Last Christmas Atticus was included (in utero) in Bear’s immediate family’s gift exchange. He got some crazy cute clothes “from” his little cousin Kai (including the tiniest velor tracksuit ever made), and as a fetus he was responsible for his cousin Micah’s present.
Micah is really into his “guys.” He collects all kinds of action figures and spends hour after hour making up elaborate scenarios for them to enact. When you sit and play with him he scripts your every move, telling you exactly what you should say and what your guy should do. He’s so the oldest kid.
This past Christmas he was really into knights and dragons. Michaels was carrying a line of action figures that featured ornate and colorful dragons along with the knights on horseback ready to defeat them. Between his parents and grandparents, he was getting the entire set.
Since these were a little more expensive than the average toy, Bear’s dad Mike really wanted Micah to understand that these were special. He suggested that I make some fancy little bag to carry all his precious guys around in.
I happened to have this fabric in my stash. It’s like a flannel with some kind of a plastic treatment over it creating a snakeskin effect. When I first saw the gray fabric I immediately thought of a knight’s tunic, but I thought a simple bag by itself wouldn’t be special enough, so I added the gold lame. I actually intended to create a simple piping but failed miserably. Instead I ended up creating these gold ridges that transformed the bag into a dragon. My favorite kind of mistake. I made a simple casing, leaving both sides open to make a drawstring, and threaded through some leftover bias tape. I’ve become completely enamored with fusible web, so I ironed on the monogram and fleur de lis. I love to personalize gifts for kids. I think every kid loves to see their name on stuff.
This was one of the most successful gifts I’ve ever given. He immediately stuffed his guys inside it and insisted on taking it out to the extended family Christmas party. I got the biggest kick out of listening to him tell all his cousins about his “dragonskin bag.”
Even now, nearly eight months later, it still merits his attention. I asked his mom Mari to bring it with her to the house so I could take the pictures I forgot to take and he would barely let it out of his sight. I didn’t get the greatest pictures out of it, but I don’t mind. I’d much rather see him love it too much to let me.
