Airport Sling from On the Go Bags

Early in December, I followed along on a blog hop about a new book called On the Go Bags. As luck would have it, I ended up winning my own copy of the book, thanks to Radiant Home Studio.

It arrived on Thursday and I couldn't wait to look inside! After looking through the projects online, I had my eye on the airport sling. Sure enough, when the book came, that's what I had to make first! I love the zippered exterior pocket and had no clue how to do this without some guidance!

Since Friday was a snow day, I decided that would be a great time to start. Please note that while we did get snow here, nothing stuck on the ground to my great disappointment!

For the outer fabrics, I chose:

• Top and bottom panels, and base: organic black canvas
• Main fabric: Tula Pink's Daisy Buds in Silver
• Pockets, outside: Tula Pink's Fox Field Collection Pony Play in Dusk
• Pockets, liner: Tula Pink's Daisy Buds in Wisteria
• Zipper ends:  Tula Pink's Making Waves in Ink

Inside I used:

• Top facing: Tula Pink's Elizabeth Collection Tent Stripe in Plum
• Accent color (not in pattern): Tula Pink's Making Waves in Ink
• Main liner: Tula Pink's Daisy Buds in Silver
• Base: organic black canvas
• Pocket liner (zippered inner pocket not in pattern): Tula Pink's Daisy Buds in Wisteria 

All fabrics, except the horses (Tula Pink's Pony Play, used on the exterior pockets) are currently in print or easily available (Tula Pink's Tent Stripe in Plum is in a past collection), so you can almost make an identical bag if you want! With a silvery white and black being the main base of the bag you could really use any print you love for the pockets!

All fabrics cut and ready to go!

With my fabrics picked, I was off to cutting! The book has great instructions to speed cut the up the cutting process, but since I had directional fabrics and I wanted to fussy cut, I took my time. I especially wanted those ponies to be cut carefully so that the pocket flap on the front would line up perfectly with the pocket.

I then added interfacing to more than what was suggested in the pattern since I was using quilting weight fabrics for a lot of the bag. Interfacing is not my favorite, but I have yet to find an effective way around it for projects like this!

I love the pony fabric and I am so happy I took the time to carefully cut it

Other than that, I pretty much followed the pattern exactly but added an interior zip pocket, change the strap style, and made my strap non-adjustable (I rarely adjust my bag straps, and I lacked the needed hardware at home). My liner ended up being a good 1 to 2 inches shorter than the outer bag for some reason, so I added a second line of color between the facing and the main fabric (listed above as the accent color). I may have cut or sewn something wrong, but that was easy enough to fix!

By far the hardest part was attaching this zipper pocket

I must say that the zippered exterior pouch is hard to do. This part is not for beginners, and it would be easy to leave this off if you can't initially make it work. This is what attracted me to the pattern though, so I had to make it, even if I had to rip out my seams a few times!

This pocket fits credit cards and a passport in it!

Sorry I don't have any good interior shots. The inside is not anything special. The bag closes with a magnetic purse closure. It's the first one I've ever done, but it came with good instructions. It was amazingly simple to install too!

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For those interested, you can see the entire blog hop  about the book, On the Go Bags, is below. The blog hop was December 1st to 13th, 2015, so sadly all the contests are now closed, but you can still see some great images of the projects from the book:

Tuesday, Dec 1: Shannon Fabrics / Sew Sweetness
Wednesday, Dec 2: Clover & Violet / Ann Kelle
Thursday, Dec 3: Radiant Home Studio / Melly Sews
Friday, Dec 4: Sew Caroline / Mia’s Creations
Saturday, Dec 5: ikat bag / imagine gnats
Monday, Dec 7: sewVery / The Girl Inspired 
Tuesday, Dec 8: Stash Books / Fabric Mutt
Wednesday, Dec 9: Pellon
Thursday, Dec 10: Simple Simon and Co / Mrs. H
Friday, Dec 11: Emmaline Bags / Lindsay Sews
Monday, Dec 13: Sew, Mama, Sew

Lined Drawstring Bags

I thought I would do a quick post showing some of the lined drawstring bags I have made. These are a great little project that can serve so many uses!

Two of my drawstring bags. One I use to carry my knitting as you can see!

The pattern came from the book School of Sewing by Shea Henderson. This is the same book I used to make the unicorn pillowcase. It is an excellent resource for someone who is just starting to sew.

My first few drawstring bags were made from fabrics left over from my Halloween Quilt. The newer drawstring bags have been made using Tula Pink fabrics.

The three drawstring bags that I kept. Pictured in the car on a road trip!

I definitely prefer the look of the Tula Pink bags, but that may be because it is no longer October! I do not have pictures of all the bags I have made, since some have been given away as gifts and I forgot to photograph them!

Two of the drawstring bags visiting a community farm in Savannah, GA.

The cut fabric for one bag waiting to be sewed

Being sewed on my machine

My two Tula Pink drawstring bags immediately upon completion

A drawstring bag hanging out in my Cargo Duffel

Cargo Duffle

The Cargo Duffle visiting a community garden in Savannah, GA

I wanted to make a larger travel bag for my holiday adventures. After looking around a little, I saw the Cargo Duffle by Noodlehead. The pattern is free download and can be found here!

The Cargo Duffle was made in December 2015, but I'm only getting around to posting it now.

I haven't made a quilted bag yet so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to try it out. I also love the pleated cargo pockets on the front, so this gave me an opportunity to learn how to do them. While fussy cutting the fabric for them was time consuming, the actual construction was not that bad.

The fabrics I used are as follows:

1. Main body (outside and inside): Helios in the Fibs and Fables collection by Anna Maria Horner
2. Accent on main: Soho Chic Bubbles in Plum by Sandy Gervais for Moda
3. Cargo pockets: Cachet by Marie Osmond in Quilting Treasures collections (I believe this is out of print since I got this fabric in a fat quarter sale a while ago)
4. Zipper Gusset (outside and inside): Minutes in the Fibs and Fables collection by Anna Maria Horner
5. Bottom Gusset: 
• outside: organic black canvas
• inside: Pineapple Slices in Sugar by Tula Pink in the Acacia collection
6. Handles: 
• Accent: Soho Chic Bubbles in Plum by Sandy Gervais for Moda
• Main: organic black canvas
7. Inside binding: Bella Cotton Solids in Black by Moda

I used more variety of fabrics than the pattern called for, but I wanted a nice colorful bag. The only other thing I changed was I made the handles a little longer. I also did sew parts of the handles together to make a thinner strap after using the bag for a while. I found the original size was too wide for my liking since it kept bunching up on my shoulder.

I love the Pegasus pattern so much that I got some extra yardage for later projects! I'll definitely be looking into more Anna Maria Horner prints!

Since I was in such a nice location for the holidays, I took some bonus pictures of the Butterick 5658 tote bag I made!