By Annie Travel Essentials 2.0 bag pattern

This ByAnnie travel essentials bag makes a lovely travel accessory. I made it as a birthday present for my sister who travels a lot. It has 5 pockets in total to hold items such as cosmetics and the large pocket at the bottom will hold a small hair drier, hot brush, small curling tongs or hair straightener etc. The pattern says that 2 of the small internal pockets are made from Vinyl, making these pockets waterproof, and one is made of mesh which is a little stretchy for bulkier items. I preferred to make my bag with 3 mesh pockets, just replaced cutting the vinyl for mesh and carried on, but that is my personal preference. It is one of Annie's trickier patterns and for someone new to bag making I would suggest that you try making one of ther smaller less tricky patterns first to familiarise yourself with how Annie constructs all of her patterns for bags first. Then move onto a little more complex pattern.

Annie does not give printed paper patterns such as you buy in the shops and have to cut to size. No, Annie works in rectangles of fabrics and a foam interfacing that gives body to the bags. Then the main and lining fabrics are sandwiched together with the foam in the between. These are then quilted together, or you can skip the quilting and tack the layers together until you have completed the bag and can remove the tacking. Once the quilting is done you move on to cutting those quilted pieces into the necessary pieces to the sizes given for the bag in question. Most bags have the corners rounded off which makes sewing the pieces together easier than trying to make smooth rectangular corner seams when sewing on the binding strip to complete the item. It is best to follow the instructions step by step as given in the instructions and tick each step off as you complete it. This avoids getting in a muddle or confused, it makes things much easier. I have made many of Annie's patterns over the years since I discovered them. Annie also has short video tutorials on her website to show you easys ways to put in zips, make your own bias binding and all sorts of other tips and tricks of the trade for bag making. I still find these tutorials useful although I have been sewing for about 60 plus years. You can never learn too much! I am sure you will love the bags you make with these patterns, I know I do.