Cargo Duffle Cameras

Along with five of my fun quilty peeps, we're heading off to our annual long weekend sewing retreat on Mayne Island in a couple of days. This calls for a new travel bag, n'est-ce pas?  Who am I kidding, I rarely need an excuse to try a new bag pattern!  Plus I love everything Anna designs and knew I'd make her Cargo Duffle as soon as I saw her first one posted. The best part? This pattern is 100% FREE! Thanks Anna.

I was recently in Seattle and had a lovely visit with Keli at my favourite little fabric shop, Drygood Designs. I was thrilled that she had new Echino cameras in stock, so I purchased a yard to use for my duffle. In addition to sewing, photography is another passion of mine, so I just love this print.

(just cause photography is a passion doesn't mean I'm an expert...pardon the sunspot!)

All of the panels of this bag are quilted. I decided this was the perfect project to try ByAnnie's Soft & Stable for the first time. I'd heard good things about it and it didn't disappoint!  It's 3/8" thick foam batting/interfacing that has some sort of fabric-y surface. It's not fusible, but the surface took 505 spray baste very well.   It cost about $18 for enough to make this bag, so it's more than triple what cotton batting would cost, but I think well worth it for the structure it adds to this bag. It was no harder to sew through than batting and it has almost no weight.

I quilted the Echino panels with a cream Aurifil 28 wt cotton thread and a 4.5 stitch length. I pieced the bag using polyester Gutermann thread for strength.  Although I followed the pattern and covered the seam allowance (on the inside of the bag) where the bottom and zipper gussets meet with a single fold binding, I decided not to tackle covering the main seams with the binding.  I just wasn't confident I could do a nice job of it.

Instead, I followed this tutorial and lined the bag with a quilting cotton. In lieu of pinning the lining along the zipper tape (as recommended in the tute), I first held the lining in place with Clover Wonder Clips, then glue-basted it prior to topstitching all along both sides of the zipper.

Finally, the only other change I made was to add in a fabric pull-tab at each end of the zipper.  I love this duffle and will definitely make more in the future. I think that I'll add 3" or more to the width next time to make it a larger bag (and that will necessitate slightly longer straps, as they'll sit further apart).

Fabrics used:

Echino cameras

"Deer Valley" by Joel Dewberry (handles and pocket lining)

Essex yard dyed linen in black (handles, panels)

"County Fair" by Denyse Schmidt in home-dec (weight outer pockets).

"Giverny" by Marianne Elizabeth for Bernatex (main lining)