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Holiday bag charms

by Linda Theil

Okay, I've made a LOT of these little tiny backpacks, and they are a lot of work! Even in my stripped-down version of Carolina Little Stitches' "Bitty Bug Pack" pattern there are 20 separate pattern items that have to be cut, fused, clipped, and sewn --.not least of all, that darn gusset!

But since I went completely bonkers over Mia Charro's "Christmas Squad" collection for Free Spirit Fabrics, I had to justify the purchase by actually using the fabric.

Initially I thought the absolutely great "multi panel" animals could be used for the front of the little bag, but the individual animal portraits were too big, so I ended up using an all-over print from the collection. I fussy-cut the animals for each of the nine minis I decided to make for holiday luncheon favors.

I also fussy-cut the backpack backs from another print in the "Christmas Squad" collection. The photo below shows one of the fussy-cut back pieces; each back featured a different holiday message.

I used those great multi-panel portraits for the little inside pockets. I sewed an extention on both sides of each of the portraits to make them wide enough to form the interior pocket, and I sewed on a piece of fabric of equal size to form the pocket lining.

I cut those dreaded gussets from yet another fabric from the collection.

And I used a loop to add a little clip so that the mini-backpacks could be attached to any bag as a holiday charm.

The finished backpacks were filled with holiday foil-wrapped Hershey Kisses.

And packed up for their trip to Brighton Bar & Grill.

Everyone loved them!

For more "Bitty Bug Pack" info, visit the AppletonDance post,
"Backpack-ettes".

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