Organization for a 10 Year Old Boy

Because what 10-year-old boy doesn't love being tidy and organized? What's that? None of them? Oh. Anyways, I just finished my nephew's birthday present, who turned 10 on April 8. (Two weeks late isn't that bad, is it?) I haven't given him his gift yet as I have to mail it to him but I thought I would post about it anyways. I don't think it will ruin the surprise for him because I doubt that, as a 10-year-old boy, he is reading any sewing blogs. So, here it is:



Um, what is it, you ask? It's a Nintendo DS carrier! I found a pattern for it here. I had to make a few adjustments to it to make it look how I wanted it to, but the basic pattern is the same.

I added a strip of black nylon webbing around the center of the carrier and attached velcro to it:



The inside of the carrier has a pocket for the DS, pockets for games, and an elastic strip for the little pen-thingie that comes with it (I can't think of what it's called!).



The outside is made from a blue and black striped sweatshirt fabric and the inside is black jersey cotton. Because of the stretchiness of the fabbric, it looks a little wonky and uneven in the picture but, trust me, it's all good. The tutorial was pretty easy to follow. The only part that really had me confused was where I was instructed to fold it in half "hamburger-style". Um, what? Do people fold their hamburgers in half? Other than, though, pretty simple. And, I like how it turned out!

Operation Camo Bag: Completed

Monday is my nephew's 13th birthday (Happy Birthday, Dillon!) and I had been racking my brain as to what to make for a 13 year old boy. I mean, really, what do you make???? I searched through websites and magazines for ideas and I came across a pattern for a large laundry bag in the first issue of Sew It All magazine. Now, I seriously doubt he needs to lug laundry around but I thought, "What about paintball gear? Or his ghilley suit that Big Daddy help him make for Halloween? (For those of you who don't know what a ghilley suit is, google it...it's pretty awesome).

And this is what I came up with:


Maybe it will look better if Big Daddy models it:


I sewed a zipper on the straps so he can carry it as a duffle:


Or he can unzip it and carry it as a backpack:


And, is it just me, or does Big Daddy bear a resemblance to the old guy on the cover of the Led Zeppelin IV album:


No? It is just me? Oh well....

I also addded a name patch that Big Daddy had on one of his old Army uniforms. I mean, we gotta represent, right?


Now, that this is finished, it's on to the next projects: a Valentine's gift for Big Daddy and gifts for Keeley's first birthday!