with the handles.  They were too wide and too short for this bigger bag I had made.  The new size is so much better and I am quite happy I made the change.

The front and back pieces are 13 tall x 19 high,  bottom gusset is 8" wide by 33.5".  Note: the gusset has to be made longer since I made the front and back pieces taller.  I added 1.5" to the height, so, 3" needed to be added to the length of the gusset. The zipper gusset is half the width of the bottom gusset, with the changes mine is 4" wide by 30.5" long.

If you had a longer zipper (recommended is 26"), you can always make the zipper gusset longer.

  I quilted the fabric to the Soft and Stable, at 1" apart.  The bag is lined with the blue/cream fabric, but treated as one piece with the quilted fabric.  I did topstitch the yellow fabric and this stitching went through the lining also.  This bit of stitching helped to keep the lining in place.

My zipper was not long enough for the zipper gusset, so I just added a nice tab to each side.

I did the binding to all the interior seams for a nice finished interior.  I wanted a hard bottom for the bag, plexi glass is a nice material to do this.  My local lumber yard will cut this and I just measured the bottom of the bag seam to seam (width and length).  The edges were a bit rough so I used duct tape to seal the edges.  I just made a liner (think like a pillow case) and inserted the plexi glass.  I am going back to all the Weekender bags I made and adding plexi glass to the bottom.  It is incredible how this helps the bag to hold its shape.

After the bag, was finished I had to fill it up, right?  First a travel size diaper wipe pouch, I had purchased a pattern on Etsy and made a couple a couple years back.  Well, I couldn't find the pattern and wanted to just get this project completed before the wedding.  So I winged it

The back has a pocket to insert a diaper or two.  Erin loved this pouch to slip into your purse and not have to carry the big diaper bag.

Next every diaper bag needs some burp cloths, these are just cloth diapers with some ribbon added.  A nice stack for the new baby, which everything is gender neutral, we do not know the sex of the baby.

Last but not least, patchwork bibs (made before here)
Three quilted bibs if it is a boy

Then four quilted bibs if baby is a girl, one extra using the leftover bag fabric.

My friend was thrilled with the gift and I loved making this bag.  My world of bag making has changed and improved so much since finding the Soft and Stable.