Owl Tag Along – Moda Sliced Finals

Oh my goodness! Thank you everyone for your support so far! I am beyond tired. Not only was this the final week for the Moda Sliced Competition, but life continues to move on. My 2 year old chose this week to get sick for the first time in months (and now we’re getting it) and we’re remodeling our new home that we will move into in a couple of weeks. (when I pull myself together I’ll get some pics of that! My sewing room shelf has one coat of the blue paint!!!)

Yup. Just a little busy. 😉

But on to my final entry for the Moda Sliced Competition. This week we were given the choice of what to make. And boy did that throw me for a loop. Just a little bit of pressure. We also had to make sure that we included Layer cake pieces (10″ x 10″ squares of fabric), a zipper and grommets/eyelets. I heard those requirements and knew that I needed to make a bag. And from there the craziness began.

With only 5 days from start to finish to design, make and photograph our entries, you need to able to make decisions quickly. I thought of this idea early on but then got distracted by a bunch of other ideas for a couple of days. I finally regained my senses and came back to the project that I knew was right for ME.

This toddler backpack has all the requirements met and then some. It is lined with laminated fabric (from Kate Spain’s Terrain line) to be completely cleanable and toddler proof. It is also made with Insul-Bright batting to be cold and heat resistant, so it is perfect for food and drinks. There are a couple of simple pockets for small items…but I know my toddler and she’s just going to throw things in the bag, so I knew it didn’t need to be too elaborate in the interior.

Zipper and lining details.

So, it’s fabulously functional but I’ll admit that the exterior is probably my favorite part. There are expandable side pockets made from mesh with a casing made from Sweetwater’s Sunkissed fabric (a layer cake piece!). I used eyelets, cording and double cord stops to make the pockets easy to use. They are perfect for a sippy cup. 😉

The back pack is made with comfortable fabric straps that are fully adjustable to grow with your toddler. It fit my daughter perfectly! And she was quite pleased with it.

The bag is piped for extra stability and made with a durable twill fabric (from It’s a Hoot by Momo). There is a nylon cord strap that makes this bag easy to hang in place by your toddler, and the contrast pink zipper with ribbon pull tab is the icing on the very sweet cake.

But oh the Owl! I saved that for last when I was making it because I just wanted to have fun by that point. All of the technical designing was out of the way and I could focus on creating something functional but oh so whimsical.

The belly pocket is made from two Sherbet pips layer cake pieces for a sweet front pocket. And the wings are made from a layer cake piece from Wee Woodland by Keiki and only attached at the top of each wing to make them fully “flapable”. The face is made from one Bella solid layer cake piece in snow, some left over French General for the eyes and a small piece of Kate Spain’s central park for the nose. The eyes and nose are made the way I do my doll quilts with a fusible and top stitching. The fabric for the eyes is less than 1/8″.

What does an Owl say Caitlyn? “Whooo!”

So there it is. Finished. Turned in. And now in the judges hands. But I’m proud of this and my design. It took a lot of mental energy to get here and a lot of sewing techniques were used (I think I used 5 different feet on my sewing machine for this!). But I gave everything that I could and feel confident knowing that. I’m almost tempted to remake it in Navy and Kelly Green for a  little boy….almost. 😉

Now we just need to wait until tomorrow night.