Adding wings to a child's backpack is a fun way to add a little whimsy to their day! What little girl wouldn't love to play pretend on their way home from school? It's easy to make this little addition while making a new backpack for your child this year!
I used a free toddler backpack tutorial for this one, but this project can be done with just about any backpack pattern.
The tutorial I used can be found by clicking here. For the most part, you will be following her instructions. I just made a few little changes here and there.
The first thing I changed was adding a hanging loop between the straps on the back. I cut a piece of fabric 3" x 8" for this piece. To make the loop, fold and iron along the long edge (making it 1.5" x 8"). Open this up and fold both sides in towards the crease down the middle. Iron again and then fold along your original crease and press one more time. Stitch down both sides 1/8" from the edges. When you get to the step where you're placing the straps on, pin the loop on first in the middle, then position the straps to the side of the loop.
The other change I made was adding the wings! You can buy the design that I used at Urban Threads. This change was a little more complicated than adding a loop to the top. I stitched out my wings on stiff felt (I bought mine at Hobby Lobby). I'm spoiled and have an embroidery machine that will cut my wings out for me, but it's really not that hard to cut them out by hand. Make sure that you also cut a piece for the back, that way the back side of the stitches are covered. Glue those two pieces together with the hot glue gun. After sewing the side strip to the front of the backpack, you'll need to attach the wings. Make sure they're centered and even. I added a bit of hot glue to hold them in place while I was sewing them on.
Be careful when sewing them so you don't catch the other parts of the bag! I sewed a quick little V shape, following the lines of the embroidery.
You can see my stitches in this picture here. Now, continue on with the tutorial, just making sure that when you attach the back piece of the backpack to the side strip that you make sure you tuck your wings into the bag and they don't get caught in your sewing.
One other change I made to her tutorial was that I did serge all of my seams. She says that it's not necessary because we're using iron-on interfacing, but I like a nice finished seam. Besides, a serged seam just adds a little more stability to your seams. When dealing with children, more stability is ALWAYS a good thing!
Now all you need to do is find a child to attach the backpack to and let them fly!!!
**If you have a boy who won't be so crazy about fairy wings, you can follow these same steps with dragon wings instead of fairy wings! How cool would a dragon backpack be???**
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