Camo Backpack

Hubby picked out fabric to match his camouflage clothes and when we got home we found that they weren't a match, so a grandson got a camouflage backpack for Christmas.
I bought a  pattern and was very unhappy with it when I took the pieces out of the envelope.  The backpack wasn't lined and didn't have all the pockets I thought it should have.  It was to small also.

I added two inches to the width.  Four inches to the height and I don't even know how much to the depth. There was no zippered pocket on the front and the short front pocket had no extra fabric for anything with any thickness to fit without pushing into the space inside the backpack.  No loop on top either.

 Here is the side view.  This backpack can hold a lot.

Since I enlarged the backpack so much I decided that plain belting straps would never do. I decided to make padded straps to make a heavy load more comfortable to carry.

I purposely made this difficult to see, but if you look closely you can see something orange in the backpack.  I embroidered my grandson's full name in the lining.

Not only did I embroider it once, his whole name is on both sides inside the backpack.  His first name is on one side near the bottom and below each end of the zipper.  No stealing this backpack and getting away with it.
After all that he doesn't want to take it to school.  He plans to use it for camping, traveling, and things like that.

Mermaid Tail bag and Shark blanket Bag

Now that Christmas is over I can post these pictures.  I bought the fleece at the Black Friday sale.  I think the fleece was about $3.48 a yard.  I can't remember for sure, but it was less then $4.00 a yard.  I bought 1 yard of the main body fabric and 1/2 half yard of fin fabric.

I see these bags on Pinterest and decided I could make my own pattern and make the bags out of fleece.  Each bag is about 25 inches wide and 40 inches long.

This bag is pink.  I put the scales on the front only.  I liked it without the scales until I finished the shark bag.  After comparing the two the mermaid bag looked plain and boring.

1/4 of a yard each of red and white was plenty for the teeth and lips.  These bags were fun, fast, and easy.  Even the teeth were easy.

Three Purple Dresses

I went to a local thrift store one day to see what fabric I could find and found this.  About 3 1/2 yards of fabric.  I see why they got rid of it too.  See how the design ends on the picture on the right near the price tag.  Well that is how it ends and begins down the center of the fabric without any raw edges finished or meeting together. Nothing can be placed on the center fold without looking terrible.

                      

I got three little girl plain dress out of this fabric and could have gotten more if I could have used the center fold.

This is the pattern I used.  The pattern was 99 cents and the zippers were on sale for about 1 dollar each and I had matching thread already so the three dress cost about $8 to make.

The three little girls got together to try on their dresses and the youngest one wouldn't hold still for a picture.  Of course the others had to be wild if the little one was being wild. Hubby got the girls dancing on the coffee table and got this picture.  This is the best one any of us could get.
The oldest one wants matching purses for each girl since there is plenty of fabric left.  That probably won't happen.  I don't think any of them have worn their dresses yet and they were made during the summer.