too much to do, so little time! I totally lost my sewing mojo. Then had no time to sew. Then I made my own pattern for a top and I’ve refund the mojo. Hoorah. Another blog post will follow once I have washed and made presentable the tops on the self drafted pattern. And I will also blog about the Christmas bunting I made to try and feel a bit more festive.
this post? This is all about the tote bags.
I had (have) NO idea what to get my mum for Christmas. Zero idea. Zilch. When asked, she said she wanted a “surprise” for Christmas. THANKS FOR THAT. I decided I could either make her something or just give her an empty box. Or a puppy. Something surprising. Nah, bag it was.
I stashed a fair amount of spotty sage green fabric a while ago. It is a good solid canvas type material and perfect for a shopping tote bag. There are approximately 8 gazillion tutorials online for tote bags. So I chose around three and followed them all. They all pretty much say the same thing:
width: x inches
height: y inches
long pieces to fold into straps: z size.
choose your own dimensions in a rectangular shape. Done.
I decided to French seam the seams because I have never done that before and I love the finish. I also thought it might make them sturdier if the bag is going to be used and not languish somewhere. Aaaaaanyway. I pinned the handle straps in place (tucking the edges under the top seam) and added a little pouch as an inside pocket. Then sewed round the top, twice. Whizz bang done.
I also cut the corners off because a tutorial said it would make it s box bottomed bag. I have a sneaking suspicion that I did it wrong. But it looks nice. And that’s the main thing.
Inside the bag, you can see the incide pocket.
so. I liked this bag for my mum. And I decided to make another for a secret Santa I signed up to.
This is the second one, pretty much the same as the first. But hang on! Who is that sneaking in at the side there?
A mini version (corners intact) for my neighbour’s daughter who is turning 3 this week. I used the fabric I bought 5 years ago to cover some canvas on my daughter’s wall. Super cute doll, going to waste in the stash.
Tote bagarama.
the first one took me around three hours to make from figuring out the pattern, cutting it out to sewing it all together. The second one took me about an hour to cut and sew, another hour to reinforce the handles. And the third one took me just under an hour. These are SUPER easy to make now I know how. So from now on, EVERYONE is getting one for Christmas. And their birthdays. Everyone.
knittysewandsew 