American Girl Crafts Kitty Tote Bag

its a really fun tote. Only construction issue we had was sewing the buttons -it was too tough for my 7 year old to push the needle through the material at the handles. the stick on parts could use reinforcement.

I got this for my daughter for her 9th Birthday. Unfortunately, the directions were too difficult for her to follow so she ended up doing something else with the materials entirely, and I essentially ended up just throwing my money way as she hasn't touched even that part of it since.

Kids lost interest once seeing the box.

Item was as described and arrived on time.

Was a present for my nice. She loves it!

granddaughter loves it

If you're looking at the American Girl (AG) Crafts Kitty Tote Bag, you're probably familiar with the AG line. These dolls are high-end semi-poseable dolls that have tons of looks to mimic our daughters, which is most of the appeal. AG has come to offer crafts kits like the tote bag to keep in line with addressing our daughters' hobbies. Although a clever idea, it is still in the realm of the expensive.UNBOXING:The AG Kitty Tote Bag comes in a small/lightweight box measuring: 9.5 x 8.5 x 2.5". The kit comes with 45 pieces of craft making. It includes: instruction book, tote bag w/strap, 26 felt pieces (purple and blue ones have punch outs), buttons, beads, floss, needle, and threader. The instructions state that all you need to add is a pair of scissors and an adult.REVIEW:The tote itself is made of canvas, and is already sewn together with the straps. All you're doing with this kit is sewing or taping (I recommend using your own craft glue for a more secure fitting) down felt pieces and accoutrements to the bag. It's pretty neat though--if your daughter is a novice seamstress, she will enjoy stitching the felt to the bag, since it's all pre-punched and has markings on the bag and felt where everything gets sewn together. The needle and thread/floss works fine, and secures all the pieces well. However, for some felt you use the adhesive stickers to put pieces in place. I recommend for the adult helping out to use some of your craft glue and allowing for drying time.Depending on your and your daughter's skill level, this project has variable finishing time. It worked well as a side project while I worked on something else, and gave my daughter a sense of accomplishment that she could be sewing something while I did too.OVERALL:I recommend this kit, although I hesitate to give it a full 5 stars. I think due to it's cost and it's rather low skill level, it's marketed to a very small demographic. It will teach your daughter simple sewing skills, and the bag is rather nice after it's finished (AND coordinates with your other AG doll stuff). If the kit added better adhesive techniques and would lower the price a tad, I'd fully recommend it. Enjoy!

My daughter at 9 was pretty much able to complete this solo in one sitting, but it does require patience. The placement of the items to sew is pre-marked / punched on the bag to make it easier and the stitches even. This also makes it a little more difficult to go off the beaten path and personalize. However, it is very cute - the tail on the back especially.The cats stripes are attached by adhesive and I think this is one area where a dab of fabric glue might increase the longevity of the bag.The bag itself is not the sturdiest or the largest - probably not going to make a great book bag for an avid reader...that said it is the perfect size for  Twistz Bandz Rainbow Loom  not that I think we will ever get those rubber bands picked up.I am on the fence about this one overall. I am happy to have it for my daughter, but I am not sure that I would buy it as a gift at this price point - I think it is a tad too expensive even though I appreciate that it is useful after finishing. If I did, I would want to package it with something else rather than give it alone. I also think at her age creativity is paramount and this is a bit too packaged to satisfy that urge. I think 7-8 might have been the perfect age for this.Bottom line: this was really enjoyable and was a nice calm self-contained rainy day, sit in front of the fire type activity.