Tuesday 5 February 2013

Travel Handmade - Luggage

I am off on a rather important trip this weekend and of course I need some rather special luggage. I have been admiring all the weekender bags but me bring me I needed something a little different. Add that to the fact that I needed an excuse to buy myself some AMH velveteen with my Christmas money and you have a project set to go!

I used this duffel bag pattern from Studio Cherie, it is a simplicity pattern that I had seen Jeni at In Color Order make, shame I didn't have yards of Heather Ross to use too!

travel duffel finished


Because I had only brought half yards of velveteen I had some tricky maths and placement to work out to get my fabrics where I wanted them. Essentially the pattern is one really long quilt for the body with two squares for either end. I used a lovely Orla Kiely pillowcase I had been stashing for the lining and handle trim, it was a perfect match! 

travel duffel handles


I must say that the pattern wasn't really clearly written for my liking but common sense prevailed and I worked it out. You do end up with lots of raw edges inside. I finished these with a tight zig-zag stitch. IF I make another I think I would go to the effort of binding them instead.

I added several extra pockets not included in the pattern, my favourite are the elasticated shoe pockets on the inside to keep my shoes away from my clothes.

travel duffel lining


The bag is VERY roomy, just to prove a point (because stuffing 3 quilts inside seemed boring somehow) my 8 year old daughter offered to help me demonstrate this.....by climbing inside. No children were harmed in the taking of these photos!
child in bag

Yep, thats her, right inside the bag!

child in bag1

Trying to get back out!

child in bag2

And for scale here she is out of the bag!

All in all I think this is a great bag (although I may just need to get a weekender out of my system some time soon) and I cant wait to use it!

travel duffel finished1

19 comments:

Di said...

Brilliant bag Emily.

Fran said...

Your daughter has a great future as a magician's assistant... Lovely bag!

Sarah said...

I really love your bag! So gorgeous. And what an ingenious way to demonstrate its capacity!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Stunning! Hope you're making a trip to Manchester ;) xx

moira said...

love it. the orla kiely works so well with the amh velveteen. great job

Charlotte said...

it's gorgeous! (and your daughter is very bendy!)

Lynz said...

What a beauty! I made a duffel last month and since it was a gift I bound the inside raw edges - it had the added effect of siffening the ends to keep their shape better so I was quite happy. Great way to show the bags capacity - I have a 10 yer old that would give that a bash!!

Annabella said...

Oh it's a gorgeous bag Emily - sounds like you a a ovely weekend ahead of you. Certainly hoping it's lovely important but anything else important if you know what I mean!

Canadian Abroad said...

Brilliant bag, and I love the size demo.

memmens said...

Splendid - I think that was the right way to go rather than use the velveteen for a 241. Have a great weekend (oh heck it's only Tuesday!)

Katy Cameron said...

It looks fab, and I bet it feels brilliant too! Loving the scale model ;o)

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

OMG your daughter has skillz!

Love the bag, you did an amazing job; have a lovely weekend away xxx

Catherine said...

Ha ha-a Mary Poppins bag: although way much nicer!

mammafairy said...

Super bag! lovely folding daughter. Clever demo.

Christine said...

That is stunning! Do you think your daughter wants to stowaway on your trip?

Liz DandeliondD said...

Completely stunning!

Sarah said...

Lovely bag, clever sewing skills. WOW it's huge and that demo was necessary to show it's size! My kids would do the same. I might leave it zipped!

Cindy said...

YOU ARE CRACKING US UP! My other half wants to know if your daughter is a Romanian gymnast :)

Nicky said...

Daughter upstaging bag I'm afraid - but they both look gorgeous and only you can say which is more useful?