Here Come's Jonny Bag....

Here comes Jonny Bag,

Yum, yum, yummy.

He eats leftover toys,

And puts 'em in his tummy.

So keep your things,

Nice and neat.

So Jonny can't find,

A thing to eat!

So, this is Jonny Bag. A clever little idea given to my by my hubby, who learned it from his mother. She used to teach pre-school and they used Jonny Bag to persuade the kids to clean up all the toys before he got there. It works like a charm on my three-year-old and I'm going to show you how to make one today!

Start with the following supplies:

Pillowcase (I got mine from a fun sheet set at Ross), scrap white and brown (or black) fabric, a shoelace or length of fabric to make a drawstring with,and fusible webbing or Wonder Under (not shown).

Supplies

I didn't use stencils or rotary cutter for my teeth, I wanted this guy to be crazy and un-symmetrical, but feel free to be as much a perfectionist as you'd like! Doubling up my white fabric, I cut out four teeth, so each tooth has two pieces. I then sewed them together and turned them out and pressed like so:

Pressed teeth.

I then cut a line across the approximate center of the pillow case (again, no rulers, he's a monster, after all.)

Pin the teeth into place

Using you fusible webbing, iron on your randomly cut out eye pieces and stitch around the eye (I used brown thread, even for the white of the eyes, because I felt like it, but feel free to match up thread.

Here he is pre-stitchery (the pic I took up close of his eyes all stitched didn't come out right, but you get the idea...or do you?)

Finally, I sewed a small zig-zag square about two inches from the top of the pillow case (a buttonhole would work great, too) to run the drawstring through. I then folded down the top of the pillowcase and stitched all the way around to make the casing for the drawstring. Run the drawstring through and....here comes Jonny Bag!!

I give my little guy about 30 minutes to put his toys away before I start coming into his room singing the song (I can't find the track for the song. It is probably 30 years old or older, but you can just say it as a poem. If I get enough requests, I might put a video of me singing it if it will help- it just depends on your torture threshold! ) Trust me. It will only take one time for Jonny Bag to have a snack, and your child will be much more willing to clean up their toys!!

~Happy Sewing!~