A finish ~

I had an idea, the pattern was a freebie and with a stash of Liberty of London quilting fabrics I made this:

Cargo Duffle by Noodlehead

First I had to make the fabric. I cut squares of Liberty ironed them to a rectangle of SF101, my new favorite fusible and sew down each row where the square meet up. I found this tutorial on Oh Fransson's blog many moons ago. Quick and easy!

postage stamp fabric using  fusible interfacing

The front and back complete! The pictures don't show the detail but I used a great fabric from Robert Kaufman. It is a lightweight denim with specks of primary colors. Really goes well with the riot of color from the Liberty.

Next the gusset:

I thought I was being clever using my go-to method for zipper installation. I use a length of steam a seam and iron the zipper down then added the interior piece, sandwich them all together and stitch away. 

Before the zipper - preparing

Argh! make sure your zipper is facing the right way. It did come out but not without some coaxing. 

quilting the gusset

I must have had one of my post-it's, that I use to label the pieces, in the way.

inside out with bias tape

Having never made a bag of this type, I decided to make bias tape to cover all the seams. I really like how it compliments the interior fabric. But I would entertain a lining with a pocket for this size bag.

the back

added a 'D' ring

I made this just because, really. I wanted to try out different sewing techniques. I would change a few little things. I would have liked to add more stabilizer or fusible to the bottom of the bag, it is kinda wimpy compared to the bag as a whole. 'D' rings to both sides and a non-metal zipper, I don't like the way they sound. My corners are rounded because no matter how much I wrestled with the fabric and pieces, I couldn't get boxy corners.

Happy Mothers's Day to me and to you!