"Man Working Sign" Messenger Bag

My son Ethan is obsessed with traffic signs. He has little wooden replicas that we bought him, and flashcards with signs on them. He knows what almost all of them are for and points out the ones that he knows as we drive around during the day.

Did I mention he's 3? He is super smart!
Really, he's nearly four- in about a month.

Anyway, Ethan likes to carry his signs with him wherever we may go, in case we happen to pass by one of his absolute favorites...the "Men Working Sign." Ah, yes. What little boy doesn't love bulldozers, backhoes, excavators, dump trucks, cement trucks? And the indicator of such wonders being just ahead? The "Men Working Sign."
I think that's partly why he loves the sign, also just because there's a guy on it with a flag and that's really cool to an almost- four-year-old.
There is a "Men Working Sign" near our house, and he asks to drive by it every day. No joke!
( Ironically, there are no real men working where the sign is posted. Maybe they forgot to take it down? I don't know. )

Here is a construction site that Ethan built by himself.

We were talking the other day and I was telling him about sewing something and Ethan said, "Do you want Momma to make you a men working sign?" ( He has his pronouns a little mixed up- he says, "do you want" instead of "I want". We're working on that. He's getting better at it.)
I told him that I didn't know if I could make him a sign, but how about a bag with a sign on it? He thought that was a great idea. Then he could put his signs in the bag and take them with him!

When we got home I Googled "kids' messenger bag" ( I'd decided it needed to have a flap to minimize the possibility of losing signs from an open bag.)   I finally found this tutorial.- it seems not very many boy messenger bag tutorials are out there. I also found some really cute ideas for girl messenger bags, which I will make Eliana at some point.


I was going to make a tutorial myself and post it on here, but I only took pictures of half the process. That  probably has something to do with the fact that I finished the bag at 11pm last night..
Here is the part I took pictures of:

Drawing is NOT my strong point. Thankfully, it is Tim's! He made a fantastic template for me to use.

The finished template!

I cut it out, then pinned it to this black fabric, then pinned it to the flap of the bag.

Then I sewed it onto my bag fabric, and made the bag. (This is where I forgot to keep taking pictures)

I finished it though, (despite one minor setback- I messed up the strap placement and had to redo them.) and when Ethan woke up this morning it was hanging up in the living room. He was so happy, it was like Christmas morning. :)