Sew Sturdy: The Ultimate Travel Bag

Class Preview

Don’t lug your luggage; love your luggage! Make a beautiful travel bag with durable structure, designer touches and professional construction details.

Quilting & Cutting the Fabric

Meet Annie Unrein, the mastermind behind By Annie’s! She’ll take you on a tour of The Ultimate Travel Bag’s many features and help you choose your materials. Then you’ll see how to quilt your fabric pieces to foam stabilizer and cut and label all the pieces for your bag.

Straps & Handles

Follow along as Annie teaches you how to sew the carrying strap, strap tabs and handles for your bag, and how to add strapping (webbing) for reinforcement where needed. You’ll even make a shoulder strap to go over the handles on your rolling luggage for easy trips through the airport!

Pockets

Make convenient slip pockets for the outside of the bag. Annie will walk you through sewing an ingenious combo slip-and-zip pocket for security, as well as mesh pockets for the inside of the bag. You’ll also see how to bind the edges for polished pocket finishes.

Preparing the Side Strip

It’s time to assemble the side strip, encompassing the bag bottom and a double-slide zipper for the main bag opening. Follow Annie as she joins up the fabric side strip and zipper strips with the pockets, installs the zipper, adds a stabilizer sleeve for a rigid bag bottom, and sew buttons on the bottom to protect your bag when you set it down.

Bag Front & Back

Find out how to add inside and outside pockets to the bag’s front and back pieces. Then learn to shape the edges of the front and back for a graceful, roomy silhouette.

Making Binding & Strap Pad

You’re almost done! Make custom bias binding strips from a square of fabric and a cushiony pad that will make your carrying strap more comfortable even with a fully loaded bag. Annie will also show you how to stitch the binding around curves and join the binding ends perfectly.

Completing the Bag

To complete the bag, join the bag front and bag back to the side-strip assembly, then bind the seams for Annie’s “Cadillac finish.” Make handy zipper pulls from a strip of fabric, insert your acrylic bag bottom into the stabilizer sleeve, and hit the road!