Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Because Daddy needs some style too...

In September of last year, two of our (our=me+hubby) friends (a married couple) announced they were expecting a baby in April 2012. I was sooooo excited! These folks are some of the greatest people I've ever met. I think I immediately started formulating a plan for the baby shower & gifts in my mind. Something you have to understand is the soon-to-be daddy is definately not hip with the current fashions or trends. In fact, you might say he's a throw back to another generation entirely. This man, in his early 30's, would actually fit in better in, say, the 1950's. Wait until you see the "after" pictures for his attire at the baby shower. Perhaps then you'll understand.

I digress.

I finally decided that Daddy would need his own bag. This became even more evident when they found out they were having a girl! I could never see this man carrying a pink, frilly, lacy diaper bag EVER!! So, I set out on the search for an appropriate item to repurpose into the most hip, happening Daddy Bag of the bygone generation.

Inspiration would soon be found (lucked into) at a small thrift store in the next town over. It was like the heavens opened and the angels sang. Did you know angels sing a tune entitled "50% off?" I didn't. Until that fateful day that the Crafting Gods bestowed upon me this gem:


Tada!! Size large sheepskin flight vest, cerca 1940. Fully fleece lined and complete with "Made in USA" tag, as well as manufacture tag. The previous owner's name was still inked on the tag (more on that later). I just about stole this baby for $10. Not even kidding.



It sat in my craft room for a few months. I had ideas of how to construct the bag, but I knew it was a one-shot gig. If I messed this thing up, there was no trip to Joann's to replace the goods. So I sat on the project until the week before the shower. I started by deconstructing the parts of the vest. In the end, I had a bunch of leather binding, two lined pockets, the bottom lighter strip of leather, and this main piece:


We sat some more. Then I measured. I loosely based the design on Simplicity pattern 2358 (view A), but really that was just for sizing. The only pattern piece I actually used was for the sides of the bag, and even then it was just to round off the edges. I used the bottom thick band of leather as the sides, and the fleece lined section for the main part of the bag and flap. I did have to sew together a few chunks of the vest to make it long enough. I was nervous at first, since I'd never really sewn leather before. I used heavy duty black thread and a jeans needle in my machine. It seemed to be easier to lay the pieces side-by-side and zig-zag the ends together. So that's what I did.

Here's the proud Daddy modeling his new bag at the baby shower. He put it on as soon as he opened it and started packing more of the gifts inside. I think by this point he had some socks, a dress, a bag of wipes and maybe the car keys stuffed inside. (See what I said about his attire? Totally matches the bag right??)

Oh, and here's the inside flap. I couldn't bear to leave out the original tag from the vest, complete with previous owner information.

Daddy totally loved the inclusion of the tag, plus the info that the original owner was in the US Army during World War II. He was actually part of the D-Day invasion. I did a little online research and found the man's obituary from 2009. Thanks, Chester, for serving our country so well and keeping this vest in such great shape. It's serving a new but important function now!

No comments:

Post a Comment