My lovely brother and new sister-in-law asked me to put together some tote bags with goodies for the out of town guests for their wedding this past weekend.
Up until a couple of weeks ago, I'd never made a single tote bag. And now, I've made 15. I thought I'd do a quick post about what I'd learned and how I constructed them, as well as include the links that I found most useful.
The bags took a while to make, and since I was short on time I didn't line them. I did, however, try to do my best to make them look as nice as possible, even on the inside. My only exposed edge was the top part of the bag, which I finished with a zig zag stitch. Not the nicest, but it's ok.
ohhh, but the side seams. I finished those with dreamy French seams. So lovely, don't you think?
I squared out the bottom. Since it isn't lined, you can see the little triangle at the bottom of the inside of the bag. You can read more about this technique here.
and here it is on the outside. This makes the bags better at holding more stuff (and standing upright).
I made all 15 bags in the course of a little over a week. I enlisted the help of the hubby, whose slightly OCD tendencies made him excellent at ironing. Not that he thought so--in fact, he came home with lottery tickets proclaiming that if he won he would hire a replacement. Yet despite his grumblings it was fun to work on a project together--something that rarely happens these days with our little ones running around.
I hope this post is helpful if you'd like to make your own tote/grocery bags. All in all they are pretty simple to make. Happy bag making!
(and if you are wondering, no, we didn't win the lottery, but hubby has officially retired from his ironing duties. Which really is a shame....)
P.S. did you spot those lovely printed tags? Yep, you guessed it! Yet another use for printing on fabric!
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