Ever since I made four more Noodlehead Cargo Duffles at Christmas last year I’ve been wanting to make some for my girls. They would be perfect for overnight stays at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. And how cute would it be to go on vacation with some too! I’ve recently been looking for the pattern yardage information and it reminded me that I meant to post this yardage-saving information earlier this year. Oops.
Moving on! When planning to make my family their Cargo Duffles, I wanted to do it as cost effectively as possible. When all the pieces were laid out, I noticed that the Cargo Duffle pattern yardage can be reduced quite a bit if you are careful! Of course, if you like having extra fabric around, Anna’s suggestions are just fine – and leave you room for error. Always a good way to go!
If you are looking to save fabric and use up some smaller cuts, the cutting layouts below work great and save you an entire yard of fabric. I would recommend that you are VERY careful when using the Exterior Main cutting layout (see below). It fits absolutely perfectly into a 1/2 yard cut. This leaves no room for error, or pre-washing/shrinking even! Make sure that whoever cuts your yardage is precise – and that the print is on-grain or not obvious – so if it is not straight it won’t look wrong when you make the bag.
Note: These cutting layouts do not include measurements. These are available in the free Cargo Duffle Pattern by Anna from Noodlehead. All other measurements in the pattern should be used as they are noted in the original Cargo Duffle Pattern. These layouts do not include the binding and canvas, interfacing etc.
Hope it helps! Let me know if you have any questions. One day I’ll make some for my girls… (I hope!)
Have you made an Overnight-Style Bag before? What is your favorite one?
Other useful Cargo Duffle related posts I’ve written are here:
- How to Alter a Zipper so the sliders meet in the middle
- Add a zipper pocket (you will need to change the width to fit the backpack)
- The original Cargo Duffle
- Four Cargo Duffles!
I have made quite a few of these myself…it’s my favorite overnight bag and is always well received. I’m a stickler for saving yardage and always cut according the size pieces I need and hardly ever follow a patterns layout (even with commercial clothing patterns). I just make sure the grain, print and nap are the right direction and it usually saves quite a bit! 🙂 oooh, and I think the next one I make will have the zipper pocket! I’ve always meant to try a zipper pocket instead of the two flap pockets but just haven’t wanted to sit and figure it out…so thank you for that little tutorial! 🙂
Such a good idea Patricia! It really pays (saves!) to know your grain/print/nap! So glad you like the zip pocket. It’s so much simpler than the other one! 🙂
I love the bound seams in this bag – it makes a lovely change from sewing a lined bag. I really fancy sewing one up (especially with your frugal layout suggestions!), I just need a reason to sew another new bag!
I’m so glad Eluned! I love them too. It looks so nicely finished 🙂 It’s pretty quick once you start!
this helps such a lot!
Thank you very much, Sherri.
On my way looking for a Log Cabin Quilt Blog tuto for dummies I stumbled over your post.
Maybe because I also watched out for help with this cargo duffle a while ago…
As an European (& non-native-English) I seem to be at war with inches.
I couldn’t really come together with the pattern & thought I’d do something wrong if I’d have so much fabric left.
Your layout comes in so handy & is very appreciated!
Plus- just two days before I was finally able to get my hands on a inches-measuring-tape & hope, things will be better now….
Happy Christmas-time all the way to Canada
🙂
Nele
Hooray Nele! I’m glad it helps! Hope your Log Cabin Quilt Block went well – I would love to make a scrappy Log Cabin quilt! I hope you sort out the inches – I usually use Google to do the conversions for me and write it out on a printed version of the pattern. I prefer inches to centimeters – and many European patterns are in cm. 🙂