How to Make the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0

My Best Tips for making the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 by Annie

Are you looking for an all-in-one travel bag that’s big enough to hold all your quilting supplies, small enough to use as an airplane carryon and totally gorgeous!? Then, you definitely need to make this Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 byAnnie!

Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 made by Rona the Traveling Quilter

I was in desperate need of a new travel bag.

Ok, maybe not DESPERATE. But, when I saw Tula Pink show off her version of the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 byAnnie, I HAD to make one too!! The good news is, I LOVE how it turned out!!! The bad news is… I HATE bag binding. 😀

First, a huge shout out to byAnnie for how easy her instructions were to follow! I wouldn’t recommend this pattern for a brand new bag maker. But, if you’ve at least made a couple basic bags already, you should be able to muscle your way through this pattern.

OH! And, there’s an optional video add on when you purchase the pattern. What a great idea!! For each of the steps in the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 pattern, there are matching videos on the byAnnie website where she walks you through the process. Can’t beat that with a stick!

Fabrics I used

I am a HUGE Kaffe Fassett fabric fan. Honestly, HUGE may be an understatement. So, when I stumbled upon a bolt of his PWP J111 Van Gogh Blue (by Philip Jacobs) I knew I wanted to make ALL THE THINGS. And the perfect place to start (after a quick pillow case for my travel pillow), was with the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 byAnnie!!

I will say, even though there are multiples of buttons in this photo, I did NOT in fact use them all. More on those (and that addiction) a littler further down.

To pair with the glorious Van Gogh fabric, I chose the following additions:

GP 70 Spot (Black and Purple) – Contrast
FabricPWGP 170 Diamond Stripes – Lining Fabric
PWGP 143 Paper Fans Delft – Extra Lining

I also added a bit of Kaffe Fassett ribbon. Again, more on that further down. See? You have to read the entire blog post now!! 😀

Working with Mesh

The Ultimate Travel Bag pattern offers the option of using either quilting fabric or mesh for the inside pockets. Because I’ve never worked with mesh before, I thought it’d be fun to give it a try.

At first I wasn’t sure of the stitch size to use. After all, mesh has a few holes in it. 😉 But, I found using the standard 2.5 setting worked great and it was super easy to work with!!

Did you notice that super fun square ruler? Yup… my design. 😀

Changes I made

Because the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 is a byAnnie bag pattern, she always recommends using her Soft and Stable foam padding. Personally, I’m not a big fan of sewing with foam. So, I used Fusible Fleece instead.

I’ve found if you use 2 layers of the Fusible Fleece (one fused to the main fabric and one fused to the lining) you can still get a great body to the bag while still being a bit easier to stitch.

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I also added a bit of ribbon

Kaffe Fassett Collective recently came out with some fabulous ribbons. As soon as I saw them at the quilt shop I knew I wanted to add one to this bag!!

Because this was a 2 1/2 inch wide ribbon, it fit perfectly as accents to the outside pockets and I added an extra wrap around on the shoulder strap. How great do these look together!?!?

buttons go a long way!

The Ultimate Travel Bag pattern calls for buttons to be added to the bottom of the bag. I imagine this would be in place of using grommets to help stabilize the bag when placed on the ground.

Well… I LOVE buttons! Seriously, I have a drawer full of all kinds of buttons. In fact, I almost added a bunch more to this very bag. But I reluctantly restrained myself. However…

I did add some big silver buttons and a few super fun felt flowers! Not sure if anyone will actually see these as they are on the bottom of the bag, but I’ll know of them. And that’s all that really matters. It’s like my bag has a fabulous secret. 😀

now for that binding…

As I mentioned at the beginning, I now LOATHE bag binding. Seriously, I’d much rather get teeth pulled than deal with bag binding. HOWEVER, using the binding on the inside of the bag really does help this bag stay open so you can make total use of all that great room inside!! Just look at this gorgeousness!!!

My Tips for working with bag binding is to:

A) Make sure to create your binding on the fabric bias!! You’re going to need that stretch when pulling it over to stitch on the front.

B) Use your sewing machine with the standard foot. You can use your 1/4 inch foot to stitch the back of the binding first. But make sure you switch over to the full size standard foot for the front. It will help tremendously with holding that binding as you work your way around.

C) Wear your patience and Take is slow! We’re talking 2 – 4 stitches at a time. Slow and steady will definitely win the race with this one.

Ultimate Travel Bag made by Rona the Traveling Quilter

So that’s how I made the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0! Have you made one yet? How did it turn out?

*Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links. When you click and purchase an item I earn a commission at NO additional cost to you. All the money raised helps to keep this blog up and running.

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