My friend Heidi, at the Fabric Mutt, made the most adorable bags for her girls last weekend in preparation for the trip she was having. You can find her post about them here. Her husband thought she was a "little crazy" in trying to make something for the kids when she should be packing for their trip. However, I totally understood. I will do whatever it takes to avoid packing as well! Plus anything you can do to make the "drive" a little bit more tolerable is even better. She had an 8 hour trip with 3 girls under 7! Yes, she is super courageous.
Anyways, this weekend we are taking a weekend trip to Detroit to visit my husband's brother and his family. Well this trip is 2 1/2 hours long and let's just say, my 2 year old does not travel well. Which meant what? You are correct, my girls needed "travel bags" as well, so I immediately hopped on the bandwagon and started sewing.
I used a couple of fat quarters from Riley Blake's collection "Sweetcakes", which can be purchased from the Fat Quarter Shop here. The rim and the handles were made from the red and white polka dot of Camille and Bonnie's Vintage Modern collection. I used the following tutorial by Ayumi, at the Pink Penguin, which can be found here. I have never made a bag or a wristlet or anything of that nature before. I usually am rather slow in stretching my "sewing chops", so this was first time using a fusible interfacing. Surprisingly enough, it was rather easy to use. Also Ayumi's tutorial was awesome. The directions and pictures were great! It took me only 3 days to make 2 bags! I was so happy with the results. My girls will just love these.
The only thing I would have done differently on Melia's bag (2nd picture down) is I would have made the "cakes" going vertical rather than horizontal, but I was 2 inches short on fabric the vertical way, so what can you do. I am really trying hard to use fabric from my stash because I placed myself on a "fabric diet" in May when I started to clean up my sewing area and saw how much fabric I actually did have. It was kind of scary, so I am really trying hard to use up what I currently have as much as possible! However, if someone is selling Boo Crew or Flats and has a sale, I could be easily persuaded to purchase more fabric.
I couldn't believe how much stuff fits into these bags! I still need to add the fruit snacks and the goldfish crackers yet! I think the girls should be all set for our trip. What do you think?
Linking up to
Needle and Thread Thursday with Kelly.
Happy quilting!
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