Why are the children's waist bags on sale so big and thick that you could easily fit sandwiches or clean underwear or tennis balls or a cuddly toy into them? Even the adult ones are so chunky that they will not fit under a jacket, or if they do you look like a mother expecting a baby.
So what should a waist bag hold? Children have nothing to carry with them but a little pocket money, a mobile phone, magnetic cards and keys. Or what else? The rest can go into the school bag and does not have to be kept on you all the time.
What does an adult put in a waist bag? Possibly quite a lot of things, but I myself need a waist bag when I go to sell at a fair, and it would be a place to put money. Nothing more.
These days nurseries hold charity fairs, where the whole family contributes something lovely to the sales table for a good cause. There children also learn to make the first purchases of their lives. Last week another Michaelmas fair was held at the nursery, and the little ones came to grandmother's shelf of bags to look for a small coin purse. Embarrassing, but there was nothing suitable to offer.
So I set about making a new bag model. First I looked online at what is on offer for children for such occasions. There were all sorts of tiny purses, but children's pockets are so small that no purse will fit in them. The waist bags, though, were all in the usual rounded shape, which seemed pointlessly large and thick.
So I decided to make a bag exactly large enough to hold money, and for schoolchildren a bank card and a mobile phone too. Keys will fit in among them if needed. I made a belt to go with it as well, since small children do not wear a trouser belt.
