and now for something completely different

Okay, I lied. It's just a little bit different. I made a knit clutch for Nicole oh so long ago, and she contacted me a little while ago asking if I could come up with a diaper bag she could give to her pregnant friend. Seeing as how I am also pregnant, and would also need such a bag, I said yes. I had some ideas.


This is the front.

As you can see, it's about the same size as the large tote bags I've been making. I dropped the amount of vinyl down on the front because Nicole's friend was excited about the paisley fabric - I wanted to make sure you could actually see a significant amount of it.


This is the back.

I added an outside pocket to the standard tote bag pattern. That big tall chunk of vinyl going up the back is a nice sturdy flap with a magnetic snap. I imagine it being used to hold a changing pad and one of those little flat packs of diaper wipes...or something. Though, I don't dictate what all the pockets are for - Nicole's friend can use it however she wants.


The open outside pocket.

I lined the outside pocket with the same paisley fabric. I liked how that looked. I would have been done with this last Sunday, except that I couldn't get the straps to turn right-side-out. I spent two hours on one and got maybe an inch turned before my hand cramped up painfully, then I quit. Lorne usually does the strap-turning for me, and he was out of town until last Wednesday night. So I tried again on Monday and Tuesday and failed miserably both days. Then I gave up. My trusty husband turned them (and about 16 other straps) on Thursday night. Lorney rules.


Innards, part the first.

I'm not a parent just yet, but I will be soon. I've spent a fair amount of time around parents - at my mom's daycare, my brother, my brother- and sister-in-law, other relatives - and my observation is that babies come with a lot of crap, and they need a lot of crap to come with them wherever they go. There are lots of little toys and extra socks and bottles and pacifiers that are needed to keep babies happy. So I made a strip of pockets to hold some of the stuff - a few little enclosed pockets, and then two pouches that can hold bottles upright.


Innards, part the second.

Then I included the pockets I usually put in the big tote bags. Perhaps Nicole's friend would like to not carry around a purse and a diaper bag, and wants a place set aside for her wallet, keys, and cell phone. Or perhaps her baby will just have a whole lot of stuff and more pockets will help her stay more organized. Whatever, as I said earlier, I'm not a pocket nazi.


The side of the bag...because I always have some sort of angled picture.

I still need to make a bag for Lorne and me to use. I'm thinking I might make one pretty much like this, except all vinyl on the outside, with a cut out of some sort of baseball-related thingy. Lorne and I just have to fight out* whether the cut out will be Twin-, Mariner-, or Dodger-related.

*By "fight out" I mean with brass knuckles, sticks, and partner cats. I call dibs on Gracie - she may be smaller, but she's meaner.


Gracie hates you.