Back To School

Rocco and Luca start back to school next week... and then... can it be true? Yes, finally Vinny starts preschool (oh when I type it out I get excited). He's a handful and to finally have a moment of peace and quiet will be wonderful. I can finally pee without an audience.

I've been waiting three years to make a Toddler Backpack for Vinny's first day of school! He asked for a cookie monster backpack so he's not exactly thrilled with this one. It's hard to tell from the photo but I found a cookie monster zipper pull on Ebay to make up for it. 

Rocco and Luca are using the same backpack as last year. Luca loves hers so much she tells us that she's taking it with her to college. She has no less than twelve "danglies" hanging from the back. 

The lunchbox on the chair was Rocco's from preschool. It's an old metal lunchbox with the  Metallica Master of Puppets album artwork. I married an old school metal fan what can I say? I'm sure the teachers at school will have some comments on that one. 

I made the bigger version of the backpack. I used a chunky jacket zipper which turned out pretty cute. The piping kicked my butt. I also sandwiched interfacing in between the outer fabric and the "lining" to give it more body. I did not line this backpack like her instructions because I didn't think I could actually swing it. This way I had to use bias tape on all the seams which was a pain but gives a nice finished look. I forgot to take a picture of that. Oh well. 

Not exactly sure what fabric the lining is. I'm pretty sure I bought it intending some shorts for Vinny. See near my thumb the piping that has black thread? I need to use the seam ripper one of these days to remove the stitch lines. For now I'm over it.

I do love the backpack and highly recommend the pattern. Rae's instructions are great and easy to follow.