Sew Mama Sew

Do any of you lug your DSLR camera around in a breast pump bag (guilty), wrap it in a t-shirt in your purse, or come up with creative ways of carrying it around sans “camera bag”?

I got tired of all that, so I googled my way around some tutorials and came up with this:

This is my trusty Skip Hop bag that I’ve had for three years, so I figured I’d use it as a guinea pig first.  As a novice sewer (to say the least), this project looked a bit daunting.  I completed it during one nap time, so it turned out to be easier than it looked.  As much as I love it, though, I’m itching to buy a cuter, smaller bag that will be less diaper bag and more trendy-bag-that-holds-mom-stuff.  Now that I’m comfortable making these foam inserts, I can’t wait to go on the hunt for a new spring/summer bag.  I may even be excited about finding an awesome fabric that will coordinate with it, but I won’t admit that for sounding super annoying.  :)

The basics of this bag are:

- three-way foam insert (1” foam found at craft stores)

- three foam inserts with velcro sewn on to each side flap

It uses:

- two yards fabric (as you can tell, my camera strap cover is made from that same cut)

- 30 ft velcro roll (Next time I will do this part a little differently.  Above, I cut small sections of velcro and sewed them in where I wanted the inserts to be, but for my next bag I’ll sew long strips across the inside of the insert so that I can move the inserts around more freely).

The reason I decided to tackle this project are simple:  I am CHEAP.  DSLR “purses” are upwards of $125, and I simply don’t have time for that.  If I’m going to spend more than $100 on a bag, it had better have C’s or LV’s printed on it.

Here is the awesome tutorial that I used in case any of you want to make your own!  Otherwise, I’m considering starting a business – haha!  What I learned from my research of these bags is that they’re hard to find, and what’s great about this project is that it’s fully customizable to any bag you have.  All I need are the dimensions of the inside of the bag and I can easily make a DSLR insert for it, not to mention that the inserts provide an easy way to organize your wallet/keys/sippy cups/etc.  If you’re going to do this project yourself, though, I’d look for a bag that has more than a big gaping hole inside (if you’re not working with a diaper bag).  The foam does take up a good bit of room, so the other pockets on the inside/outside of the bag are really helpful.