I am so excited to re-introduce you to the Making Backpack pattern! I’ve added a new (mini!) size & added a BONUS alternate zippered front pocket option, too!  

Here’s a quick list of the pattern’s features:

• two sizes to sew! Regular and Mini
• front slip pocket (plus BONUS! alternate zippered front pocket)
• interior zip pocket
• adjustable shoulder straps
• useful top handles

Update Information

I’m sure you might be wondering, what if I already bought the original PDF pattern? Great news! Check your email* and a new download link has been sent! Just download the new updated file and save it to your computer/cloud storage! 

*automatic download link is sent (via our file host, SendOwl) to the email address you originally used to purchase your pattern, please check your spam/promotions folder. 

If you purchased a paper copy from my shop (directly through my website www.noodle-head.com), please contact us and we will verify your purchase and send you a complimentary PDF copy of the updated pattern. Thanks in advance for your patience while we get things sorted.  

The Making Backpack is a fun backpack that’s perfect in its simplicity, but also great for customizing. Choose your favorite canvas (prints or solids), waxed canvas, or dry oilskin and get to work creating your very own custom backpack. I’m excited to see what you make! Now with so many great options!

I hope you’ll love this new Mini addition (& pocket)! I can’t wait to put my Mini Making Backpack to use this summer! 

Today through June 12th only (ends Sunday, June 12th at 10 pm CST) pick up your PDF for 20% off! No code needed!

Construction Notes

The Making Backpack features bound interior seams for structure! It’s my favorite choice for this particular pattern.

This is different than my Sandhill Sling pattern where I feature a drop-in construction method. The beauty of either of these methods is that they’re interchangeable! Once you’ve tried each method, you may find one method works for you better than the other – and that’s perfectly okay! Sewing things yourself means you get to be in charge of your project!

If you’d like to check out the Sandhill Sling sew-along (click here for the YouTube playlist), you can use that method to construct the Making Backpack.

Pssst….

• I am very excited to show you some of the samples that testers made! I plan to dive in to the details of each of the samples that I’ve made – so be sure to stop by my blog in the coming weeks for those!
• For those of you who prefer paper patterns, I’m hoping to have those ready by the end of the month. Thanks for your enthusiasm & patience!
• Lastly, my friend Jess of Okla Roots put together a video on the Making Backpack (Regular size)! Check it out!

The Making Backpack was originally published as part of Making Magazine in 2018. And then as a stand alone pattern (Regular size) in October of 2018.

Supplies used:

I will be blogging about these samples individually, but here’s the basic rundown below.

Bronze Mini sample:

• Washed Canvas in Bronze (Mind the Maker) purchased from Zipper Zoo
• lining is Lightweight Duck in Rosewood purchased from Fancy Tiger Crafts
• gingham is Kitchen Window Wovens by Elizabeth Hartman (in Lingere)
• zipper is the Cinnamon color available in my shop
• webbing kit available in my shop (this is the Hazelnut colorway – coming soon!)
• Size 24 Snap kit available here
• hardware kit here

Read about the original yellow sample here.

Orange Mini sample:

• Dry Oilskin from Zipper Zoo (this is the Smokey Orange color)
• lining & binding is by Alexia Abegg for Ruby Star Society (Vessell collection) purchased from Sewtopia
• Interior zipper is from my shop (this is a 6″ zip)
• Exterior main zipper and pocket zipper is zipper by-the-yard from Zipper Valley – and oh so beautiful!
• Hardware and leather pulls are both from my shop

Blue Regular sample:

• waxed twill (Cadet Blue) from AL Frances Textiles
• lining is Lightweight Duck in Seafoam purchased from Fancy Tiger Crafts
• gingham for binding is is Kitchen Window Wovens by Elizabeth Hartman (in Slate)
• zippers were from Zipit, webbing was from Zipper Zoo (looks like the color is unavailable at this time
• Hardware and leather pulls are both from my shop

Hope that covers it all! Thanks so much for being here, I appreciate all of you! Thanks for your constant inspiration.

You know I love sewing for babies, right? I know it’s been a bit since I’ve made anything — but there’s a new baby in town! That always spurs me to make something. It’s really how I got back into sewing. I was pregnant with my daughter (who just turned 16!) and got the itch to make a few things – a crib set and such. It wasn’t long after that that I started my blog and business. So anytime I have the opportunity to sew for babies I get to work!! This green denim Divided Basket and Diaper Pouch gift was my most recent baby gift I made!

I loved picking out fabrics for this one! The Divided Basket was chosen after seeing some of the nursery pictures, so hopefully it’ll feel right at home with some diapers and lotions tucked in. I upped the personalization factor with adding an initial stamped leather tab like in the last one I made. I did skip the front pocket – so that’s always an option for an extra speedy sew!

And you have to know this diaper pouch is also a must-give gift. I can’t tell you how many I’ve made over the years, but it’s such a quick sew and a fun opportunity to use beautiful fabrics. It’s perfect to slip into any bag for when you need to get out of the house quick. Also makes it really easy to pass off to a diaper changing helper at any time!

I’m so happy for my friend and her beautiful baby! It’s always such happy news!

Project Details:

• Pattern: Divided Basket (available in my shop) and Diaper Pouch tutorial by my friend Amy (Diary of a Quilter)
• Fabrics: pewter green denim purchased from Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics (the color I used appears to be sold out, but here are several other color options), lining is by Alexia Marcelle-Abegg (Ruby Star Society from her Sienna collection), pouch exterior fabric is by Bonnie Christine (from her Open Road collection for Art Gallery Fabrics) and Big Sur Unbleached canvas as the lining
• cute label is Kylie & the Machine purchased from Fancy Tiger Crafts
• leather is scraps from my shop, I will be adding more scrap packs this week!

And just for fun I thought you might want to check out some of the Divided Baskets and diaper pouches I’ve made in the past:

• Coneflower Divided Basket
• Driftless Divided Basket
• Gingham & Leather Divided Basket
• Butterfly Divided Basket
• Springy Divided Basket
• Rain Walk Divided Basket

Oh my gosh you guys!!!! I am so thrilled with this project! My daughter went on her school trip to Disney last week and she requested a mini backpack. You know I love a backpack and I love making things my kids love and use. So I started out thinking I would make her my Making Backpack! I asked her about what size she wanted and she gave me some measurements from the mini Kånken by Fjallraven (it’s a Swedish based company and their Kånken style backpack has been around since 1978). It’s a total classic! And there are patterns that have similar features so that you can sew up your own – Sarah Kirsten’s Raspberry Rucksack and here’s a quick search for a few others. So this Mini Franken-Kånken was made!

Construction Notes

I knew I was still going to use the base construction of my Making Backpack pattern, so I shrunk down the size and added some of those great Kånken details! I used the pop-up pocket from Sarah’s Raspberry Rucksack pattern (which she had kindly gifted to me when she released her pattern). It’s a very clever pocket design! The remaining aspects of the backpack were done on the fly and in combination the Making Backpack details. I had given myself only part of a day to make the bag – nothing like a deadline! It was so fun to see it come together – I even managed to take some fun video and will probably put together a reel for IG. Gotta have fun!

Okay, so here’s the details for the supplies I used, which were also such a fun part of this project! I had sent my daughter a bunch of pictures and together we pulled some fabrics that would work. And I love them! There’s so many great options for beautiful fabrics that you really can’t go wrong!

Project Details

• Pattern: based off my Making Backpack pattern (sized down with Kånken inspired details and Raspberry Rucksack pocket) – a Mini Franken-Kånken, hahah!
• Fabrics: Dry Oilskin from Zipper Zoo (this is the Smokey Orange color which I plan to buy a ton more of), lining is Louise Cunningham for Cloud9 Fabrics from her Arid Wilderness collection, interior binding is Interweave Chambray by Robert Kaufman Fabrics (I only added SF101 to the lining pieces – I think it worked great).
• Interior zipper is Monster Snot from my shop (this is a 6″ zip),
• Exterior main zipper and pocket zipper is zipper by-the-yard from Zipper Valley – and oh so beautiful!
• Hardware and leather pulls are both from my shop
• Webbing in both 1″ and 1.5″ are Smokey Orange from Zipper Zoo!
• Leather patch (comes in my Making Backpack kit), and I stamped it with her initials using an alphabet stamping set from Tandy Leather (it’s the only set I have and has worked great for years!)

Let me know if you’d like to see me add this size option to the Making Backpack pattern. I won’t be able to do the same pocket as Sarah’s (that I used in this sample), but I think I could come up with a fun alternate pocket design to include.