Final run from Robyn's shed in Mullumbimby • In 14 active carts • 25 left
Robyn's Hand-Quilted Kombi Weekender
Robyn's Hand-Quilted Kombi Weekender
Dispatched within 2–3 business days
90-day money-back guarantee
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Robyn's Hand-Quilted Kombi Weekender
Hand-Quilted In A Banana Shed At Mullumbimby — One Stitch At A Time
By Robyn “Robbie” Gillespie — 71, Northern Rivers NSW. 41 years at a 1961 Singer. 6,800 Kombi weekenders quilted by hand. 740 left, and then no more.
“I’ve made bags about leaving for forty-one years. I’m not going to end up with seven hundred of them sitting on a shelf in a shed. Take one. Put it in the boot and go somewhere. That’s the entire idea of them.”
What Comes In The Parcel
Why This Bag Is Different
Fourteen hours of hand-quilting per bag. The padding comes from the stitching, not from a foam insert — which is why it feels substantial without ever going stiff.
Peace signs for wheels, sunflowers along the roofline, four square windows. Every piece hand-cut from offcuts and sewn on individually. No two placed the same.
Flower Power Caravan, Sunset Strummer, Stay Wild Forest, Coastal Surfer Camper, Cherry Blossom Glamping. Each one appliquéd from a different stretch of Robyn’s 1973 Kombi trip. The colour is layered, not printed.
Padding runs the full length of the grip instead of stopping at the join. That join is exactly where a cheap handle starts cutting in on the walk from the car park.
45 × 23 × 25 cm, about 22 litres. A full weekend of clothes, cabin-bag sized for domestic flights, and it lies flat in a boot without fighting the other luggage.
A hand-numbered tag stitched into the inner pocket, matched to a line in the ledger she started at #001 in 1985. The collection runs out at 6,800.
Hand-quilting at this density has all but disappeared from Australian making, and what replaced it is a printed panel on a machine-stitched shell. You can tell the difference with your hands before you can tell it with your eyes. Robyn Gillespie’s weekenders carry the quilt density, the hand-cut applique and the balance of weight you simply don’t find in a mass-produced bag at any price. That she has made every one of them herself, out of one shed, since 1985, makes each of the last few hundred a small piece of Australian textile history.
Choose Your Design
Perfect For
What You’re Actually Getting
90-Day No-Questions Guarantee
If it isn’t right for you within 90 days, send it back for a full refund. Email info@backroad-goods.com. No forms, no argument. Free tracked shipping Australia-wide, both ways.
A Note On Handmade Variation
Every weekender is cut, quilted and appliquéd by hand from start to finish. Colour tone, applique placement and stitch pattern will vary slightly from the listing photos — that’s what handwork looks like, not a fault. Care: spot-clean only, air dry, and keep it out of the washing machine.
Product Details
| Material | Hand-quilted cotton with polyester batting |
| Applique | Hand-cut split-window Kombi, peace-sign wheels, sunflowers |
| In The Parcel | 1 weekender, 1 cotton dust bag, 1 handwritten care card, 1 hand-numbered ledger tag |
| Dimensions | 45 × 23 × 25 cm |
| Weight | About 820 g empty |
| Capacity | About 22 litres — a full weekend of clothes |
| Designs | Flower Power Caravan, Sunset Strummer, Stay Wild Forest, Coastal Surfer Camper, Cherry Blossom Glamping |
| Closure | Wraparound heavy-gauge zip |
| Care | Spot-clean only, air dry, no machine wash |
| Made By | Robyn Gillespie, Tincogan Street, Mullumbimby NSW — hand-quilted since 1985 |
| Time Per Bag | About 14 hours of handwork |
| Final Collection | 740 remaining • 6,800 made in 41 years • no restock |
| Shipping | Free tracked shipping Australia-wide |
| Returns | 90 days, no questions — info@backroad-goods.com |
The Last Run
The Last Run
A note from the shed:
Robyn Gillespie has hand-quilted Kombi weekenders in an old banana-packing shed behind her house on Tincogan Street, Mullumbimby, since 1985 — 6,800 of them, every one cut, quilted and appliquéd by hand and logged in a ledger that starts at #001. She first noticed a hard cord in her right palm in 2019. By 2022 the ring and little fingers wouldn't lie flat on the table. A hand clinic in Lismore released it with a needle in 2023 and it came back within eighteen months, then started in the left hand too. Dupuytren's contracture doesn't go the other way, and hand-quilting needs a flat palm.
So in 2023 she walked away from the markets, worked out what she had left in her hands and spent three years making all of it at once. That final run comes to 740 bags. There is no restock, because there is nobody left to restock it.
Free Shipping Australia-Wide
Free Shipping Australia-Wide
Free tracked shipping right across Australia
- Dispatched within 2–3 business days
- Every bag is hand-packed by Robyn's grandson Jarrah and posted from Mullumbimby
- 45 × 23 × 25 cm, about 22 litres, roughly 820 g empty — a full weekend of clothes
- Cabin-bag sized for domestic flights, and it lies flat in a boot
- Hand-quilted cotton with polyester batting, wraparound heavy-gauge zip, padded fabric handles
- Spot-clean only, air dry, no machine wash
- 90-day money-back guarantee — just email info@backroad-goods.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Email us anytime at info@backroad-goods.com. We answer Monday to Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday mornings 10am–1pm AEST. Every order is packed by Robyn's grandson Jarrah in Mullumbimby, so if you need something changed before it goes out, just say so.
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Of course. 90-day money-back guarantee. Pack it for one weekend, and if it isn't right for you, email info@backroad-goods.com within 90 days for a full refund. No forms, no argument, and tracked shipping within Australia is free both ways.
How is it made?
How is it made?
Robyn cuts, hand-quilts and appliqués every bag herself on a 1961 Singer 31K industrial machine in a banana-packing shed at Mullumbimby. About fourteen hours of handwork each. Cotton outer, polyester batting, and the padding comes from the stitching rather than a foam insert — which is why it feels substantial without going stiff. The motif on the front, whichever of the five designs you choose, is hand-cut from offcuts and sewn on piece by piece. Never printed. Each bag carries a hand-numbered tag stitched into the inner pocket.