Soccer Bag in 3-D!

This is my daughter's first year to play soccer, she is 3 (will be 4 next month). She loves it! So I thought I would make her a bag to carry her ball and water to practice. And a bag that will store her cleats and shin guards when not playing soccer. So I got to work designing my next soccer bag, here is the one I made for my son awhile ago: Soccer Bag

So as I drew out what I wanted to make I realized 2 things, she is small but the things she needs to carry aren't. Meaning I wanted to make her a small drawstring backpack- but it needed to be big enough to fit a ball so my idea of a 3-D applique was born...

 I think the size fits her perfectly...

And she seems to like it! 

So you want to know how to make one? First I took the ball as traced the 2 basic shapes onto paper. Next cut out all the shapes (don't forget to add a seam allowance!) that you need to make 1/2 a ball. 

Sew all the pieces together.

Next I cut a white fabric to be my inside lining and laid that and the ball fabric onto a real ball. I folded under the raw edges of the ball and folded the lining fabric up to create a clean edge.

Sew on to the fabric of the bag.

Make sure it holds the 3-D shape of the ball.

Flip it over and carefully cut out the bag fabric and not the ball fabric or the lining. Now is the time to embroider a name on the bag if you are going to do so.

Since my bag fabric wasn't as thick as I would of liked and I had some $1 fabric with soccer bags in my fabric stash in my closet I decided to line my bag. I pinned the lining to the inside of the bag and cut the opening to match the black bag opening.

Then I folded the black bag fabric up and under the soccer ball lining fabric which I folded under making the seam nice and pretty.

Fold down the top and sew leaving the space to pull the cord through for the drawstring. If you need help on how to make the drawstring bag with 2 pulls from each side you can see it here: Texas Drawstring Bag

Remember if you want to make this into a backpack you will need to sew loops into the bag at either side to hold the two ends of the drawstrings.

And there you have it! The ball fits perfectly into it's place with plenty of room for a water bottle!

A bag any soccer player would love!



I decided to enter my project into the American Crafter contest over at Naptime Crafters!! Cross your fingers for me!

I also linked it here: