Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Have Bag Will Travel

Daughter dear's first words when I showed her my progress on my new travel bag were, "Mom, what have you done?" Remember, I get much of the credit for teaching this girl to sew, so it's kinda ironic and sad-funny when mom doesn't pay good attention to the directions and has to back up and redo while daughter forges on ahead. I could easily blame my kindle (in fact, I think I did), but in reality, I kinda just thought I knew what I was doing. Right.
Anyway, we had each prepped some of the steps and were planning on finishing our noodlehead Cargo Duffles last weekend on our monthly sewing day. We had chosen our fabrics and gotten everything cut out before we got together. For mine, I chose Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in black for the bottom accent/gusset and handle accent, grey Remix by Ann Kelle for the main exterior, and Indelible by Katarina Rocella for the pockets, main handle fabric, and the lining (more on that later).  I also had my pockets all ready to go and most of my quilting done. And that's where I'd basically overdone it. I had in mind how the sections had been quilted when making my Weekender a while back, and just plain got carried away, quilting areas that shouldn't have been quilted yet. Let's just say the whole lower portion of each bag side is double-thickness due to my error, but in the end it turned out ok. 
We had been talking about making our bags for a couple of weeks, even sharing a cargo duffles Pinterest board to gather blog posts with tips and variations. That's where I got the idea to use ByAnnie's Soft and Stable instead of canvas as the base of the bag. It was easy to sew with and the bag ended up just as the name indicates. My only issue was not cutting the Soft and Stable smaller than my main fabric pieces, so it's a little poofy in the seam allowances. That doesn't affect the final look of the bag, but I can feel them inside. What was more major was the shrinkage that occurred with quilting the bag pieces. I overlooked the pattern note to cut quilting cotton pieces to allow for said shrinkage and had to add more fabric quilt-as-you-go style. Thankfully, due to the way the bag was constructed, my 'extra' got covered by the bottom accent pieces. whew.
Things I love about this bag:
  • the handles - Construction was a bit unique, but I love the look of them, and dare I say, my choice of fabrics. I did insert a strip of Soft and Stable in each, and they feel really good in the hand.
  • the zipper - I couldn't find a metal zipper long enough, so I used a plastic parka zipper. It's still pretty sturdy, and the way it's installed was very straight-forward (read: easy).
  • the pockets - There's a lot of visual punch for not much effort. They were not complicated to make or attach, which was a relief.
When I started to list what frustrated me about this bag, I realized the biggest things were due to my customization of the bag:
  • My use of the Soft and Stable (no offense to the product itself!) and my dense quilting affecting the size of my bag pieces. It caused me some angst to rectify that, but it all turned out well in the end, and I really should have known better.
  • My choice to line the bag rather than bind the seams as suggested (another idea I'd pinned). Not sure why but my lining ended up rather baggy, though I did machine-tack at each corner as well as between both handles. I also covered and quilted a double layer of Soft and Stable to nestle into the bottom of the bag. That all helped.
And lastly, you'll see my pockets don't have snap closures. yet. I purchased the snaps and thought I had the right tool, but maybe not. My test-run didn't turn out as nicely as I'd like, so I'm still hopeful I'll find a helpful video (or person) to help me get those attached.
Bottom line, I enjoy sewing quilts much more than bags. But I'm really glad I made the duffle, I love how it looks, and though maybe a tad small for a weekend, it is definitely a nice sized carry-on. Let's just end by saying I'm pretty excited about its maiden trek to QuiltCon.

If you'd like to see daughter dear's finished bag, just click here.
Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.

26 comments:

  1. You'll have a ball at Quiltcon, I bet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your choice of fabrics. It turned out fabulous, in spite of doing your own thing..... Which I may have a habit of doing too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good tips. This has been on my To Do list for a while now.

    ReplyDelete
  4. it's a beautiful bag! I've never had any luck with the stupid snap tool. anxious to hear if you figure it out

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love your fabric choices. Cute handle detail. Looks more than perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love love the fabric choices and strap detail. Fingers crossed I fit in time to try soft and stable to make a duffle thanks for the tip. There is something satisfying when student laps teacher. It totally happened to me so I can relate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful! This bag is in my future projects...love your fabrics!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You will certainly be traveling in style! Wish I could join you, QuiltCon is not in the cards for me just yet. Someday!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful! I got lazy and put Velcro on my pockets. I think the hardest part was cutting and keep track of all the pieces. I also quilted my panels in the wrong direction. Oy. Live and learn. Lol. Having sew-ins with your daughter sounds awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's funny that you say that about the shrinkage. I did exactly the same thing. I used the soft and stable not realizing how much it would shrink. I managed to make it work. I do love using that product in bags, because its easy to work with and leaves the bag with great structure.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well it looks beautiful! If you can't get the snaps working you can always just hand sew some metal snaps on the interior flap and exterior bottom and they won't show and it will at least keep it closed. I just goofed some grommets for my Popover Poncho and thought of you and your frustration with the snaps. Oh well the tools just aren't working for us lately!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wonderful bag, I really like the zipper you used, the prints have enough character and a metal zipper would have drawn focus away from the rest of the fine craftsmanship.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great looking bag! I love Soft and Stable! You could've just trimmed it out of the seam allowances after sewing to reduce that bulk. Next time. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Looks great and if you figure the snaps out - do share!

    ReplyDelete
  15. more from Grandma G:
    Another tip... I assume you made your lining the same size as the outer pieces? When you're sewing them together, once you get past the point where they join to the outer fabric, stitch your seam allowances just a tad bit larger.. like an eighth of an inch. That will help the lining fit better. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love that bag. What I love more is the idea of a monthly mother-daughter sewing day - brilliant idea! I think I need to make this work with my mum.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your cargo bag looks lovely Debbie ! I had a bit of trouble with the snaps when I put them in too - luckily there ere 6 in a pack as I ruined a few of them at first:(

    ReplyDelete
  18. It's a great looking bag. Love the pockets. Your fabric choices are perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's fantastic, I love the fabric choices. I have some soft and stable to try out, it sure gives a nice structure to the bag.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I think your bag looks great. I have one on my to do list too. Thanks for sharing your tips.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Enjoy QuiltCon ! Love your bag and that you get to sew with your daughter. That must be really special.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The bag is beautiful. Thanks for sharing all your trial and error tips that you learned on this project.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Both bag and pouch look great, even if the bag has an extra sturdy bottom ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Your bag looks wonderful Debbie, and how perfect is your photo shoot location! Thanks for all the tips! I've worked with soft and stable before, it's a great product but quilting definitely causes shrinkage, especially on the width if you do vertical quilting lines! I like your idea of adding soft and stable to the handles.

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's awesomw, can't wait to see it in person!

    ReplyDelete