Several weeks ago, a friend asked me if I would do some custom work for her. She has two grand daughters and they frequently spend the night. They have bunk beds – actually I think it is like a loft bed since both girls sleep up on top. She wanted to be able to hang a bag on the railing of the bunk so they had a place to put their books, stuffed animals, or maybe a water bottle at night. Since they are up on top, they don’t have a nightstand available or the floor right there to put their books on. My friend, Joy, had seen the clothespin bags that I sell on Etsy and thought if I modified that idea, the girls could hang a bag from their bed. Her only request was that I use lots of pink and make some way for the girls to differentiate the bags; so they knew which one was “their bag”. Sounded fun!

For fabric, I went straight to Hawthorne Threads. I wanted to get a twill for the outside so the bags had some body. (For the clothespin bags, I generally use upcycled burlap or upcycled denim, which gives the bag some shape.)  I found a hot pink polka dot twill by Riley Blake. I knew what I wanted to use for the lining. Wee Wander’s “Wander Woods” in Petal.  The print is sweet and girly, perfect for these two sisters.

I made a mock up with some muslin scraps to figure out the size. I knew I wanted to put three straps across the top of the bag as the girls are likely to put some weight into their bags. After playing around with it a bit, I decided on the sizing. The bags finished out at 9″ tall, 14″ wide, and 3″ deep.

The three straps fold toward the inside of the bag so that the buttons are easily accessible from the railing of the bed.  I double stitched them to reinforce the straps. When I first made them, I didn’t have that stitching that is between the first two straps. The bag hung open too far so I ran a stitch vertically which created a compartment for the bag and kept it from gapping open.

I boxed the corners at the bottom of the bag to create width in the bag.  Also, with the help of my quilting buddy, Sophia, I was able to add their initial to the front of the bag. Sophia has an embroidery machine which made quick work of this. I stitched a circle around the initial to set it off.

I love how these turned out and hopefully, the girls will love them as well! Plenty of room for books, stuffies, and any other treasures they might want to have nearby at bedtime. I am debating offering these as a custom item in my Etsy shop. If I pre-make them, I won’t be able to add the monogram. Maybe I will make one or two up and see how they do in the shop.

Linking to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts as well as Lorna at Let’s Bee Social. Links to all to these wonderful sites are available at the top of the page, under Link Ups.