Duffel Bag, Quilted

Quilted, personalized duffel bag

My granddaughter needed a duffel bag to carry her uniform and shoes to her cheer leading practices and she wanted with the school colors, garnet and gold.

So here it is.

Materials

·        1 ½ yard of quilted double sided garnet fabric. I bought 2 yds to be safe and to add pockets.

·        18"  separating sport zipper

·        1 yd of gold broadcloth fabric to make the handles

·        1 pk of gold/yellow fabric for binding

Cutting

·        Cut two 12" circles (and 2 half circles, with binding, if you want to add pockets on the sides)

·        Cut one rectangle 19 1/2" by 37 6/8”, this is the circumference of my 12”circle (here you have to find the circumference of whatever size of your circle).

·        Cut one rectangle 11”x 25” if you want pockets along the middle of the bag and add binding to the short ends.

·        Cut 4”x 37”of the broadcloth to make 1 1/2” wide strips for the handles (this is good enough for this size bag, make it longer or shorter as needed. You can use ready-made webbing but I couldn’t find any in gold.

Assembly

·        Fold the long edge of the rectangle in half.

·        Mark the fold line.

·        Measure in 4" from each end of the fold and mark on the fold.

·        Measure 6”from each end.

·        Add pockets rectangle to center. Pin it down.

·        Fold the strips (or webbing) in half lengthwise and mark the center.

·        Lay one end of the strip at the center mark.

·        Lay the half way mark on the opposite center mark.

·        Bring the other end around to meet the starting point. Working from the center fold, pin in place 4" from the edge of the rectangle, stopping 6" from the top edges of the rectangle.

·        Sew the edges of the strip (with pocket rectangle underneath) stopping and pivoting at the stop point, sew across the ends and back down the edge of the strap. I also sewed down the center line to avoid things getting lost in a bottomless pocket.

·        Sew the zipper to the fabric following the 1/4" guide on the zipper tape (about the middle of the zipper tape).

Repeat for the second side of the zipper

Adding the ends … hang in there, this is the tougher part.

·        Fold the bag in quarters and mark the folds at the ends of the body of the bag.

·        Unhook the zipper to open the bag flat.

·        Fold the circles in quarters and mark the folds at the edge of the circles.

·        Pin the side pockets in place.

·        Placing right sides together, matching the quarter marks, pin the circles into the ends of the bag.

·        Sew the ends in place following the curves.

·        Apply a seam finish to the seams.

·        Turn right side out and press.

 View of side pockets

All my inside seams were zigzag to avoid fraying.

 

Also letters and other embroidery details should be done before adding end circles.