I never liked having to lug my big bag around whenever I just wanted to go and get some snacks or lunch etc. between classes. Therefore I made this little fellow, just big enough to eat a small sketchbook, a couple of pencils, my phone and wallet, and maybe a few small objects like keys or my Zen etc.

This is the most advanced textilerry thing I ever made, although as usual I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I made a lot of logical mistakes and unpickings, mainly due to the Escher-like mind-manglings of trying to work out which bits I could sew together or sew to the zip without then making it impossible to access other bits later. Also what bits had to be inside out when sewn to prevent them showing on the right side. I managed it all right up to the last line, which was the outside fabric to the top of the zip, and then I had to cheat and sew it from the outside. For some reason, it doesn't show hardly at all.

He took about a day and a half to make, off and on. This might have been a lot faster if I used the sewing machine, but i know from experience that thing takes me longer in fighting and tangling and rarrrgh than it does to just handstitch carefully.

His claws are polymer clay (fimo), his paws are from stripy socks, eye-rings purple felt, and the rest of him is soft black suedey-velvet stuff. He does have an inner lining, of which I am proud, even if it has a knack of vomiting itself out through the zip when you take things out of him. There's also a little padding in his tummy between the lining and the outer, which is fun to poke.

I totally failed to find backpack straps in the craft shops, so I got a icky old dog backpack from heart foundation and cannibalized the straps off it. The odd thing is, I decided not to give him ears, and didn't realise until I put him on that the straps look like ears themselves.
Serendipitous glee!

So yes. The Backpack Monsta craves your snacks. And phones. And marbles. And you might not want to stick your hand in there for too long either-

CLOP

-too late.