I Spy Bag

Some of our favorite people in Japan are headed back to the UK.

We met Becca and Ed years ago when Becca and I were on the same children's resource team at an English school. Eventually the company went bankrupt (through no fault of our own), but Becca and Ed stayed put.

They founded their own English school (now being run by a different friend, in case you are looking for lessons) and settled into their new life. Eventually they had a baby boy, Henry, and 8 months later K was born. The boys are kindred spirits, both having an undying love for Thomas and other vehicles. They are one of the sweetest, most fun families I've had the pleasure of meeting and their friendship will be missed.

I came across this tutorial for making I Spy Bags and thought it'd be a lovely gift for Henry for the airplane ride home. (I think I'll make one for K for our next trip back to the US.)

The bag was super easy to make. The most difficult part was finding the little bits to put in.




I followed the tutorial instructions, but came up with my own measurements...who are we kidding, I didn't measure this. I just cut rectangles that I thought would be of a decent size.




Then I cut a hole in the middle of one of them and ironed back the edges of the hole as well as the pocket piece.





First I sewed a double seam to keep the pocket edge nice. The next step was to sew a clear vinyl sheet to the window. I sewed around it twice - rogue rice on a plane sounds awful. Then I then zigzagged around all edges. Finally I sewed the three pieces together (pocket and back properly set with the window right side facing), leaving a space for turning and also zigzagged those edges together. That rice will never have the pleasure of breathing airplane air.




Then I flipped the bag, put the little bits in and filled it up with rice. The last thing I did for the bag was topstitch around. I don't know that I'll do that the next time - I just wanted to be sure those seams were safe.




I also took a photo of all the little bits, printed it out, put it in a plastic bag, sewed around that twice as well, and cut it out.




Stick it in the back pocket, and Bob's your uncle!




I like to imagine the plane ride going something like this:
B: Henry, find the car.
(Five minutes of peace for Becca.)
H: Found it!
B: Great! Now find the strawberry...

I'm sure that's not how it will go over at all, but a mom can dream.

We will miss the three of them heaps and cannot wait for their travels back to Japan. Sooner rather than later, I hope!!

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