Free Kid's Backpack Pattern - Tie Dye + Heart Shaped!

I’m pretty sure I’ll never get tired of sewing up kid’s backpack patterns. So when Riley Blake Designs announced their new Tie Dye fabric line and asked if I’d like to make a project with it, it was an easy yes to working with them and Fabric.com to sponsor this post. It had been too long since I’ve used my Heart Shaped Free Kid’s Backpack Pattern, and when I imagined it in Riley Blake’s beautiful tie dye colors, I knew it would be a perfect combo!

While I originally called this a free “toddler” backpack pattern, it almost doesn’t feel right now that Lola (who was just 3 when I first shared it!) is 9. So today we’ll call it a free “kid’s” backpack pattern. It was really fun seeing how it fits her now – somehow I remember it being much bigger but I guess it’s just her that’s grown ;). It’s the perfect size for (who I’m not ready to call) a tween.

To see more of this kid’s backpack pattern in action (and a little reel magic from Lola…), come visit me on Instagram!

Riley Blake Tie Dye Fabrics at Fabric.com

Riley Blake did a fantastic job at designing the tie dye prints. I used the pastel colorway in 100% quilting cotton, and the colors perfectly fulfilled all my tie dye dreams. I’m dying to make a pile of bow scrunchies with it next!

It was fun to use a different print on each piece of the bag – when it comes to tie dye, more is definitely more and the ice dyed solids paired super well with the main tie dye print!

One thing I know I can expect from Riley Blake Fabrics is high quality and great to sew with fabrics, and these certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s my go-to fabric for many projects, especially baby quilts!

In addition to 100% cotton tie dye prints, this collection is also available in jersey knit! I think it would be perfect for a cozy nightgown or comfy dolman top for my girls.

And as I mentioned, I fell in love with the pastel colorway, but if you are a “bolder is better” kind of person, there is also a bright colorway as well.

Best Interfacing For a Kid’s Backpack

Because quilting cotton is a medium weight fabric, it needs to be interfaced well for a project like a backpack. I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on both the exterior and lining pieces (with heavier exterior fabrics, I would normally not interface the lining), and fusible fleece as well on all the exterior pieces.

I really love to use fusible fleece when sewing kid’s backpack patterns because it gives them a nice amount of structure and body but is still soft. For even more stiffness and structure, you can also use Flex-Foam, like I used in this unicorn backpack free pattern and this cat backpack free pattern.

Sew a Backpack with a Projector

I haven’t written about it yet on this blog, but I’ve recently gotten into the wonderful world of projector sewing. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s pretty amazing and is just what it sounds like – the projector is calibrated to the right size and the pattern pieces are projected onto the fabric for easy cutting.

I’ll be sure to dedicate a separate post about my projector sewing soon, and feel free to comment if you have any specific questions you’d like me to address.

Using my projector to cut this free backpack sewing pattern was especially helpful in this project when it came to cutting lots of interfacing and fusible fleece pieces, as I could simply just cut inside the lines to make those pieces smaller than their corresponding fabric pieces.

The projector also makes markings super easy as you don’t have to make marks under a paper pattern.

I should note that you do need to have a copy-shop file or projector specific file to use a projector for sewing as the pieces need to not be broken up from page to page. The heart backpack free pattern download I offer is currently only formatted for regular paper, and I adjusted it for use on this project, but if there’s interest in having access to the file that works with a projector, let me know!