I made the Noodlehead Cargo Duffle (free pattern) along with at least half the online quilting community with the intent of it being my overnight/weekend bag to go camping or traveling with. Â IÂ don’t get to make bags as often as I would like because I just don’t need that many! Â I carry a diaper bag with my daughter, and a backpack when I go to school, and that covers about 98% of my life.
This is an amazing pattern, considering it’s free! Â The only tricky part is cutting out the fabric. Â Just take your time, double-check the directions – and make sure you are not cutting out your fabric to the final dimensions before you quilt it. Â Cut a little big, quilt, and then cut down to size. Â It’s a little safer!
I made a few changes to the pattern… First, I quilted it on my longarm. Â I just did straight line quilting because I had intended to make another one, and wanted to test my construction methods before getting fancy.
I also added a lining instead of binding the inside seams. Â I wanted pockets inside, and needed the lining to do that. Â Lining Tutorial: Small Town Thread
I also never added the snaps to the outside pockets. Â They are really more decorative than useful, so why bother?
I added a zipper pocket to the inside, and a water bottle spot.  I’m not a fan of how my water bottle spot works, but the zipper pocket turned out great!  Tutorial for zipper pocket inside: Sew Mama Sew and UHandbag.  I also added a row of straight pockets.
Since using this for awhile, I’ve discovered this bag is not what I wanted for an overnight bag for me. Â It’s a little too small, and the handles are shorter than I like to carry. Â The pockets would have been great for this use, if it was how I used it.
It’s not a lost cause though! Â It’s perfect to put my daughter’s clothes in for trips. Â I can fit a week or more of her clothes in here, and fold it up and tuck it away if we unpack somewhere (like we did in the camper this summer). Â We lived out of our bags for a month, and only did laundry once, so it was about 2 weeks of a 2 year old’s clothes in here.
This was a fun bag to make, and I have two more bags from Noodlehead next on my list to make. Â If only there were more hours in the day…
Fabric used: Linen for the base of the bag, and Chicopee for the handles. Â I think the blue leaf fabric may have been from the Denise Schmidt line for JoAnn’s, but I bought it so long ago I can’t remember for sure. Â The lining is Ty Pennington Impressions.
– Heather
Linking up to: Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, Link a Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts, Show off Saturday at Sew Can She