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If you like creative stitching projects that can be made in an evening or less you're in for a treat. In this series of Sewing with Nancy learn how to quickly stitch travel gear for everyday travel or extended trips. Mary Mulari knows all about travel but even more about making travel easy. Welcome back to Sewing with Nancy. Thanks, Nancy. I'm glad to be back for this 46th program with you. I'm glad you're keeping track! One of my favorite gifts to make is the travel trio bag set. The compatible bags are sized right to carry electronic components, jewelry, and makeup. "Travel Gear Made Easy" that's what's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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Baby Lock, a complete line of sewing, quilting, and embroidery machines and sergers. Baby Lock, for the love of sewing. Madeira, specializing in embroidery, quilting, and special effect threads because creativity is never black and white. Koala Studios fine sewing furniture custom-built in America. Clover making a difference in sewing, quilting, crafting, and needle arts for over 90 years. Fuller Brush Vacuums, dedicated to keeping homes clean. Fuller Brush Vacuums. Amazing Designs and Klass needles. I think many of you have seen a trio of bags such as this wrapped up with beautiful bows in department stores with a hefty price tag. Mary, these bags are just really clever with the zipper sunken inside. That's the trick that we're going to share with our viewers and also the sizes. The three unique sizes that you have. That's right, we're working with the middle size using a nine-inch zipper but it's an 11" wide bag. You're going to cut two layers of fabric and add interfacing to both. That's right. This is lightweight fabric, so interfacing. Fun colors together. Then we do a little serging. Or zigzagging. Or zigzagging, to clean up the sides. Then we fold our bag in half. This is easy. These are easy steps. We're going to sew the side seams then we're going to form our box corner. On this size, we're going to sew a two-inch line across that triangle point of the bag corner. You'll measure two inches and presto, we have one measured and stitched. That's right. Then you get that nice gusset formed. That's it. It gives the bag some nice shaping. Then, it's zipper time! I would cut three-inch bands of fabric. They're as wide as the bag which in this case is 11". Then I would fold each in half, so they're 1-1/2". I'm going to work with the folded edges of the fabric. My zipper has already been marked, Nancy. It's way too long. I really like that, because I like to cut them smaller. That way, there's never a problem. You can see I've sewn a little patch on here. Next, I can just cut all of this extra away. But I'm going to place the folded edges of the fabric along the zipper tape. I'm going to turn back and pin the tape in place at the top of the zipper. I'll just tack it down so everyone can see that you just want to get the zipper tape hidden. You fold it to the front, lay it over and stitch. Yes, each of the sides of the zipper would be sewn. Again, we use the left needle position. Here's the magical one, all done. There's that short, narrow end. This is where the shaping takes place at the end of the zipper. We're going to virtually sew right now. We're going to taper a seam from about a 1/4" in from the bottom of this from the raw edges up to where the zipper begins. Okay, let's go over that again 1/4" from the bottom, tapered up like a dart. That's right. You're going to pin this inside the bag. I have right sides together the right side of the zipper tape and the right side of the bag. What happens-- it fits in here, but because of that shape-- Right, there's a little triangle of fabric that sticks up. We're going to just let that happen and pin it in place. Then of course, sewing generally, all these seams are 1/4". There, we've sewn the one corner down. We've just sewn half of it right now. I'm just going to turn this right side out. Then what happens is that this tucks in. That's right, you would cut away some of the seam allowance and the bulk. Then we topstitch at the end to hold the zipper unit inside the bag. So that shaping of the zipper sinks the tab area down in place. And ta-dah, it's done! You can make these in three sizes. I like how you've added a pull-tab on the side. It just makes it easier to open and in this instance, to close. We can make these in a trio of sizes that are convenient for travel and especially for gift giving. You can always find your luggage with this brightly colored tag. Choose two coordinating fabrics and a piece of clear vinyl to hold your identification info or business card. It's one of my very favorite "Travel Gear Made Easy" projects. Well, when I saw Mary's princess travel case I was a little envious. It's a great bag, Nancy. It's lots of fun. This is vintage 1960-ish. Right, when we were both babies! That's right, absolutely! This program is called "Travel Gear Made Easy" because these are very usable. They can be feminine or they also can be made masculine with two different colors of fabric. As Mary has designed it has this clear vinyl as an identification piece. We're not doing a lot of sewing at the machine today. That's right, these are all straight seams, very easy. That's why the topic is "Travel Gear." This project, roughly give the dimensions. Two strips that are 3-1/2" x 22". So, from a yard of fabric, the width you can probably get two. We're basically going to sew these together with right sides of fabric meeting. But we're going to add this extra feature which is an extra tab of fabric sewn to the end of one. What this accomplishes is to hide a portion of the identification so someone can't see all of your information. Sure, very smart, you then just make a sandwich. That's right, it goes between the two right sides of the fabric. We now have, after sewing these and pulling them to the right side out-- You want to leave an opening maybe four to five inches apart long enough to turn this right side out. Right, and here we have that pocket. Then, on the other side, a bright pink fabric. These really can be so personalized. The identification holder is clear vinyl. Right, we're going to add this piece over the top. We sew, of course, with our Teflon presser foot but we'd like to not put as many pinholes in it so we're going to use these clips to hold the vinyl in place while we're stitching at the machine. Here, I'm sewing around the edge. In about 45 minutes, or less you can make a great travel tie-on tag. As a smart traveler, you'll find multiple uses for this round drawstring bag. With the pocket divided circular insert the bag becomes a jewelry carrier. As a simple lined and washable bag it can be used to carry dry snacks and treats on the plane or in a lunchbox saving on the use of plastic bags. In other words, it's a jewels and treats bag. When you take a look at these bags you'll find that there are three different circle shapes that you could be creating or sewing. They're fun to put together. That's right. This first one is a smaller size, 12" circle. It's the treats bag so you can see our treats inside. If you'd rather carry jewelry in your bag we have this version, which is a 14" circle. You can see the divider pockets that we use for jewelry. Yes, it's like a spoke on a wheel, or a wagon wheel that we'll show you how to create. So, it's circles. We have a 12" circle that we made on some fabric. I like to draw the circle first. I have the circle maker set, so I can just draw a circle. I lost my pen, here we go. You cut two layers. That's right. I don't use any interfacing for this project, Nancy. Nor do you leave an opening. That's right. You just sew all the way around. This is where we do a little creative cutting. On what will be the inside layer of the bag, I find the center. I'm going to make a cut of maybe two inches, or so. You try to be careful so you don't cut through both layers. Okay! Then, the next task is to turn this out to the right side pulling the fabric through your opening. The opening gets a little ragged looking but we're going to cover that up anyway so it won't be a problem. This takes a little bit of pulling. We end up with a circle that has nice neat edges. You can trim the edges, too as I did on the bag, with rick rack. That's another option that you'd do before you sew the layers together. Okay, you might want to get this hole that you're going to cover up. Are you worried about it?

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Then you press it so that you have a nice, round shape. We're not going to get that all pressed right now but you get the general idea how you kind of roll it and press. To make a jewelry carrier, you make a mesh circle. This is a smaller circle. That's right. That is turned to the right side in the same way with a hole cut in the center. It's placed in the center, as we have on this example. You can possibly see the hole that's cut. Mary, you've stitched along. You wouldn't have to do it with this contrast but you can see where the pockets are placed. We use the mesh so we can see what's in the pocket. Then make a smaller circle, about three inches. Then we cover it all. That's right. Now I'm not worried anymore. Good. This is where we differ in our opinions of how to do sewing. We have to make a casing for our bag. Here, with my contrasting stitches you can see how there are two rows of stitching 3/4" apart, and that builds the casing. Then you cut a buttonhole. I would sew one before I'd sew this but Mary cuts it! I might be a little lazier than you are, Nancy. No, it works out fine! Then you put the drawcord through the area. After you put the drawcord in and you could use a bodkin or a double pointed needle thread it through. In the first program, we did lots of this threading. And you have a jewels and treat bag. Next, the possibility bag. It's possible to store travel sized bottles upright for ease during travel. Turn a placemat or layers of fabric into this nifty holder. Make the bags for guys or gals. It's a versatile style. Well, we have stripes. Ideal for this project, a striped placemat. Or you can use fabrics. You've got your husband's initials on there. Mary, show us how we proceed. We'll use a standard placemat, and this is a nice colorful one. We determined what side we want on the outside. The other detail I add at the very beginning is loops. These loops will hold the bottles in place. I use ponytail elastic, or a headband. They're placed about 4-1/2" down from the top edge. When it's finished obviously these will hold the bottles in place. It doesn't take too much to figure that out, right? Right! Then after doing this, then you're ready to start making the zipper unit. It's another easy technique with zippers. Mary has mastered ease of working with zippers. You like to work with zippers that are longer. It's always easier, Nancy because then you can get the zipper heads out of the way. Our first step is to cut 1-1/2" strips of the fabric that are as least as long as the placemat. Then we'll fold those in half and press them. Place the cut edges of the fabric to the edge of the zipper tape. I'm going to pin from the right side because you're going to sew from the right side. That's right. There, you can run the zipper teeth against the edge of the presser foot as a guide. The close-up is showing you how that's done. Let the needle run right along the side. The needle is in the left position. After you have that zipper unit made you place it, as you have done, on your sample. Here, it's sewn to one edge of the placemat. I used a zigzag stitch. Just overlapped it. Now, with this long zipper we can actually open it a great distance and then we can pin the other portion of this fabric strip to the other side of the placemat. Once again, when that zipper is too long it's just so much easier to work with. You can cut it off later but right now, it's working to your advantage. That's right. You turn this inside out with wrong sides together. You sew it with the zipper centered on each end. You might want to bar tack across the teeth when you have to cut that off. The other thing in here, too, Nancy, is the handle. The ends of the handle are here so you can carry this. They're grabber tabs, I call them, also. Then to shape it this is where the shaping comes in. Right, we're going to fold out our corners to get them to form into a V, or a triangle. I have pins back here that mark the fold. We're going to try to align those and center this. Then we make a line. We sew across a line that's 5" across. So, rather than making this difficult we'll just turn it over. Okay! And there, it's sewn 5" across. Here, let's do this. This is only half of it, but you can see what those two gussets bring. I generally cut off some of the excess and either zigzag or serge the edges inside. Lots of different possibilities to carry in this bag. Travel in style with a flat iron in a quick-to-sew carrier made from a placemat. The bag's lining is Teflon so a hot iron can be stashed quickly after use. An outer pocket stores the cord or hairbrush and the ribbon loop serves as a hanger. This great organizer will streamline your travels. These certainly are made-easy travel gifts. This is a placemat. This one is made out of fabric. Here's a placemat Mary, let's show that first. This is the standard placemat we start with. When I move this aside you'll see how we cut the placemat apart. We're going to discard this center piece. We're going to use this as the main body of our iron holder. We're going to form a pocket here from this section. The pocket dimensions are given in today's reference material. About 6" and then 12". This pocket, we're going to get rid of some of the excess, actually, in doing this. But I'm going to pin this piece in place. Then we take it to the sewing machine and sew around the edges. Here are three of the four edges sewn. Obviously, you need a pocket so one side has to be left open. Then you can see we have the Teflon fabric underneath. This is the quilted variety. There's also the non-quilted variety, which works well. That's sewn on at the top of the placemat section. Just overlapped. That's right. Then you flip it over, and attach it at the bottom. Then we fold this in half to sew the side seam. After you sew the side seam, the hardest part of this project is turning it right side out because it's small. It's just a little awkward, but it will work. We did it in advance, so you didn't see that! There's one opening left on the lower edge. Zip! Close it up. That's right. Details are all that's added to the bag. A ribbon loop. If you'd like a button, you could do so. You can easily see how you could use regular fabric. Mary gives those details in the book that accompanies the program. A very easy travel item, and a very useful one, as well. We'd like to share a secret. You're looking at a safe! Hanging underneath the jacket is a "tee safe" a t-shirt with pocket sections sewn in the back. It's a made-easy hiding place to use while traveling or for college students to use in a dorm. This is an unconventional sewing travel gift idea but this is a shirt you'll no longer wear. It looks just like a normal t-shirt, Nancy. But when we turn it to the backside it's pretty obvious that it's had some additions and some cuttings. Pockets and a back lining. Not a lot of sewing, just some pocket stitches. You need to prepare the t-shirt a little bit first and that is by adding the lines and sizes of pockets we want to stitch. I used interfacing, and I add a piece of fabric. That fabric is attached when the lines are sewn in place. Sure, you'd sew all the way around. Then do some creative cutting. It's about 1/2" below the stitching line of the form that you stitch. It's not finished, this is just purely to make a convenient area of pockets as you can see here, to put whatever incidentals you may want to hide in this area. As we had earlier, just cover it with a jacket a coat, or a sweater on a hanger even fold it up in a drawer. Someone would never know what you have hiding in this area. Our fastest "Travel Gear Made Easy" but a very practical one. Ingenuity never ceases to amaze me. Today's Nancy's Corner guest republished a book from the past plans quilting tours from the present and uses the proceeds from both to donate to organizations that feed hungry children. Please welcome Judy Howard, of Heavenly Patchwork who will tell us the fascinating story of Food for Body and Soul. Judy joins us via Skype, from Oklahoma City and her quilt shop Buckboard Quilts. Welcome to Sewing with Nancy, Judy. Thank you so much, Nancy, for having me. You have a fascinating story. The story we're going to pick up today started with republishing a cookbook from 1905 and putting recipes in here. The recipes are fun. They are, they're hilarious but very tantalizing and usable. I did find a 1905 cookbook at the flea market that said it was compiled by the ladies of the Christian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. So I researched all the ladies and found out they were all pioneer '89ers who left family and friends and comforts of first homes to homestead a barren and hostile landscape in the Indian Territory. Within several months, they had established the Ladies Aid Society that met weekly at the Christian Church basement and quilted tops for $25 each. When a tornado, or flood, or fire raged through they quickly assembled dropped everything they were doing and tied four dozen comforters for those families providing food and making pies for bake sales. They truly exemplified the Golden Rule of do onto others as you would have them do onto you. So often on Sewing with Nancy we tell about organizations that give away quilts or blankets, and so forth, to needy organizations. This is nothing new, right? No! In the cookbook, you give these interesting stories but then you're paying this forward. The proceeds go to feed hungry children. Tell our viewers about the Food for Body and Soul touring quilt show that you have. When I found out that one in four children go to bed hungry every night God nudged me to benefit and take all the proceeds from the sale of the cookbook, and also to hold a 22-inch Food for Body and Soul quilt contest to actually tour for four years. All proceeds from the $100 rental fees would also feed needy children. This is kind of why I invited you on because this is where Sewing with Nancy viewers can participate. Anyone can contribute a quilt, and it's not very large. It's more of a wall hanging. That's right, just a big quilt square! It can be appliqu or pieced or traditional, pictorial, contemporary. The theme, of course, is anything food related, whether ethnic food from your past, favorite holidays. It could be grandma's picture with her favorite recipe, or anything that is your passion what feeds your soul, whether it be sewing, quilting or grand kids, travel, you name it. It's a broad range of a subject matter. It could be anything. It could even be biblical, like Jesus said, "I am the bread, and the true vine." It could be Adam and Eve and the apple. So, go for it, anything goes. You can even paint it on canvas and textiles. I will accept any size, also, from full size to even smaller. We have some interesting photos of the quilts on display and how they are viewed and some close-ups. No matter what your talent is, or what your interest is a 22" x 22" square of a quilted piece of fabric can really make a difference. Oh, it can. We already have 250 entries you can see on HeavenlyPatchwork.com and kind of get some ideas. Many of them were donated so they are available to feed the children. They make great gifts, or even gift certificates. Sure. I'm just going to go back to this cute little cookbook for a minute because there was a page in here that you pointed out to me the other day that really hit home, because there were ads. You also included the ads from old cookbooks. There's one for chocolate. Since that has to be one of my weaknesses it says it's the perfect food highly nutritious, easily digested, and fitted to repair wasted strength. So, I think you've given all of us an importance to quilt and to eat chocolate! Oh, absolutely! We have an excuse now! Well, I thank you, Judy, for joining us from your quilt shop and for publishing this book and for doing tours of quilt shows to help others and especially help children. Thank you for being with us. My pleasure. Thank you so much for allowing me to share. You're welcome. Well, this wraps up our two-part series on "Travel Gear Made Easy" with our most frequent guest on Sewing with Nancy Mary Mulari. So, special thanks to Mary Mulari for being with us. If you'd like to find out more about Sewing with Nancy re-watch the show or any other show on Sewing with Nancy go to NancyZieman.com and you can watch 52 of the most recent shows. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now. Mary Mulari has written a fully-illustrated book entitled "Travel Gear Made Easy" that serves as the reference for this two-part series. It's $14.99, plus shipping and handling. To order the book, call 1-800-336-8373.

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sewingwithnancy.com/2612 Order item number MP42, "Travel Gear Made Easy." Credit card orders only. To pay by check or money order call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's website at NancyZieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program

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Baby Lock, Madeira threads, Koala Studios, Clover, Fuller Brush Vacuums, Amazing Designs, and Klass Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Riley Blake Designs. Sewing with Nancy is a co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.