In late November, my talked to my sister, who lives in Mt. Pleasant, SC, about my flying over to spend a few days with her as soon as I was done with my final Christmas show. She told me about her plans, and who all would be coming to visit her, and the fact that her granddaughter, Casey—whose family started the move of the extended family to South Carolina—and her two young daughters would be flying to Boston to visit friends from their time living there before the move. She also mentioned that this would be the first airplane rise for the little girls. Of course my sewist’s brain started whirling.
Note: The colors in these photos are not true to the color of the fabrics. You might look online at Etsy or google the fabric names to see truer colors done with by a more practiced photographer!
I’ve made several of designer Sara Lawson’s Sew Sweetness Vacation Packing Cubes, from her Minikins 2 collection, for myself and my younger granddaughter. I love these cubes and use them each time I travel. For the cruises we love, I put undies and PJs in the small size, t-shirts in the medium size, and pants in the large size. I have the Tetris game of fitting those three cubes into my check-in bag, along with shoes and toiletries, down to a science. Wouldn’t these make sweet little bags for these sweet little girls?
When fabric designer Tula Pink’s “Evergreen” collection was announced in Spring 2023, I immediately ordered a set of fat quarters to use for bagmaking. I thought those prints would be wonderful for Harper and Taylor. My sister told me Harper like pale turquoise and Taylor likes yellow. So I flipped through this pack of fabrics and chose the print “My Hippos Don’t Lie” in the colorway Spirit for the exterior and Tula’s “Tent Stripe” in Spirit Green lining. I had purchased some matching zippers and chose the turquoise with black teeth, and the turquoise mash fabric from ByAnnie for the front panel that zips open.
For the first time in many years, I printed labels on my HP inkjet printer. The labels said, “Commemorating Harper’s First Airplane Ride, Decdember 2023, With love from Great-Auntie Jan” and “Commemorating Taylor’s …”. Harper’s label was on a piece of the exterior fabric. Taylor’s was on a cream colored quilting weight fabric.
None of the fabrics in the collection had much yellow in them, so I chose the lion print, “Good Hair Day” in colorway Lunar Orange for the exterior of Taylor’s bag. There was a little yellow in the print, and I hoped that would be enough for her to love the bag. The lining was Tula’s “Neon Tent Stripe” in color Nova. I used the exterior fabric for the handle on Taylor’s bag. I see these pictures don’t show the handle. I had to look back at the pictures Casey sent me from the airport to see Tay holding the bag by the handle.
I’m pretty sure the little girls didn’t pack their own suitcases. So they used the Packing Cubes as any youngsters would: They packed their favorite stuffed animals to take along on the flight.
I shipped the package to my sister’s house. She took it to their home for Christmas eve dinner. I’m told the girls loved them.
Ready to board. Casey told me the counter agent complimented the girls on their bags. #happyauntie
