I finally finished my biggest bag project so far. I decided to make a bag for myself for a change and my ambitious goal was the „great getaway bag“, a travel bag from „The Bag Making Bible“ by the fabulous Lisa Lam. It is my favorite bag making book, I love her patterns and instructions and during the last few weeks that book has literally become my bible as I had it on me almost everywhere (well ok, with a few exceptions maybe).
So back to the great getaway bag:
The finished bag measures approx. 11 x 18 x 9" (28 x 46 x 23 cm). I'm planning on using it as my hand luggage on my flights to Europe, I can’t wait to use it for the first time when going home to Germany one week from now. I bet I'm gonna have the prettiest bag on the plane!
I used home dec fabric (100% cotton) and I just loooove the colors! I’m usually not the pink loving kind of girl but in this case I had to make an exception. I found the exterior main fabric first, thought it would look great for this type of bag and then started looking for a perfect match to use for the trims and handles. Found the one with the pink flowers. For the lining I chose a light beige.
For extra convenience there is an additional pocket on the outside, which closes with a flap and an attached magnetic snap.
Inside the bag has two large pockets to keep your stuff organized and a zip flush pocket.
A big plus is the adjustable strap. In Lisa’s original version the strap is attached on top of the exterior of the bag. I found another version by a fellow crafter online and followed her suggestions. You can find it here. Great idea, thanks Kristien! ;-)
She made a good point in claiming that those would be the weak points of the bag, since the strap has to hold all the weight of your luggage. So she decided to sew the handle loops in between the seams of the front/back part of the bag and the side panels (that hold the top zipper).
It took me a while to finish the bag, altogether I guess it has been, like, ten hours of work (I needed three hours just to cut the fabric and the fusible fleece/interfacing). There is quite a few pieces to this bag, so if you ever think about making it, make sure you label everything, otherwise you will end up being lost in a huuuuge pile of pattern pieces!
I hope you like the bag as much as I do!
 There are two simple pockets on the one side of the bag interior and a zip pocket on the other |  Very convenient: the large front pocket that closes with a magnetic snap. For the things you need to have at hand quickly! |
 |  Mmh, wasn't exactly meant like that though.. as much as I would love to take Henry on tour ;-) |
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