The Neglected Diaper Bag

I'm pretty picky about bags. If I'm in the market for a bag- be it diaper, purse, luggage, or school- I usually have a list of criteria it must meet before I make it mine. Lots of pockets is on every list. After all, I'm never just carrying the bag for me: I'm carrying it for the whole family.

It also must close. I don't care if it zippers or snaps shut. Little hands get into everything, and if a bag happens to tip over, I don't need the whole world knowing that I carry a remote control, an old broken cell phone, at least one pack of antacids, Tylonal (Children's and Extra Strength, of course), packets of Splenda from whatever restaurant we've been to lately, one or more of my 6 chap sticks, a bazillion coupons loose from their ziplock home, and usually Mr. Nest's sunglasses/ cell phone/ wallet/ whateverelsehedoesn'tfeellikecarrying. Just to name a few.

I hear this may be typical of other women too, but maybe that is just an urban myth?

So when Mr. Nest and I were compiling baby registry items, I intentionally didn't register for a diaper bag. Inevitably, someone would look at a cheaper one sitting next to the one I picked out and say to themselves "Hmm, well this is just about the same." Well leave it to my family to throw me off my game! Not only did they give me a diaper bag, it was a good one and in my favorite color.

But there was one thing that I didn't like about it.

See that leather strap next to the bag?

 

That's the strap it came with. It was very slippery and never stayed on my shoulder. That's a big problem when trying to wrestle a baby, a stroller, and anything else you've most likely got in your arms. I knew right away the strap would need to go, but I never got around to it. Until this weekend. A year and a half after getting the bag. Oops.

(There's a trend I'm beginning to notice in this blog. We take a reeeeeeally long time to do everything! I'm going to have to work on that!)

I sewed some scrap fabric together.

I experimented with that black strap from another bag, but I hated the contrast of color. 

  

  

 

I thought about sewing a cover for the black strap, but I didn't have enough material. I should've stopped there and waited on the project until I was 100% ready.

But I didn't.

I decided to keep the quilted wide-strap look.

 

  

The strap still wasn't as long as I wanted it. So I decided to extend the length. 

  

Like I said, I should have stopped before I even started.

It's not the most horrible thing you've ever seen. But it's close.

  

  

I'm not even 75% happy with it. The fabric just doesn't match the color of the bag as much as I thought it would. I also wish I'd used fusible interfacing so that the straps have more form to them. So I'll be redoing it the right way next weekend.

(And I will do it next weekend!)

Until then, it will still be the Neglected Diaper Bag.