Figure 1: Start sewing 1½" from top. Leave ½" gaps at the bottom corners.
First-aid backpack
Figure 2: Feed the drawstring through the back casing and then back through the front casing. Join the ends of the drawstring and stitch them into place at the bottom of the pack. (For illustration purposes, the front and back sections have been separated.)
How to make the field packs For the outside of the packs, we used decorative 100-percent cotton fabric that had pictures of various plants and animals. For example, one field backpack was made from a bird-print fabric, another from a fabric with frogs, and a third was made with a fabric that had brightly colored flowers. The backpacks were lined with solid-color cotton fabric. Materials: For each backpack, ½ yard (½ meter) of 44" to 45" wide (1 meter wide) cotton fabric for each part of the pack (e.g., ½ yard of print fabric for the outside and ½ yard of solid-color liner fabric); 3½ yards (3¼ meters) of 3/16" to ⅜" (0.5 to 1.0 cm) washable cording for a drawstring. Procedure: The following steps are for assembling a field backpack that is 12" x 14" (30 x 35 cm): 1. Cut two 13" x 15" (33 x 38 cm) rectangles from decorative fabric (this will be the outside of the pack). Cut two 13" x 15" rectangles from a liner fabric (a solid-color fabric or the same fabric used for the outside of the pack). 2. With the right sides of the two pieces of decorative fabric facing each other, sew the front and back together along the two long sides and across the bottom, leaving a ½" seam allowance. Begin sewing 1½" down from the top of the right side. At the bottom, leave a ½" gap before the bottom seam allowance. Then sew across the bottom. Finally, leaving another ½" gap in stitching on the lower left, sew up the left hand side to 1½" from the top of the left side. (See Figure 1.) These gaps will later accommodate drawstrings to create left and right back straps. Repeat with the liner fabric, but leave a ⅝" seam allowance.
seams close together. The seams of both sections should be facing each other. 5. To create a casing for the drawstring, turn the pressed fold of the top edge of the decorative section to the inside, over the liner, down to the side stitching point. Pin. Continue around the open top edge creating a ½" casing. Sew the casing in place by stitching close to the casing edge through all thicknesses of fabric. 6. To add the drawstring, cut the piece of cording into two sections. Attach a safety pin to one end of the first cord, and work it through the casing across the back section of the pack. Then feed the safety pin and cord through the casing in the front section of the pack so that it emerges on the same side where you began feeding the cord in (see Figure 2). Bring the free ends of the cording together. Insert 1" of the free ends into the ½" gap in the seam at the bottom corner of the pack, on the same side as the cording (see the • in Figure 2). Sew over these free ends several times to secure the drawstrings. 7. Working on the opposite side of the pack, repeat step 6 with the second piece of drawstring. 8. To close the pack, simply grasp the drawstrings on either side of the pack and pull. To open the pack, place your hands inside the top and slide your hands outward. Children wear the backpacks by drawing them closed and then slipping their arms inside the loops made by the drawstrings. Terry Tomasek is an Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Department at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina.
3. On the decorative section, trim the stitched corners and turn the piece so that the seams are on the inside. Press, turning the open top edge to the inside by ¼". 4. On the liner section, trim the seam allowance all the way around. Trim 1" off of the open top of the liner. Press. Slip the liner into the decorative section. Push the bottom Green Teacher 85
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