We’ve designated November as National Sewing With Nancy Month! The reason? It’s our 30th year on TV. (Later this month you’ll get to view online our 30th anniversary special.)
The best way to kick off National Sewing WIth Nancy Month is to feature my most frequent guest, Mary Mulari. Over 30 years ago, I met Mary Mulari at a seminar that I was presenting in Minnesota. Shortly after our first meeting, she introduced me to her decorated sweatshirt patterns—a novel idea in 1980! Since then, she’s become an annual guest on Sewing With Nancy and more importantly, a loyal friend.
In April, Mary traveled to our offices to prepare for taping the TV series, Travel Gear Made Easy. Even though we’ve plan the scripts far in advance, it is always great to see the projects up close during the planning day. In the photo, Mary is giving Donna Fenske a preview of the finished projects.
After the review, we start fine tuning the scripts and decide if any additional samples are needed. Notice the trays! Each technique or project has a tray or bin designated for the step-by-step samples.
The projects that you see sprawled across the table became the 2-part Sewing With Nancy series, Travel Gear Made Easy. Mary has a knack of designing clever, yet useful travel accessories. She compiled them together in her newest book.
The Roll-Up Travel Blanket is the first project in program one. Start with 1-1/3 yd. fleece fabric and fun cotton fabric prints. Mary shares step-by-step how to add zipper pockets to hold travel documents, music players, earplugs, and more.
While you’re using the blanket as a coverup during a nap, store eyeglasses, a book, and more in the back zipper pocket.
Roll up the blanket and use as a neck pillow and loop over a luggage extension handle. It’s handy and lightweight.
In the TV show and book, Mary even shows how to create the Easy as 1-2-3 Zipper Pulls by combining small pieces of fabric with ponytail elastics to create user-friendly zipper pulls—it’s really as easy as 1-2-3.
Check out Mary’s ponytail elastics stash!
Mary’s clever Reminder Tags prompt you to fill your car with gas or to purchase milk. Wrap them on your car’s steering wheel and avoid being stranded on the side of the road with an empty gas tank. — Don’t ask me how I know this!
Don’t forget the milk! 
Mary’s also designed a new embroidery design collection to coordinate with her Travel Gear Made Easy book projects. Make the travel accessories from the book and add designs from the Travel Gear Made Easy Complete Design Collection to personalize and embellish your creations.
There’s over 30 embroidery designs, alphabet for monograms, and three unique travel gear projects not included in the book. 
Find even more projects in part one of the TV show and in the book including Mary’s Fold-Up Tote, Supply Side Pouch, and Gathering Place Tray – what great gifts to make and give or keep!
Watch on your local PBS Station or online at nancyzieman.com
There are 52 programs to watch online, on PBS or on your iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone.
Would you like to win a copy of Travel Gear Made Easy? Let me know your favorite travel gear project. We’ll choose a random winner from the comments from this week and next weeks Travel Gear Made Easy blog postings. The random winner will be announced on November 15.
Thanks for posting your favorite quilt design or whatever interesting tidbit you learned from the previous two weeks from the 2-part series of Quilts from the House of Tula Pink. The random winner is Kathy. Here is her comment:
I love the Stacks quilt. It really does remind me of the pile of books, etc that always seems to accumulate on the bench at the foot of my bed.
Bye for now,
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I would like to order the book Travel Gear Made Easy so could you please give a Phone number to call. Thanks.
My Phone- 780-434-4437
Here you go: 1-800-833-0690
Roll up blanket is the best idea. I do travel quite a bit and would find this very handy.
My favorite travel gear is my curling iron holder. Can put it in there hot and it does not affect anything else in my suitcase. Also the bright colored ribbon tied to the handle of my suitcase makes it easy to find on the carousel when I pick up my bag.
We are traveling to Hawaii these travel projects are great. I am going to make them
I am going on a cruise with my in-laws in march and I can’t wait to make us some travel organizers. I love the fold up tote, the trays, the luggage tags, and of course the blanket. But what I Learned the most is that I need the measuring tool they used. That’s a pretty handy dandy thing. Gotta get one of those. It made zipper, Velcro,and button placement pretty easy. Also helped with all of those boxed corners.
Love them all! I could use a design for my CPAP machine – heavy and has to be opened at airport – throws luggage off balance if I try to hang it from the luggage extension handle. And I knew someone who used to staple note onto her purse handles. Those reminder tags are much better!
Love the travel blanket! Perfect for my Grandson, and he can put toys in the pocket! Love Mary’s patterns!
I really-really love the travel roll-up blanket concept!
I love the idea of the blanket/pillow. The airplane can be quite chilly at times.
I love the fold-up tote. My mom was just asking last week for me to make her one. I guess that will be my next project.
Nancy, I don’t know where to begin. Meaning I would
like to try it all. These would make wonderful Christmas gifts. The saddle bags, the travel blanket, luggage tags.
Thank you for all you do.
Love the roll-up blanket with pockets! No need to worry about your belongings if you fall asleep, either. And, just in time for Christmas sewing, too!
I could see myself making all of the projects both for personal use and for gifts.
I love the luggage tags that wrap around your suitcase handles to help with iding “another black bag” at the airport. The saddlebag is also great!
I love the Reminder Tags! I live in the country, so on trips to town, I really need hints to get everything while there! Love your program!
This comes at such a wonderful time for me….my sons are at college and will travel for the next few years. I would love to make some of the travel gear for them! The blanket looks like the first one I would start with! Then on to the others!
I will be making the Travel Iron Keeper. I keep saying I need one of these but now I know why I procrastinated – Mary always comes up with the best patterns!
The fold up blanket is perfect since it can be used for holding other items: “glasses”. Must have this!!!
I love the roll up blanket with the storage pockets. It is great for the fact it will only be me touching that blanket and I don’t have to worry about the germs that could have been on it if it was airline property. This very important to me after I had a knee infection after my 5th knee replacement and now must be very carefull to try & not have a repeat. I also love the luggage tags & the saddle bags. These will definitely need to be made before my trip to QuiltCon in Austin in February 2013.
Nancy and Mary, I would love to make the rollup travel blanket because I have 38 grand nieces and nephews, about 2 thirds are under the age of 10, so this little roll up blanket in child fleece would make great NAP rolls for going to Grandma’s or Auntie’s. Some of the kids live out of state and outside our county, so these blankets would be good travel pals for napping while on the plane or in the car.
I love the fold-up blanket I am always freezing or want to just be cuddly when I travel and this would be perfect. Love that it will fit on the luggage handle too!
Love your travel bag. Makes things easier to travel and keeps things together in one place. thanks for sharing all those wonderful ideas that give me the incentive to sew and use my creativity for new things, new ideas and for things I haven’t done, giving a fresh eye on what I can do and what can be done.
I love the roll up blanket with pockets. I make three hour trips quite frequently and stay several days and this would be wonderful for my husband who cannot drive that far and he sleeps quite a bit also, so this would be great for him. But the things I really really REALLY love are the fabrics you use. Can you let us know which ones they are. Thanks. Especially the roll up blanket and the saddle bag (blue) fabric. Did I mention that I loved these fabrics? hahaha
The roll up travel blanket would be my favorite. I would love to use it when I travel. Thank you!
The travel blanket is a great multi-use item. I prefer to avoid single-use things – and knowing it can be used as a pillow or blanket is nice enough, but it’s brilliant to include the pocket! I never know what to do with my glasses when I want to nap on a plane!
The roll-up blanket would be really useful on any trip. I can see myself making several for gifts from the smallest family member to the teens and the inlaws!
I want to make the zipper pulls right away, what a great idea. The roll-up blanket with a pocket is an excellent idea, just in time for Christmas! I have to admit though that the reminders for the steering wheel are a must have – I’m with you, Nancy, who looks at mundane things like gas gauges?????
I need to make a gathering place tray. Actually a bunch of them for gifts for my friends who travel a lot.
Love the zipper pulls…..older fingers that aren’t as agile and little fingers that need some extra help……….or even those cold fingers that aren’t doing so well in the winter can benefit from these !!
I’m looking forward to making them for friends also.
Love them all, but the blanket is my favorite! I love things with pockets and zippers!
Thanks!
I can’t wait to make the Travel Gear Blanket Bag-I can see how useful that will be! Actually i love them all and will eventually make them all. Thanks for a great series again cheers teri
The roll up blanket…….perfect for the car…..for the kiddos or me!!!
The roll up blanket sounds great for the car…..for the kids or me!
Roll up blanket is my favorite project from your new book. All the projects are terrific and would like to make everything!!! Thank you!
I like the travel pillow/blanket. That would be a great item for gifts!
I love the blanket roll up. With the pocket it would save worrying where some small things go when trying to take a nap on the plane.
Love that travel blanket. Will have to make several for all my family members who love to travel. It is perfect for car or plane trips. The zipper pulls are perfect for all the purses I like to make.
I will have to say the roll-up travel blanket really caught my eye! I want to make it for my two small grandchildren for car trips as well as plane trips. So much to carry and keep track of. Plus, who wants to use those yucky airline blankets to cover up a sweet little one? This is a very nice way to go. I also love the luggage tags, and steering wheel tags just for me!
Such a hard decision with so many great ideas, but I think I would do 11 of those trays first. When the 11 of us travel (9 children), space is always a premium. I think those trays with monograms or names would do the trick for all those little piles of things that are missing their home, especially those change pockets getting confused. Now that they are growing older, I can see them helping in the bathrooms when they come home. Thanks for all the wonderful ideas.
I’m a sucker for zippers and love the travel blanket idea ( airline blankets give me the creeps) I can use the square dishes all over the house to organize temporary things. Cant wait for the book to come out. the steering wheel reminders are great too
I LOVE the luggage tags!! How many times have you been to a class or retreat with a bag similar to another quilter?? The tags would be great gifts for the quilting friends too!!!!!! They can be personalized to each quilter.
I loved the blog! I am a big fan of both Mary and Nancy and I always look forward to the shows which feature the 2 of them. They always leave me with a smile and a laugh or 2. I have purchased many of their books and patterns and watch as many of the Sewing with Nancy shows as I can manage. Thanks to both of you for all that you have contributed to the world of sewing and I’m looking forward to that latest book, Travel Gear Made Easy. The blog really peaked my interest.
Love all the ideas for traveling gear. My daughter travels frequently and I know she would love the roll up blanket and the saddle bag.
Those 1-2-3 zipper pulls are definitely at the top of my list. Easy enough for my beginner sewing students to make with scraps, nearly instant gratification, useful, and each one easily personalized.
The roll-up travel blanket with the zipper pockets is my favorite project. A place to organize all the ‘stuff’ I have crammed into my purse (headphones, book, ipod) that my suitcase will now tote for me!!!!!
i LOVE THE QUILTED SADDLE BAGS, AND I LIKE THE BLANKET ROLL UP WITH POCKETS THAT CAN BE USED AS A PILLOW. THE PILLOW PART I WOULD USE IN THE CAR, FLYING ETC.
I love the fold up tote! I love anything with extra pockets for accessories.
I love the idea of a travel tray. It seems I spread out my ” stuff ” when I’m at a hotel or visiting. What a great idea to stay organized! Thanks for a quick, easy idea to make for self or gifts !
My favorite travel gear is the travel blanket. You could also use a ready made throw instead of the fleece yardage.
My favorite travel gear project is finding ways to organize travel gear, so that it is easily accessible. Years ago I made my own organizers (from a sewing kit to bags to store dirty clothes) from double sided quilt and I still use them today.
I think the blanket roll up! I love it all.
We take a lot of electronics with us on our trips. These things can be a hassle to transport without damage or loss. The pattern set from McCall’s (M6668) is nice to use, especially if you alter the saddle bags by attaching the notebook cover to one or both sides and a few belt loops and metal clips. It becomes the electronics transporter to have because with one zip it turns into a shoulder bag.
I just fell in love with those Reminder Tags! How clever and Helpful!!
Love the travel gear for Christmas presents. Can’t wait to get started…OH and congrats on your Anniversary Nancy!