My Minions (DS1 and DS2) are having their birthdays in the coming weeks, and, although we have plenty of bags, they didn’t have their own personal luggage. I scoured the interwebs for the “perfect bag” pattern and came across this one that I loved everything about. (DS1 is getting a Pokemon bag, will post when done.)
My DS2 loves Minions, so I hunted down some Minions fabric. There had to be a joke in there somewhere - the lining is banana fabric. I mean, really, what else would you expect to find in a Minion’s bag but bananas?
The pattern called for a special kind of batting, but I didn’t really want to spend that much on this project, and the fabric was already a splurge. I had some (okay, a lot of) very stiff interfacing on hand and I paired it with regular cotton batting. That gave the quilted body of the bag the thickness and sturdiness I was hoping for.
That turned out amazing! Seriously looks like something out of a high end shop!
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AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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Your kids get custom made travel bags! That is really special…especially since they are made for their own tastes and are so functional! Great job…love the netting inside so you can see everything!
@tendstowardschaos As a huge Minions fan, I am all over this bag! Your DS2 will love it! All of the features that were put in, starting with the stiff interfacing and batting to the netting to the banana fabric lining to the strap fabric and beyond – every detail exquisite and perfectly made.
That thing is gorgeous!! I love the touch of the banana fabric! I am jealous, I want one! that would be so easy to spot your luggage between all the boring black ones!
That’s so so cool. My kids have a carry-on sized case that they use for travelling, but they are getting a bit small for anything more than a few days. This might have to go on the list!
Amazing! You did a wonderful job with this, fabric pairing too because BANANA! HAHA HA!
I triple checked in case I missed it in my excitement but aside from saying you liked the pattern, did you like the pattern? In terms of construction I mean.
We all need travel bags and how fun to make something custom for each kid? Not that I want to sew all those cross hatched lines. You are a trooper!
I will definitely space out the quilting lines a bit more on the next bag - that was tedious.
The pattern was so easy to follow, very thorough. It’s all measurements, no pattern pieces to cut out or trace. Everything went together without a hitch, with the exception of one area (I trimmed it down to size, problem solved). Only complaint is the sheer thickness of fabric/straps to sew through in some areas (6 layers of fabric + 2 layers batting + 2 layers heavy interfacing + webbing) and then trying to bind the raw edges in those spots (add 4 layers of fabric to that). Had to go really slow and use heavy, titanium coated needles, but I only snapped the thread once and no broken needles!
This totally rocks! I love the minions travel bag you made for your kid. The use of banana fabric for the lining is sheer genius. And now I can’t get the minions banana song outta my head
The pattern called for a special, expensive foam I can only get from byannie.com (though, I have seen similar at Jo-Ann’s). I substituted a stiff interfacing plus regular cotton batting. Since I had that on-hand, it saved me about $20.
The netting wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I have those quilter’s clips and they’re easier to work with than pins. I cut everything out with a rotary cutter and a quilter’s ruler - really made things simple.
I’ve heard the clips are straight money! But haven’t bought any because…you know. MONEY! But I dragged my feet over a baby blanket because I just could not fathom getting poked over and over again.
I don’t like it when they require something special. you will only use once. but need a little of. and the smallest is LARGE. ugh. PASS!
I bought some off amazon. I think it was about $9 for 120 clips. The price at Jo-Ann was, like, four times that. No thanks! But, I use them all the time, sometimes for really random things. Not poking myself with pins, which happens every single time I use them, is fantastic.
HAHA HA!
