Sloan Travel Bag

This is the Sloan Travel Bag by Sara Lawson, and I like this one very much.  Diligent blog readers know that I am crazy about Sara's Aeroplane bag and have made several.   It's been my go-to bag for overnights and weekends.  However, I think the Sloan might be my new favorite.  It's larger than the Aeroplane, and I think it's more practical and larger, especially for plane travel.

There are 7 pockets, enough to keep even the sharpest person confused about where things are - one exterior zipped center, two exterior sides with magnets, two interior sides and two generous zipper interior pockets.

Purse feet in hopes of extending the life of the bag.

 

The use of Soft and Stable as a base for all exterior pieces along with a lot of Shape Flex interfacing gives this bag a polish and durability.   In fact, this Aeroplane bag to the left has been to Viet Nam twice and washed several times.  I traded this bag to Jenny for nail services.  Recently one of her grandsons caught one of the straps and ripped it.  I was able to fix it, and Jenny will continue for sure to use it.  I love this bag because of the fabric and because she has gotten such great use out of it.  I hope this Sloan bag wears as well!

A Bag, a Pillow, and a Major Clean-up

My six Arabesque bags were fun to do. I still have piles of fabrics on the floor which would be perfect for this pattern. Buddy Melissa gave me a charm pack of Doe, a new fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander. Apparently I wasn't "done" with bags and had to turn this charm pack of 5" squares into an Aeroplane Bag, a great pattern by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness. I love this pattern and love how this bag turned out! Look at the reverse of this bag equally cute!

The interior of this bag also uses a Carolyn Friedlander fabric and has two zippered pockets.  Truly, perfect for aeroplane trips!  Should I take this bag to QuiltCon?  or perhaps this one?  Or maybe even this one?  First World problems, eh?

The pillow made from a leftover block of this quilt has finally been completed.  The back was another great reason to work on my Sashiko quilting.  And what I am learning is that I must use wool batting - it so nicely highlights the stitching and is so easy to needle.  And now?  I have no excuses:  I must organize my studio and put away and be thoughtful about what I want to do next! 

All Things Aeroplane

Pattern/fabric designer Sara Lawson goes to Quilt Market in two weeks and will take these two Aeroplane Bags that I made using her new fabric line, Jungle Avenue for Art Gallery Fabrics.   Sara's a young Chicago mom, and this line reflects her love for the urban.  This top picture is the smaller of the Aeroplane bags.  Lovely fabrics.  Lovely bag pattern.  Lovely bags.  Notice they are partying with the other two Aeroplanes in my studio - the striped batik is one that I use.  The grey/purple with the fabulous zipper is still waiting a home assignment. 

This week neighbor Cristina returned to the area - yes, Cristina of the leather Aeroplane bag.  She was extolling the virtues of her Aeroplane and how handy it's been for the past several months.

Ok, time to go back to flat things... 

And now for something completely different...

So it's no secret that I've had a little pattern crush on Sara Lawson - her bag/purse patterns appeal to me.  The Dot-Dash-Dot, the Aeroplane, the Aragon - love them all.  I had a chance to meet Sara at a workshop sponsored by my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and have developed a respect for her.  In addition to her patterns and book (soon to be books), Sara is now doing fabric design.

In preparation for Quilt Market in May, Sara needs some of her bag/purse patterns made out of her new fabrics.  I volunteered to do the Aragon bags, both sizes, out of her new fabrics.  Sara's got a fabric sensibility that doesn't always appeal to my much-older eyes.  But I will admit that I do love her new line of Big City fabrics.  Best of all, they are made by Art Gallery Fabrics, whose motto is "Feel the difference."  And truly you can.  A Kona cotton feels like sandpaper compared to these fabrics! From the elephant fabric to the CTA map, this line is going to popular!

As a thank you, Sara gave me fat quarters of her fabric line and a box of her special Aurifil thread set.  Hmmmm, what to make, what to make...

For this week...

Now that the madness of Easter baking and entertaining is over, it's time for some studio focus.  This sports jersey quilt, the second one I've done for mom Shari is almost together.  It needs the top row, which unfortunately is a different size from the other rows, so it needs a bit of finessing.  And then the grey and black borders - the school colors of Grand Valley State University in Michigan.  The deadline is June, but I'm seeing my long armers Terri and Frank Karls Sunday, and this project can get a free ride to their studio! 

I'm eager to get started on a wedding quilt.  The color request is for whites, blush, and tan.  Here's a tentative palette, and I'm undecided about including some of the darker and brighter fabrics.  So I will study and ponder a bit more before starting to piece.  I've been wanting to work on a low-volume quilt, and I think this is my opportunity. Meanwhile, this Aeroplane Bag is so close to being complete.

This is the bag based around this lovely zipper.   It needs to have its feet attached, the bottom reinforced, and the lining at the bottom sewn together.  The opening is generous, and so are the two pockets - check them out below! 

Bags all ready to pack

Except I'm not going anywhere. And the only connection between these two bags is that they are no longer UFO's. The bag on the left, the Aeroplane Bag, is for John's sister Chris to celebrate her last Christmas as a teacher. The retro bag on the right is from Stitch magazine.

Chris chose her body fabric from my stash, a piece that I'm pretty sure one of my guildsters gave me. We paired it with a brown Kona Espresso for the base, and the Monday Good Quilting Fairy Eileen cut me a piece of her Kona Pomegranate for that wonderful accent.   

We then found the batik lining on my shelves.  Each one of the interior pockets uses a fat quarter, and there were two with women in kimonos.  Perfect for this project!  But then the wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles: I had the right length HOT PINK zipper on hand as well.

I thought I would get to this on one of my sewing retreats, especially since all parts were ready for assembly.   Thanksgiving morning turned out to be the perfect time to finish this.  And Chris was our guest at dinner.  Excellent timing.

 This bag was interesting to work on, mostly because there was an error in the pattern.  This one too I thought I would work on at a sewing weekend, but it became too frustrating.  In my studio I was able to figure out the issue and then make it work.  This bag is handsome, and I'll hang onto this pattern, but I don't think I'll make another one of these.  Just yet.  Now, I just have to plan someplace to go...

No pockets in this lining

Each side has a pocket under the zipper ends

One side has three pockets - the other side has two. 

Aeroplane Bag for Cristina

 

Do you have people in your life you cannot say no to?  Cristina is one of those people in my life.  She began sewing with me when she was in 7th grade.  And now she's graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Fine Arts - she's a painter.

She's going to spend the winter in Lake Tahoe before getting herself back into school.  So I offered to make her an Aeroplane Bag, figuring I've done four and could just knock this one out.  Except she gave me a piece of leather her father brought back from Uruguay.  Leather?  Leather!

Okay.  I gave it a go.  And guess what?  It turned out!  I did have to make some modifications with the pattern.  For instance, you can't iron fusible interfacing onto leather, which is how you normally affix the extra-heavy interfacing that gives the bag its shop.  Instead I just sewed it onto the leather.

 

 In hindsight perhaps I should have tackled the leather straps like I do with cotton.  However, I did some practice runs, increased the needle size to 100, and forged ahead. 

Luckily Cristina found a fabulous batik for the top of the bag.  Joining the leather bottom to the top of the bag worked well, and I even managed to sew through the handle parts.   Inserting the zipper was business as usual so that went well.

 Because this project has a boxed bottom I had to get creative with this step to keep from sewing through two thicknesses of leather and two thicknesses of the extra-stiff interfacing.  This part sort of worked but my math was off - no surprise there.  But somehow it all worked. 

The lining of this bag is from a dress project that Cristina did when she was a senior in high school.  And the pockets are from a recent quilt of mine.

The zipper tabs are made from leather, and those look the roughest.  But they work.  And I think with time after the bag is broken in, they will be fine.  And if they are, then maybe we need to visit a shoemaker.




I won't do a leather project again.  But I am most proud of the one mechanical machine I have and what a great job it did sewing through all these thicknesses.   Check out the side of this blog for index entries about Cristina - she's an extraordinary girl! 

Pauline's Aeroplane Bag

Pauline, Wayne's mother-in-law, is taking a trip in October.  She likes these cute little Aeroplane Bags, and really - who can blame her?  Pauline asked for one in Black and White with a Hot Pink lining. Check out the nifty pocket linings.  And the feet?  Feet!  Six of them!  This bag's bottom is from a home dec fabric and sturdier than a quilting cotton.  Pauline will be traveling in style.  Uh oh, hope she's not traveling with her sister Max, who just might be jealous of Pauline's bag. Speaking of which I am going to go pack my Aeroplane Bag - we're driving to Kansas City tomorrow.  Sure hope this bag works in a car.

Just One More AeroPlane Bag...

Here's my third Aeroplane Bag, and it's my favorite. The body fabric? there was just enough. In fact, you'll see a little black gusset on each side because I ran out. This is the smaller of the two pattern options offered.
The zippers have tabs, and I'm much happier with this finish.  Thanks, Jen BB, for this.  The pockets require a fat quarters, and I found these two crane pieces that I got from Ebony.  The bottom portion of this bag is a home dec fabric.  Let's see how this wears.  Most amazing of all, I found in my little box of odd accessories purse feet (I know - PURSE FEET and I had some on hand!).  So I'm trying out 6 of these.  Now, where is that Aeroplane Ticket?

Tabbed Zipper

Orange Crane pocket

Red Crane pocket

6 little purse feet

Aeroplane Bags - Completion!

These two Aeroplane Bags (pattern from SewSweetness) are complete.  The pattern directions are good ones and easy to follow.  With the exception of the zipper.  Here's a little modification I had to make to hide a kershimmeled part:

 Some buddies were over for a sewing day, and I think Jen got the zipper right.  But it was too late for me and either one of my bags.  Both of my bags are absolutely functional, and truthfully - I have always had a bit of difficulty with zippers.

I made both sizes included with the pattern, and obviously I used the same fabric for both.  Whether to use the fabric vertically or horizontally was a issue.  How much fun to do both bags and decide which I prefer.  I do like the smaller of these two bags and will send the larger one to my sister.

See the little zipper pull?  That clever Eileen bought some for all of us on our little Aeroplane Bag day.  I love how it functions.  This pattern is one I will make again.  Meanwhile, I gotta get some aeroplane tickets!

Aeroplane Bag - Large

Aeroplane Bag - Regular