I have been wanting a travel bag to use as a carry-on and on short weekend trips. Since I didn't get this
one for Christmas, I am making my own. I found Amy Butler's Weekender Bag pattern and thought it would be just perfect -- even better than the Vera Bradley one. I have read a lot of blog posts on how hard this bag is to make and what a pain it is, but so far I have only found the instructions to be a little confusing and overall very time consuming. I purchased the pattern, read through it and started gathering fabric and notions. This has turned out to be more expensive than the Vera Bradley tote. The pattern calls for home dec fabric, so even though I got mine on sale, it was still fairly expensive. Turns out that fusible interfacing and stabilizer are relatively expensive, too. Besides fabric, interfacing and stabilizer, I also purchased a 30" non separating zipper, a 9" zipper, cotton cording and pearl snaps. I still need to get purse feet, which are not required or called for in the pattern, but I think they might help keep the bottom of the bag a little cleaner. So now that I have most of the required fabric and notions I have started in on the actual construction.
It took 2 sittings to get all of the fabric pieces cut out. As you can see, I took the time to line up the pattern so the front pockets and panels match up. This wasn't that hard to do and I'm glad I took the time to do it because I think it will look a lot more professional once it's finished. From the exterior and lining fabrics I cut two pocket panels and two main panels (A&B), two side pockets (C) and two top/side panels (D). Then from the lining fabrics I cut bias strips for the cording (E) and strips for the handles (f). I am going to make some pockets for the inside as well (there are none in the pattern, but I want some), so I need to cut those pieces out still. After cutting all the fabric I had to cut a bunch of matching pieces of the interfacing and stabilizer. That alone was a ton of work!
Once I finished cutting I made the cording. I covered the cording using stitch witchery instead of machine basting it. I read on someone's blog that they thought this was easier and not having that extra set of basting stitches made it easier to attach later. So far I think that was good advice.
Finally I got to sew something after the cording was done -- the front pocket panels! This consisted of sandwiching the stabilizer between the fabric and the interfacing, sewing on the cording, sewing on the lining and then machine basting around the edges. I also top stitched along the cording to give the pocket a nice finished look.
After the pockets came the handles. This was simple -- it just required ironing the raw edges in a 1/2", inserting the stabilizer under one side, ironing the fabric in half and then top stitching down the two edges. So after all of that, this is what I have now (these aren't sewn together yet):
I am now through 5 of 13 steps! I predict that things are going to get much harder, but for now, I am enjoying the simplicity!
What do you think of the pearl snap? I am thinking of using them as closures for the pockets because I couldn't find magnetic closures.
After a little rest, the main panels were sewed together as pictured in the previous post. Then it was time to construct the top/side panel with a zipper and two side pockets. I don't have much experience with zippers and thought the directions were sort of strange, but I managed to get the zipper sewed in without too much trouble. Sewing on the end pockets was just a matter of laying them on top of the top/side panel and sewing them on, so that was a cinch. 
Once the top/side panel was constructed, it was time to sew the bag together. This was tricky and frustrating! There were many layers of fabric, interfacing and peltex, so this was not a simple 1/2" seam to sew. You can see I had to use binder clips and clothes pins just to hold all the layers together. This 1/2 seam had to butt up against the cording to ensure a nice clean line around the cording. It took me several hours just to get the first main panel attached. I had to re-sew closer and closer to the cording in some spots to get the seam where I needed it. Luckily I got my adjustable cording/zipper foot in the mail on Saturday. It helped with getting really close to the cording. This was the most frustrating part of the bag construction, by far, and there were many choice words going through my mind while completing this step. After the first panel was sewed on, I unzipped the zipper, sewed on the second panel (which went much more smoothly) and turned it right side out. Viola... I have a bag!
It took 2 sittings to get all of the fabric pieces cut out. As you can see, I took the time to line up the pattern so the front pockets and panels match up. This wasn't that hard to do and I'm glad I took the time to do it because I think it will look a lot more professional once it's finished. From the exterior and lining fabrics I cut two pocket panels and two main panels (A&B), two side pockets (C) and two top/side panels (D). Then from the lining fabrics I cut bias strips for the cording (E) and strips for the handles (f). I am going to make some pockets for the inside as well (there are none in the pattern, but I want some), so I need to cut those pieces out still. After cutting all the fabric I had to cut a bunch of matching pieces of the interfacing and stabilizer. That alone was a ton of work!
