It’s the nadir of the year when I’m looking at average temperatures in San Diego and hotel deals in Palm Springs and thinking of how nice it would be to go somewhere where the AQI isn’t terrible and the sun is more than feebly warm. (I’m also ignoring the facts that we don’t have any travel planned, I don’t know when it will feel safe to get on a plane, and we’ve been trying to get to Hawaii for two years now.)
Back in 2013, Kate Spade Saturday (RIP, I loved that brand) had a feature where you could customize a weekender bag. I never bought one but the aesthetic always stuck with me:
Look at all those colors! I loved the dome shape and the bottom zippered shoe compartment.
I don’t know how I stumbled on “bag Instagram, ” but I think it was a couple hashtags from Patagonia-style fleeces to outdoor packs to a whole world of sewing patterns to make duffel bags and briefcases and wallets and…domed top carry-on bags with a zippered shoe compartment? 
This is the Townsend Travel Bag and if you used cotton webbing for the straps, you’d pretty much have that KSS bag. Especially if you color-blocked it… maybe like the top right one in the example photo, with an army green base and a lime green top?
Obviously I want to make this, since I’ve even picked out fabric, but bag sewing involves a lot of interfacing and layers. It probably wouldn’t be harder than making a coat, though. And maybe if I sew a carry-on, we’ll get on a plane at some point in 2022? Only one way to find out.