The most wonderful time of the year.

Yes, back to school. It's right around the corner for us here in Manitoba. My youngest is going into kindergarten and he asked that I make him a new backpack. I was happy to oblige, the Oliver + S book "Little things to sew" has a sweet penguin backpack pattern. He loves it! It was not hard to make though I'm glad I had my faithful vintage singer to sew through those layers of heavy denim. Up to 14 layers at times. Like butta, every single time. Sorry plastic computerized Kenmore, you're just not cut out for this. Thanks for the occasional zigzag though.

The dark grey body of the backpack is an upcycled pair of Grandpa's jeans. I used the wrong side facing out so it's not so obviously black denim and also gives it a softer look. My son picked out the cows for the lining and the yellow for the beak and the feet. The tummy pocket is a scrap from the box. I satin stitched around the pocket, I like it this way. The buttons are vintage. He loves his new backpack. I'll take some more pictures of him modeling later but for now here it is.

The cows inside. The lining is hand stitched along the zipper. There is a pocket in here for pencils too, but it's on the inside front so you can't see it.

The straps are adjustable, it should fit over his winter coat fine. The black strap adjusters are from Mountain Equipment Co-op. Luckily they had the exact size I needed.

Thanks for looking!