Finishing up that Foxtail Cross Body Sling had me digging into my unfinished projects. I remembered starting this bag a few years ago, becoming overwhelmed with some detail and putting the project aside. I got it back out again and finished it up.

The pattern is from Amy Butler and is called The Weekender Travel Bag. You can buy the pattern on her site, from this page. (Just scroll down a bit to find it.)

Here’s the official picture at right. (Clicking on it will also take you to her PDF download page to buy the pattern.)

Although I love the look of this bag, I was worried about using quilting cotton on the exterior, specifically how well it would wear. For this first one, I used several table runners that had a woven design. I think they’re polyester. They were available in two colour combinations – here’s a green one, uncut.

I used the burgundy/pink variant for my bag and fussy-cut the pieces to play with the design. Instead of making my own piping, I bought drapery piping in a coordinating colour. Here’s my bag:

I did add piping to the tops of the pockets on the bag ends, though there isn’t supposed to be any. I had some left and liked the look of it.

I also used the needle off-set on my machine for the final row of stitching along the piping, so that I could get as close to it as possible. I still didn’t get as close as I’d like, but it worked out pretty well.

The reason I put my bag away initially was the zipper. I couldn’t find one with tabs that met in the middle. (I’ve since learned how to make one from the Blue Calla tutorials – I’ll tell you about that with another post about bag-making.) At the time, I bought two heavy plastic zippers to use instead – a burgundy one for each side – but wasn’t entirely happy with that solution. (Now, after making the bag, I think that the heavy plastic zips might be too heavy. It gets a bit bulky around the zipper opening with that fusible foam inside.) Recently, though, there were some separating zippers discounted at my local fabric store, probably because the zipper tape is mustard yellow. There was a 32″ one that was long enough for me to cut off one end, and the mustard matched the stripe in the fabric.

One change I did make was putting a heavier bottom in the bag. I often use these cutting boards from Ikea for that – they’re inexpensive and easy to cut to size with a heavy knife. The base of this bag was too big, though. The mister came up with a solution for me – he’d noticed cheap cutting mats at a discount store. They aren’t the same quality as the one I use on my cutting table, but in this case, one was perfect. I cut it down to size and put it in the bottom of the bag, before the lining went in.

I also really (really) like bag feet. I put eight on this one, because they’re smaller in size than might be ideal. They’re secured to that cutting board base, which means the base doesn’t come out and the bag can’t be washed. Would I wash an overnight bag? Not likely. If anything, I’d spot-clean it. I can’t imagine that this fabric, and all the layers of fusible goodness, would survive a trip through the washing machine either.

This bag is quite easy to assemble. There are a lot of layers but not many pieces and the instructions are excellent. The tricky bit was getting close enough to that piping, but a lot of that is on me, because I used heavier fabric and heavier piping than specified. I had no fun putting in the lining, but again, that’s on me – because I had put that hard base into the bag, I couldn’t turn it inside out as instructed. There were a lot of contortions to get the lining sewn in as a result!

I had thought this fabric might be easy to clean and mark-resistant, and I was proven right. When sewing in the lining, I stabbed my finger and bled on the bag. The mark came right out with cold water. 🙂

If you want to make a small bag, this is a good one to try! Keep it simpler than I did, though, and use the specified weight of fabric and binding.

You’ve probably guessed that the green runner is destined to become a different bag. I’ve already cut it out…and yes, it uses another of the sale zippers with mustard tape.