Pooh Bear PurseBud Backpack

Iron on vinyl is so cool!

Okay, let me start at the beginning. I make PurseBuds. These are my own originally designed wristlets, purses, and backpacks/diaper bags shaped to resemble flowers. At some point I plan to make a post where I pimp out my PurseBuds, but I’ll limit this post to just the one I’m working on right now.

My mom has a coworker who is getting ready to have a baby and she asked me to make her a PurseBud backpack as a baby gift. I had made my aunt a bright pink and green one for my cousins about  half a year back and it turned out really cute, so she thought it would make an awesome diaper bag. Due to a craft show, and Christmas, and new years, then school…. I’m way behind on this project (I was supposed to finish it last month @_@). She’s due to give birth in the next few weeks so there’s no more time for procrastination!

Since it was going to be used as a diaper bag having the inside be waterproof was pretty important. Seeing as my lovely town is lacking in such fabrics I went online and ordered the obnoxiously loud bright pink vinyl that I would need to reproduce the bag. When I called my mom to let her know that I had ordered the fabric and was just waiting on delivery she got very despondent. Apparently she didn’t want it to be pink, she wanted it to be a pooh bear bag.

Okay, I’ll admit it had been about three months since we’d talked about the bag so I may have forgotten some things. And I’ll also admit that she told me the baby shower was going to be Pooh Bear themed... But I will never admit that she ever told me she wanted a Pooh Bear bag @_@!

I know that other people have different tastes than I do, but these are flower shaped bags… I would have remembered if someone requested one with a fabric that so clashed with the general theme. Gradient, fine… stripped, okay… even polka dots I could see in the right situation. But I would have remembered a request for cartoon characters on a flower.

I started to panic. I told her I’d work something out and not to worry. Maybe I’d make a zipper pouch to put in the bag in pooh bear fabric? But anyone who has ever seen the cartoon/books knows that neon pink is not exactly the color that comes to mind when you think of Winnie the Pooh. This wasn’t going to work.

I decided I would scrap the pink and start from scratch. I have another friend who is pregnant and wanted a bag. If she finds out she’s having a girl pink would be just the ticket for her.

So… what to do about this bag?

I went to the fabric store and looked at the different Winnie the Pooh fabrics they had. I just couldn’t picture any of them on a PurseBud. It would look weird! I was just about to give up when I had an epiphany. In the fleece section (which is overflowing this time of year) there were a quite few fabrics with relatively large characters on them. Making the whole bag out of the fabric would look ridiculous, but I could cut out the characters and applique them onto the bag instead! Then I could make it whatever color vinyl they had on hand.

So I had a plan. Upon perusing the vinyl selection though I was once again at an impasse. It was all ugly. Well, I’m sure that these colors would be great for lining boating seats, but not for a diaper bag. A diaper bag should be light and cheery… not brown or black. /sigh
I finally broke down and asked some of the employees if they had any ideas for me. One of them asked if I’d considered iron on vinyl.

What is this, they have a way to make fabric waterproof? That's awesome! I was so thrilled I almost kissed this woman. I decided to go with a nice light yellow and dark green for the purse (a relatively popular color combination).

I’m only about halfway through constructing the bag *** and I’ll post an update when I’m completely finished *** but I just had to come rave about this product. It goes on so easy and basically turns any fabric into plastic coated awesomeness! I mean, it’s not pretty per se. It makes fabric shiny and its no longer soft and drapy, but it’s waterproof! Which is exactly what I needed. I think that this lady just opened up an entirely new world of possibilities for me.

For now I must get back to work, but here’s a picture of my awesome Pooh Bear appliqued leaves.



Never underestimate me… I can make anything, even a Pooh Bear themed PurseBud ^_^.