Toddler back pack. Now she can haul her own junk around!

Now that Cyrilla is getting bigger she's getting much stronger and I've often thought "she could really carry a lot of things around for me" and as my due date approaches and I'm thinking about all the great stuff I'm going to be hauling around for the new baby (note sarcasm), I figured it was time for Cyrilla to start doing her part... and also because my diaper bag simply is not big enough for two kids! So I set out to make Cyrilla her own back pack. I tried finding one at the thrift store down the road, but had no such luck, so after searching online I found a great tutorial that I knew would be easy to follow and went for it! The results were better than I'd hoped. There are a few things I'd do differently, and I did make some of my own adjustments to the process, but over all I stuck to the plan and Cyrilla now has her own pack to haul her own junk around in! She seems to like it and so far we've gotten lots of compliments... although a few people have asked her if she's going to school (and not jokingly) and I have to sigh and think "my poor giant kid will be getting this her whole life... people thinking she's older than she is. Pretty sure no kid under the age of two goes to school..."

Here is the original link to the back pack tutorial I followed. It has great instructions and easy to follow pictures, which I love. It also is simple and doesn't require too much sewing skill like some of the back pack tutorials I came across. 

http://atsecondstreet.blogspot.com/2011/04/backpack-tutorial-and-pattern.html

Cyrilla's back pack ready to go

With mine I added an outside pocket instead of a decal so that I could have Cyrilla's sippy cups and snacks accessable without having to open the bag. I added elastic to the top of the pocket, and while it does a nice job of keeping things in place it does cause the bag to pucker a bit in the center. I also sewed a seam down the center of the pocket so it was two little pockets instead of one big one I added a button and elastic hook so that the pack would stay closed but also be flexible for when it was empty or very full.

I used a very heavy wool material that I had on hand from a thrift store ages ago. It was the perfect weight for a bag like this. I also top stitched the entire bag to give it more structure, which make it look really crisp.

The back. Two different button settings for adjustability.

The inside/liner

The liner turned out to be a bit bigger than it needed to be, so again I'd cut that down by a half inch or more next time I do a bag.

Over all a success! I'd recommend trying this one out and thanks again Kalleen for the great tutorial!