Weekend-Away Travel Bag Pattern Review

Last summer, my sweet sister-in-law bought me a copy of "Weekend Sewing", by Heather Ross.  I drooled and daydreamed over the projects, but have never found the time for a new project.  Now that Christmas is getting closer, I decided to sew the Weekend Away Travel Bag and fill it with goodies from Bath & Body as a gift.   Yes, yes, I know that it doesn't look very Christmasy, but I couldn't resist these fabrics that I found on sale at JoAnn's.  It turned out pretty cute and my daughter and I found turquoise lotion and soap to match. 

 For the most part, this bag went together quite well.  One correction that needs to be mentioned is the measurements for the optional inner pockets.  The instructions call for a 12" x 9.25" panel to be cut out, but this will result in very small pockets.  I cut out a 12" x 12" panel and it worked great.

 One change that I also made was to use heavyweight fusible interfacing on the outer pieces.  I wanted to make sure that the bag was sturdy, since I was not using home decor fabric as was recomended in the book.

Sewing around the corners when the bag body is added to the zipper was a little frustrating.  Patience will pay off as you near this last step.  I also found that the corners were easier if I first sewed all the straight edges first, then went back and completed the corners.  Just be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam.

While the projects listed in the book are very inspiring. The book is quite known for its errors. Instructional errors as well as fitting errors can be found in almost every pattern. For a list of corrections, please see this blog. With this in mind alone, a beginner seamstress should beware.