Ah, my first project inspired by “The Creative Family” by Amanda Blake Soule (www.soulemama.com): An art-on-the-go bag complete with felt pencil case/roll and other fun things that sort of follow the book, but I bought what was in our budget. I thought it would make a good gift. Abby’s classmate invited her to his birthday party, and not that I don’t know much about toys for 7-year-old boys, but I had a feeling he’d like this little bag of goodies and he probably already has a bunch of action figures, cars, etc.

So, I brought out the sewing machine and had some red canvas, cording, felt and ribbon on hand (Abby picked out the canvas color). For the drawstring bag, I didn’t really measure out the canvas, I just eyeballed it with the goodies and hoped everything would fit. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but it worked out. Instead of a flat drawstring bag, I thought I’d give it a gusseted corner (I think that’s what it’s called, right?), too. The felt pencil case was straight out of Amanda’s book.

Now that my “test” project is done (I know, “testing” on a gift is not my usual thing), the next drawstring bags I make will be for Abby and Ollie… might do the “shoebag” backpack that a lot of kids use. Sort of looks like a nylon backpack with the string going through the grommets on the bottom of the bag. Perhaps a tutorial will be in the works soon.