This is a fairly standard tote, nothing revolutionary, but it reflects the tweaking and techniques from my experience making it, many times now.
Precious few items rival the utility of a tote bag. Yes, yes, left brain, but did you know it is also ripe for endless creative variation? (You can adapt it however floats your tote! OK, I’ll stop.) I have plans to post several of these adaptations in the future, so Rock the Tote will be my blog’s first recurring feature. Huzzah! It’s hard to overstate the tote’s usefulness, not that we crafty types ever have any stuff to lug about. OK, let’s get to it…
Rock the Tote: Basic Recipe
Ingredients:
3/4 yard exterior fabric: I like to use something a little beefier here. If you use quilting cotton, throw on some interfacing of your choice.
1/2 yard lining fabric: A light-to-mid weight fabric like quilting cotton is perfect for this.
The usual cast of sewing characters… needle, thread, scissors, pins, some kind of measuring device. Rotary cutter and mat are quite helpful but not strictly necessary. Even a sewing machine isn’t required, but it does speed up the process substantially!
Directions:
1/2″ seam allowance except where otherwise noted.
1) Cut your pieces. From the exterior fabric, cut two body pieces (17″x15″) and two strap pieces (26″x4½”). From the lining fabric, cut two body pieces (17″x15″). If either of your fabrics are directional, note that the 17″ measurement will be for the height of the bag, 15″ is the width.
2) Construct the straps. First, fasten a safety pin to the center of one of the short ends, with the head of the pin facing the other end. This makes it super easy to turn the strap out later. When using this technique, make sure your safety pin is small enough to move through the finished strap easily; this strap is wide (1½” finished width) so that shouldn’t be an issue — I used a rather large pin.
Fold the strap piece in half lengthwise, right sides together; pin along the long open edge.
Stitch along the pinned edge, using a 3/4″ seam allowance. Press seam allowance open. This takes some finagling on tubes like this, but it will help immensely with the next part. I do it by turning up and pressing one of the seam allowances, like this:
Then, turn up and press the other seam allowance:
By gently coaxing the safety pin to the other end of the tube, turn it right side out, then remove the pin. Press the strap, with seam centered on the bottom side. Be sure that the seam allowances are open inside the tube, so that the strap’s thickness is uniform. This should work easily thanks to the pressing outlined above, but if you need to prod the seam allowances into submission, a chopstick comes in handy.
Edge stitch along each long edge. Repeat all of this for the other strap.
Cut a 1½” square from both of the bottom corners of the bag. I created a little template for this from an old tissue box.
Press seams open. The side seams are easier to press open — a sleeve board is helpful here, if you have it — but for the bottom seam, I do it the way I outlined for the straps above. (Press up one seam allowance, flip over, press up the other.)
At each cut corner, bring side and bottom seams together to create the box bottom; pin.
Stitch across, then stitch across again just inside the seam allowance to reinforce. Trim the seam allowance to reduce bulk, using pinking shears or regular scissors.
Turn bag exterior right sides out. See how neatly this technique creates the corners?
4) Construct the lining. Do this the same way as the exterior, but leave a 4″ gap along the bottom seam for turning out later. Leave the lining wrong sides out.
5) Attach the straps. On the bag exterior, make a mark 2½” in from each side seam on both back and front (4 marks total). With raw edges aligned, pin the straps to the tote, placing the outside edge of each strap end at the mark. The right side of the strap should be facing the right side of the bag.
Be sure that the strap isn’t twisted:
Baste the straps in place about 3/4″ from the raw edge and remove the pins. Finally, we’re going to do a little insurance to help our straps remain straight during assembly. At each end of each strap, fasten a safety pin two to three inches from the raw edge, anchoring the strap to the bag so that it doesn’t get a mind of its own while out of your controlling reach:
6) Assemble the bag. Place the right-side-out bag exterior into the wrong-side-out bag lining, so that the right sides are facing each other. Ensure that the straps are fully enclosed between the layers.
Align the side seams and pin around, then stitch the top seam of the bag using a 1″ seam allowance. This extra-wide seam gives further strength and structure to the bag’s top edge. As you sew, reinforce stitching at each strap end — I usually just stitch, backstitch, then forward stitch a last time over the straps.
7) Finish it up. Home stretch! Pulling the exterior through the gap in the lining, turn the bag right side out.
Smooth the lining into the bag, remove the safety pins holding the straps down, then press the top edge well. In order to make sure the lining doesn’t peek over the top edge, press the exterior slightly to the inside of the bag. (For any garment sewists reading this, this is essentially the tote bag version of understitching.) When you do this, there will be a small roll of the exterior fabric visible from the lining side of the bag, which will ensure a professional finish from the outside.
Topstitch around the top edge.
Hand stitch the gap closed. I use what I think is called a “ladder stitch” for this. Basically, you just bring the needle up from the wrong side of one of the folds, insert it directly across the way into the other fold, take a small stitch, go straight back across to the first fold, take a small stitch, and so on:
All done! Proceed to carrying things around. Stay tuned for the next version of Rock the Tote!
For any of you experts who’d like “just the facts please,” here’s a seriously abbreviated set of instructions, sans all the pearls of wisdom. :-)
1) Cut your pieces. From the exterior fabric, cut two body pieces (17″x15″) and two strap pieces (26″x4½”). From the lining fabric, cut two body pieces (17″x15″).
2) Construct the straps. Fold one of the pieces in half lengthwise, right sides together. Stitch along the long open edge, using a 3/4″ seam allowance. Press seam allowance open, then turn tube right side out. Press strap, with seam centered on the bottom side and ensuring seam allowances are still open on the inside. Edgestitch along each long edge of the strap. Repeat for the other strap.
3) Construct the exterior. Place the two exterior pieces right sides together. Sew along the sides and bottom, using a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving the top edge open. Cut a 1½” square from each of the bottom corners of the bag. Press seams open. At each cut corner, bring side and bottom seams together and stitch across to create the box bottom. Turn bag exterior right sides out.
4) Construct the lining. Do this the same way as the exterior, but leave a 4″ gap along the bottom seam for turning out later. Leave the lining wrong sides out.
5) Attach the straps. On the bag exterior, make a mark 2½” in from the side seams on both back and front. With raw edges aligned, pin the straps by placing the outside edge of each strap end at the mark. The right side of the strap should be facing the right side of the bag. Baste.
6) Assemble the bag. Place the right-side-out bag exterior into the wrong-side-out bag lining, so that the right sides are together. Ensure that the straps are fully enclosed between the layers. Align the side seams and pin, then stitch the top seam of the bag using a 1″ seam allowance.
7) Finish it up. Turn the bag right side out. Press the top edge well, then topstitch around it. Stitch the gap in the lining closed.
Don’t stop here! Make this tote in any size following the simple steps in Rock the Tote: Rightsizing.
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