A Drawstring "Stuff" Bag

 
A custom drawstring stuff bag
 
Pulling up at school each morning, Ian and I get out of the car within a normal, realistic amount of time, and proceed to begin to wait for Emma to emerge. After several minutes of standing by the car and waiting for her, the door opens and she spills out. She has stuff. Lots of stuff. Bedroom stuff…backpack stuff…portable stuff… I do not know if this is typical of all 10 year old girls, but it is for Emma. There really is no other way to describe these bits and trinkets she finds important enough to carry with her.

This stuff-carrying strategy also seems to apply to the treehouse and what is needed to play in it. I’ve talked about the repurposed plastic bin that’s already out there, safe from weather, meant for holding various supplies and games. There’s plenty of fun in said bin, but there is still entirely too much in and out foot traffic on backyard days. I decided making a stuff bag might be the trick to keep it under control.
 
A custom drawstring stuff bag
 
 
This bag is a backpack style, meant to be grab-able. It a simple bucket style, made from a heavy canvas I found around the house. My thought was, the kids can throw in what they need, put it over their shoulders, leaving their hands free to climb up to the top of the house, then it can be emptied. We’ll see if it helps with the back door slamming, and dirty footprints…even a little bit.
 
A custom drawstring stuff bag
 
 
For completely selfish reasons, this bag satisfied my intense need to put grommets in something, and I got to pull out my clipper ship screen again and do some printing (and because of that screenprinting, I made more than one of these, because when you get out all those supplies, it makes no sense to just do one.)
Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there.  I hope your day was enjoyable and special. Mine was great, I was showered with homemade gifts and lots of attention. Spent part of the day cleaning (my idea), eating pancakes, and playing charades with the kids. I am still wondering how Ian incorporates crawling across the floor into every clue. Here’s a sample of what goes down-
Ian: (crawling across the floor several times…continuously) “Give up!?”
Me: I guess. What is it?
Ian: A saw! Get it?
Me…confused, and thinking “Am I drunk and just don’t know it?”

12 Comments
  • Sam

    May 11, 2009 at 8:33 pm

    such a great bag! and, I’m going through a current fascination with grommets…

  • Lecia

    May 11, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    glad you had a nice Mother’s Day! Your charades story is hilarious…

  • The Antidote

    May 12, 2009 at 1:26 am

    that bag looks so professional x

  • Erin

    May 12, 2009 at 4:09 am

    it sounds like a perfect mother’s day!
    jane carries a lot of stuff, too.

  • Kendall Micayla

    May 12, 2009 at 5:01 am

    i love that bag, was it really hard sewing with the canvas?
    lovely post, i really enjoyed it!
    xo-kendall

  • Gina

    May 12, 2009 at 5:04 am

    Charades with kids seems to always end in confusion or total laughter! I always wonder what goes on in those little minds. 🙂
    Glad to hear you had a wonderful Mother’s Day. A clean house was on my list too. My 4 year old said she wished it was kids day everyday so she would get to do everything she wanted, all day long, every day!

  • blair/wisecraft

    May 12, 2009 at 6:38 am

    Kendall, it was tough sewing that canvas, mainly because its super heavy. A
    normal home dec weight fabric would work just as well and be easier to sew.

  • florence wang

    May 12, 2009 at 6:38 am

    This bag is awesome! It belongs on a sea-side adventure … just in time for summer

  • Stephanie

    May 12, 2009 at 6:39 am

    Adorable bag!

  • Andrea McKeen

    May 12, 2009 at 10:48 am

    That story about Charades cracked me up.. :):) My husband likes to play Pictionary and and no matter what the word is that he is trying to draw for me, it is inevitably a variation of a line drawn on the otherwise blank page. He then proceeds to point at it feverishly with his pencil while staring at me with eyes bulging hoping that I will magically guess that it is a (skyscraper, snake, train, ………etc. and so on) So, so funny 🙂

  • Tiff@ThreePeas

    May 12, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Love that bag. I have to laugh at your comments about the grommets. The other day i bought some determined that I was going to make something with them! LOL

  • frog

    May 14, 2009 at 10:08 pm

    Perhaps I should go into early despair. My very nearly seven yo daughter sounds alarmingly like Emma. I am dumbfounded at the things and stuff that need to travel with her whether to school, grandparents or just down the street.
    Still, if it’s an excuse to make another bag for her, I guess I can make it through.

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