Easy Pattern For Beginners: The Holland Duffle Bag
Y’all, I made something that wasn’t a quilt… and I love it! I’ve been wanting to make a duffle bag for each of my kids to take when they stay over with family or friends, but was intimidated for the longest time. There were a few new materials I hadn’t used before so I kept putting it off, but I’m happy to say it wasn’t hard at all and I’m ready to tackle another one and some coordinating pouches to go with them!
I followed the Holland Duffle Bag pattern by Center Street Quilts because I’d heard it was great for beginner bag makers. I can confirm it was very well written and easy to follow, so I highly recommend! Functionally, it holds enough for a weekend stay and has two pockets on the outside, one zippered and one open. Plus all the seams inside are finished with binding so it’ll hold up well to lot of use and washes.
I made this bag for my daughter, and since she’s more opinionated about what she likes, I had her come into the studio and show me her three favorite fabrics on the shelves. I was pleasantly surprised she chose a Sunday Meadow print with a teal and pink color scheme. I was expecting something a little more wild or with all pink, ha! She also picked the lining which coordinated perfectly and I suggested the mint stripe for accent fabric. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with a stripe, especially when it’s being used for handles and binding!
After picking fabric, the first step is to layer the main fabric and lining fabric between Soft and Stable or batting and quilt the panel however you choose. I decided to try the Soft and Stable and quilted diagonal lines 1.5″ apart. The Soft and Stable was one of the new to me materials but quilting it up was super easy, just like a normal quilt sandwich, and it’s such a cool product. If you’ve never used it before, it’s a thin piece of foam used in place of batting. It’s perfect for bag making because the foam allows the bag to keep its shape even when it’s empty.
Installing the zippers was another step I was a little worried about since I don’t use them often but it was very simple and looks so professional with the binding sewn to them. I opted to purchase zipper tape, instead of the two zipper sizes called for because a whole roll of zipper tape was the same price. You just cut it to the size needed and thread the pull on. This particular tape was very easy to thread, came in a pretty gold and white color combo and arrived with 25 pulls, so plenty of extras for all the future bags I want to make!
Some additional supplies needed are fabric stabilizer for the tabs and webbing for the handles. The stabilizer does exactly what it sounds like and makes the tabs more stable. It’s easy to iron onto your fabric and sew over. The webbing in the handles also adds a bit of padding and strength to the handles. I hadn’t used it before but the pattern shows you how to easily get it into the handles and it looks so good when it’s finished. I also opted to add a longer, removable strap so I added 1.5″ gold d-rings to the tabs and purchased hardware for the adjustable strap. This will allow my daughter to carry it with a single, longer strap if she wants.
I’m so happy to report that the duffle bag has already been used a few times and my daughter loves it! I am excited to get started on one for my son and think it’ll be fun to pick some more masculine fabrics. I’m thinking some chambray and rust colored straps or something plaid. Then I’ll have to get started on all the packing accessories!
Have you made a duffle bag before? Which pattern did you follow? I’ve seen a few others out there that look great too so share what you’ve done! Lastly, I put together a little kit of the fabrics I used on this duffle so if you love what my daughter chose as much as I do, you can make one too. Until next time, happy creating!
