Round Travel Bag Tutorial ~ DIY Tutorial Ideas!

The bag has lots of handy compartments to keep toiletries organized as you travel. Free Sewing Tutorial.

Materials

    ½ yard of outer fabric
    ½ yard of inner fabric (laminated)
    2 yards piping
    4 ½ yards ¼ – ⅜ inch double fold bias tape
    Fusible interfacing scrap, at least 2 ½ x 9 inches
    22 inch zipper in coordinating color
    9 inch zipper in coordinating color
    ¼ yard clear vinyl
    Zipper foot
    Paper clips

Notes on Materials: You can use an iron on vinyl product to create your water resistant inner fabric. Fuse the iron on vinyl to the inner fabric following the directions on the package. Read the cutting instructions to be sure you have the placement of the vinyl to accommodate the needed cuts.

If you want to make coordinating bias tape and piping you will need an extra ½ yard of your outer fabric. You could probably squeak by with a fat quarter, but do so at your own risk.

Sewing on vinyl and laminated fabrics can be tricky. The vinyl or laminate tends to stick to the bottom of a regular presser foot. There are Teflon-coated sewing machine feet to alleviate this stickage, but an easier (and much cheaper) solution is to add a small strip or two of Scotch “Magic” tape to the bottom of the foot. Use the “Magic” tape which is slightly opaque, not the purely clear stuff. I have also heard good things about using a walking foot, but because there are zippers involved that doesn’t really work well for this project.

Throughout the pattern, I use “right” and “left” to mean the right or left hand side of a piece of fabric. Additionally I use “RIGHT” and “WRONG” to describe the printed front or back of a fabric.

Instructions

Cutting:

        2 – 8 ½ inch circles from the outer fabric (outer top and bottom)

        2 – 8 ½ inch circles from the inner fabric (inner top and bottom)

       1 – 2 ½ x 9 inch rectangle from the outer fabric (handle)

       1 – 2 ½ x 9 inch rectangle from the interfacing (handle)

       1 – 2 x 23 inch rectangle from the outer fabric (outer top sides)

       1 – 2 x 23 inch rectangle from the inner fabric (inner top sides)

       1 – 4 ½ x 23 inch rectangle from the outer fabric (outer bottom sides)

       1 – 4 ½ x 23 inch rectangle from the inner fabric (inner bottom sides)

       1 – 6 x 6 inch square from the outer fabric (outer back)

      1 – 6 x 6 inch square from the inner fabric (inner back)

      1 – 9 x 9 inch square from the clear vinyl (inner top zippered pocket)

      1 – 3 ½ x 32 inch rectangle from the clear vinyl (inner side pockets)

Handle:

Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric for the handle. Along its length, fold the handle in half RIGHT sides together and stitch ¼ inch from the raw edge along the long edge. Turn right side out and position the seam in the center of one side of the handler. Press.

Top stitch very close to (about ⅛ inch, but I eyeball it) each edge of the handle.

Top and Bottom:

Center the handle on the RIGHT side of one of the circles from the outer fabric. Place the handle seamed side down. Baste each end of the handle in place. This is the outer top piece.

Pin the piping around both the top and bottom outer circles as shown. Baste. Using a zipper foot for this step is remarkably helpful.

Baste the inner top and bottom circles to the outer top and bottom circles WRONG sides together.

Inner Zippered Pocket:

Lay the top piece inner side up and place the 9 inch square of clear vinyl over it. (The top piece is merely for visual aid for now. Do not sew the top piece to the clear vinyl yet!) Position the 9 inch zipper on top of the clear vinyl and circle in a placement that pleases you. I put mine about 3.5 inches from the top of the square.

Mark a line on the clear vinyl square where the CENTER of the zipper is. (Or get crazy and wing it!) Cut along this line.

Cut two pieces of bias tape to 10 inches. Along the inner edges that you just cut on the vinyl baste one of these pieces of bias tape. See photo.

Place the zipper right side up in front of you with the zipper pull on the left. Pin the basted bias tape edge of the inner top pocket to the zipper RIGHT side up. Top stitch through the bias tape and zipper.

Position the zippered pocket on the inner side of the top circle RIGHT SIDE UP with the handle and zipper parallel to one another.

Baste the (square) zipper pocket to the top circle close to the edges. Be sure your zipper pull is open about ½ way. (Not that I know from first hand experience how annoying it is to pick basting stitches out of vinyl and vinyl covered fabric!…)

Trim away the excess vinyl from the top.

Yay! The top and bottoms of the bags are done. Set them aside and let’s make the sides of the bag.

Sides:

Lay the 4.5 inch outer rectangle RIGHT side up in front of you. If you’re using a directional fabric, be sure the pattern is “upside down” in front of you. Place the 22 inch zipper face down with the pull on the left at the “top” (the edge furthest from you) of the outer rectangle.

Place the inner fabric rectangle of the same size WRONG side up on top of the zipper lining up the edges with the outer fabric. Also check the direction of the print if applicable. It should be upside down as well. (Not that I would know anything about picking upside down fabric out either! Ahem…)

Pin through all three layers. Sew ¼ inch in from the edge of the zipper using a zipper foot.

Fold the fabrics back so they are now RIGHT sides out and top stitch close to the seam on the outside of the side.

Now take the outer top rectangle and lay it out in front of you RIGHT side up (directional prints upside down!). Put the zipper face down with the exposed edge of zipper lining up with the top of the outer top rectangle. Place the inner top side rectangle on the stack RIGHT side down (check the print direction is upside down). Pin, and stitch about ¼ inch along the zipper edge.

Again, fold the pieces back, press and topstitch. Your side is done!

Inner Pockets:

Sew bias tape along one long edge of the inner pockets rectangle.

Fold the outside bottom side up and out of the way. “Pin” this rectangle to the inner bottom side about ½ inch from the bottom using paper clips. This piece is quite a bit longer than the bottom side, so evenly distribute the length along the inner side.

Sew a straight line at each paper clip to create the side pockets. Don’t forget to back-tack a bit. Leave the ends free.

Back:

This is the easiest part to make! Take the outer back piece and fold two edges under (to the wrong side) and press. I pressed about ½ inch on either side under to give myself some wiggle room. Do the same with the inner back piece taking care that both pieces come out to very near the same width.

That’s it for the back for now!

Assembly:

Pin the bottom circle and the side OUTER fabrics together. The sides won’t reach all the way around the circle, If you care which part is the back of the bag, leave the gap there.

Using your zipper foot sew around the sides as close to the piping as possible leaving a couple of inches or so on either end free. Turn the bag out and inspect the piping. Make adjustments to your seam allowance if necessary. Turn the bag back inside out.

Center one of the raw edges of the outer back piece over the remaining edge of the bottom circle. Baste.

Pin the loose ends of the zippered sides to the edge of the bottom circle overlapping the back piece you just basted down. At this point, you can trim the excess from the sides, I overlapped the back piece about ½ inch on either side. Just be careful to make sure your zipper pull doesn’t get trimmed off!! Baste the ends down to the bottom circle.

Baste the ends of the inner vinyl pockets to the ends of the zippered piece. This will make the next steps easier.

Take the inner back piece and place it over the outer back piece WRONG sides together lining up the seam allowances. Pin to the bottom circle and sew through all the layers.

The ends of the side should be sandwiched between both back pieces now. Line the sides and the two back pieces up as straight as possible. It might help to baste the ends of each side (including the inner pocket vinyl) together inside the seam allowance first. After you have it lined up and secured, top stitch along the edges of the back pieces from the outer side of the bag.

Unzip the zipper about ½ way.

Pin the top to the body of the bag OUTSIDES together. Make sure that the zipper and handle are oriented as desired. Stitch around the circle about ⅜ or as close to the piping as possible.

Turn the bag out through the open zipper and admire your new bag! The only step left is to hide those raw seams on the inside. Turn the back inside out again.

Trim the seam allowances to a scant ¼ inch around the top and bottom. Be careful not to cut any important stitches. I wouldn’t know anything about that either. Just sayin’.

Pin the bias tape around the trimmed seam allowances if desired. Honestly,it’s much easier for me to just hold it and go a few inches at a time. I don’t tend to poke myself nearly as often. Your bias tape should have one side slightly wider than the other. Top stitch the bias tape to the seam allowance near the edge of the narrower side.