my park bag

I always carry a purse. A big purse. I try for small bags, but I always go back to my BIG ones. I lug half our house with us, and the fact that I'm a mom means I have that much more. My big purse just doesn't work for the park/playground though. Especially since my toddler is a total mommy's girl and usually wants me to climb/swing/slide right along with her. I usually just shove my keys, cell phone and sometimes camera in my pockets. This is not comfortable, nor is it a flattering look. I've been meaning to make this bag since last Fall, but just never got around to it.

I had this old pair of bermuda shorts that had an ink stain on them that I thought could work. They were this crazy black and white palm print that I had rarely worn out of the house anyhow, but they had been really cheap...you know, lol? I cut 2 rectangles from one pant leg and kept the bottom cuff intact so it looked a little more finished for the body of the bag. I wanted it to have a divider in the middle, so I cut a shorter rectangle and used a top portion that had one of those little front (watch?) pockets so that I would have another section in the bag. I stitched one of the belt loops inside the top of the bag because my keys are on a carabiner and I like to clip them onto something so they don't disappear into abyss that is most of my bags, lol. I wanted a long strap, but was stuck on that for a while because I didn't really have any long pieces from these shorts. I decided to cut a strap off another purse (really just double fold bias tape I think), and then cut the rest of my shorts up into strips as long as I could and then pieced them on the front and back of the strap, sewing them down with different size zigzag stitches.

Over all I am happy with how it turned out.




Now if I can just remember to take it to the park with me...