The Betsy Travel Bag (Blog Hop)

I am really excited to be a part of the Betsy Travel Bag blog hop! When I was first chosen to be one of the pattern testers, I found it so hard to pick out my fabrics... There were so many great places on this bag to stick little coordinating prints without looking cheesy or overwrought.
I finally decided on a Denyse Schmidt print that I kept ordering without ever realizing I'd double and triple ordered it. I figured that I must really love that fabric if I kept on ordering it, accidentally. And then with this fun newsprint as an accent... I started to get really excited.

I got to work on it as soon as I worked out the fabric choices and got my hardware. (On a side note, one of my biggest notes to the pattern company was that "someone should sell hardware kits for the Betsy Travel Bag so sewists don't have to find everything themselves" (that was ALREADY their plan. Lucky for you - you can find them at the Snuggly Monkey Shop www.snugglymonkey.com... I had to order bulk of most of my hardware (not really a problem since I have already made two of these bags with plans for at least 2 more)

Back to the bag.... As I was making it, I had to marvel at all the cool pockets and features I was putting in. I told someone, "it's like a catalogue of all the coolest pocket techniques". One night when the bag was nearly complete, my husband came in and saw it.

The way he looked at it told me that he didn't think this looked like an ordinary quilted duffel bag. He was really impressed with how "professional" it looked - I think it was all the nice hardware, personally.

I began to think... Could I figure out a way to make him a masculine GUY version of the Betsy Travel Bag? How would I go about that?

Valentine's Day was coming up... Could I do it? I had just bought some gorgeous prewashed chambray from a friend who had a bolt...

I went into my local quilt shop, Sew Modern, and there got the advice and idea to accent with Moleskin fabric. I picked a solid charcoal color. Then I added in some of my favorite old fake herringbone tweed cotton that I have yards of here at home and I cranked on this gorgeous bag and presented it to my husband on Valentine's Day.

 

I have to say, it's the nicest thing I have ever sewn for him. His comment.... "Wow. That does not look homemade. It looks like something they would sell at Fred Segal" - kind of a mega-compliment in my book.

I liked his bag so much (more even than my own!) that I used it to travel to Quiltcon. While traveling with it, I learned even more how much I loved this bag. All the pockets! The straps! The style!

And the whole guy factor is such a major bonus for me. I mean, how many quilted items can you really give the men in your life? Only a few. Well, this is one of them.  But then again, I'm feeling like this bag would also look SO GOOD in metallic linen... hmmmm....

 So now it's your turn! You know you want to make one... You can buy the pattern in the Rebel Craft Media shop - www.rebelcraftmedia.com/shop - The pattern is being released in a few days on April 1 and there's even a sew-along on the Rebel Craft blog that starts on April 2. (Pre-order sales for the pattern started March 17th - you can buy it and get the materials list before the pattern is released so that you can assemble your supplies)
Also check out this hashtag - #thebetsytravelbag to see other people's pics of the bag - some of the details are best understood by looking at what the bag looks like finished.
oh - and here are the other bloggers to visit on the Blog Hop - read about their experiences with the fantastic Betsy Travel Bag!

Blog    Hop   Tour:

March 17
• Rebel    Craft    Media
• Schnitzel    &    Boo
• Snuggly    Monkey

March    19: 
• Daisy    &    Jack

March    21:
• I’m    A    Ginger    Monkey

March    23: 
• Don’t    Call    Me    Betsy

March    25: 
• Libby    Dibby   

March    27: 
• Euphoria    Jessica

March    29:
• Karri    of    Berries

March    31:
• Rebel    Craft    Media    (photo    roundup)