Wide Open Backpack

Ever stood in one space day after day wishing there was a better solution to what you were watching, I have. Every school day, I stood there and patiently waited whilst Joe struggled to shove his stuff into his (store bought) school back pack as the openings were never wide enough for his 5 year old self to cope with. So this year, when it came to buy Joe a new backpack, I wanted something that opened up big & wide and this is what he ended up with and yes, I made it!

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Firstly, no that's not Joe modelling it. Joe was cooking dinner on the barbecue with his Dad and Laney insisted on being the model for Joe's new "hack-pack" as she called it.

When zipped up, the bag creates this cute diamond, almost kite like shape but when it's unzipped it's huge!

I originally bought the pattern for me as I thought it would be great for walks and could easily stuff my big camera and a coat into it but hey, I didn't mind 'testing' the pattern out on Joe first!

The pattern is not for beginners. It's missing a lot of information and even misses key words .. I wonder if it was translated into English.  The fabric is just quilting cotton and I'll spray some sort of waterproofing solution on it to make it more suitable for the Tasmanian weather because we walk home from school and are always getting rained on!

p.s. I made the large size and it turned out smaller than I had imagined it to be!

Joe loves it, he said it's the best backpack in the world, so all the frustration I had whilst making it was so worth it!