Travelling in style

I love travelling, but what I never liked was using plastic bags to hold things like shoes and other items you don't want floating around your suit case. I figured I could use my new-found sewing skills to make a lovely alternative - fabric bags. I bought three yards of bright floral fabric in Burlington just for the purpose.

I used a pattern for a drawstring bag from Martha Stewart's new sewing book and got to work. Using every last scrap, I made a large laundry bag, two smaller bags for socks and unmentionables, a shoe bag (big enough to hold a pair and sandals) and two smaller bags for odds and ends (using the odds and ends I had left, including scraps salvaged from the garbage bin for cords).


The bags are quite lovely, complete with lining. I was just going to make simple bags with no lining, but these have a nice weight to them and look very polished. I made one modification to the pattern (first by accident, but then I liked it so much I repeated the happy mistake). Instead of hiding the drawstring channel on the inside, I put it on the outside to show the lining fabric for a bit of contrast. Here you see the first, done according to the pattern, and then my version.


Definitely the bags are a much more elegant way to pack.