I have been wanting to do a post that involves my work travels. Fun nerdy fact, I have sewn in a hotel room. Or two..
I spend alot of time in airports and in the past 7 weeks I have travelled to 6 cities. I sell shoes for my job job and manage the southeast territory. I go to ALOT of tradeshows. Yes, a shoe or apparel tradeshow is a fun part of my job. I meet interesting people and talk about my product, trends, marketing, expanding their business ALL Day.. For the most part, I really like the travel. However, this last season was a blur - having a 13 mos in our house and the extensive travel was an interesting combination.
I was trying to remember the airport codes for all the cities that I recently trekked to and came up with a fun idea – screen print the airport codes onto market tote. Here are the cities I last made it to- SLC, CLT, LGA, GSP, ATL, MIA. Can you figure them out?
“Market tote” translation - Bag with a hole in the top, use as the handles.
I used my trusty freezer paper for the screen printing portion. Check this link for the how to on freezer paper. I developed the bag pattern from scratch. This would be something fun to sew for an upcoming girls trip, family reunion, or even the beach!
Note – You will do a little pattern drafting for this one. Beginners, don’t be scared!! It’s super easy and you can do the drafting right on your fabric.
Materials:
- Cotton Duck Fabric – The heavier the weight the better. Test the fabric with your sewing machine. Not all sewing machines like thick fabric
- Interfacing – fusible
- Pins, needles, thread, scissors
- Sewing machine
- Iron and ironing board
Drafting materials:
- Ruler
- Disappearing ink pen
- Confidence
- Handle template
Screen Printing Materials:
- Freezer paper, tulip ink, sponges
- Iron and ironing board
- Image – I created the letters in word. Font size 120 pt
This portion not shown in images below.
- Create the bag. The smaller the better. Draw a large rectangle 26″L x 13.5W. This includes SA
- Create the facing. 4″L x 13.5W. Cut 2
- Cut interfacing for the self. 3″L x 13.5″W. Cut 2
- Iron interfacing to the top portion of the bag
- Sew the bag - fold in half and sew the sides using 1/2″ SA
Step 1:
- With the bag sewn, turn it right side out. Pin each facing piece to the top edge and pin at sides. The sides are not sewn together
Do the following steps for both sides of the bag:
- Mark 1/2″ SA along top edge with disappearing pen. You will use this as a guide
- Center handle template in the middle and at the top edge of the SEAM ALLOWANCE
Step 2:
- Trace a solid line around the oval from the template
- Mark a 1/4″ SA. Mark with a dashed line. Mark the cutting area. As above, I marked with multiple lines as a cutting reference.
- Sew around the the solid outside line.
- Pierce into the center area with scissors
Step 3:
- Cut out the entire center area. Do NOT cut into the SA!
- Cut and clip the oval edges. Clip the straight lines and notch the corners..
- Pull the facing through/ into the center of the oval
- You will need to wiggle the corners a little until the lay flat. Re-clip if needed and wiggle more
- Press the oval seam with a hot iron
Step 4:
- Edgestitch along outer edge of oval
- Now sew the top edge – turn under the top edge 1/2″ and press. Turn entire top edge seam
- Edgestitch along top edge
- Press Top edge
You are done!
Happy Sewing
Hello. Welcome to Haberdashery Fun. I am a self proclaimed sewing nerd. I love anything to do with zippers, binding, buttons, the list goes on… I get all gooey from the thought of a fabric store or figuring out how something was designed and sewn together. 
cool bag and idea! can you make a cool manly duffle bag?
Nice Idea! Really like your blog – thanks for stopping by at mine!
What a cool idea! Thanks so much for linking up to Monday Funday!
so cute! and useful. i find it funny that one is MIA. is that miami? or missing in action?
Lol… Miami. But it could be missing in action!!
Very cute! Wish your post had been around last fall. This was exactly what I wanted for my gift bags at my destination wedding. I ended up buying some cheapy bags that didn’t fit the theme of my wedding. :/ Love it! Found you on Sew Much Ado. Thanks for sharing
What a neat idea! I used to travel a ton and mostly internationaly when I was an internal auditor for my company. That would make for an interesting tote – SIN, BKK, CDG, AMS, GRU to name a few… I’d love it if you came and linked up at my Thrifty to Nifty Thursdays at A Jennuine Life: http://www.ajennuinelife.com/2013/03/thrifty-to-nifty-thursdays-12.html