#cottonproof

I got this beautifully obnoxious cat print fabric from IKEA and was "saving it for something special"...

... but if you never use it, it'll never get used.

So I decided to dive right!

I wanted a backpack with a front panel that would really show off the print. I chose the Len Backpack pattern by I Think Sew. (Spoiler alert: I don't strongly recommend this pattern, especially not to beginners. But I'll do a more thorough review some other time.)

Before cutting the panels, I decided to treat the fabric for water resistance: I washed the fabric, then soaked it in a preparation of Nikwax Cottonproof, a wash-in waterproofer. After thoroughly rinsing, I put the fabric in the dryer on low. I only did some cursory testing of the treated fabric by flicking water droplets on it, which beaded up and rolled off the "right side", but had a harder time on the "wrong side". I decided this was probably good enough.

When cutting the panels, I wanted a cat face on every side of the bag. I wanted derpy cat faces to stare disconcertingly from every vantage, I wanted this backpack to say, "If you observe me, I will observe you back."

I think I was successful.

One major modification I made was adding a zipper flap for the main compartment. This was not in the original pattern, and I didn't thoroughly think through my execution here. I think the original pattern can be adapted to include a zipper shield, but it will take a lot better planning than I was prepared to do.

I made my zipper shield by tacking a long strip of lining fabric along the zipper tape before attaching it to the bag. However, this meant the bag couldn't be constructed per the instructions, and I puckered the shield when sewing over it. The fabric I chose was also thinner, so it gets caught in the zipper if you're not careful. I'm actually tempted to carefully snip away the shield (there's too much topstitching for me to justify unpicking the seams and re-sewing it entirely).

Although I don't wear the backpack often, I really get a kick out of taking it on mundane activities like grocery shopping.