Tote bag tutorial

Okey doke here goes with the tote bag tutorial, it’s kind of a medley of tutorials I found on the internet (I can’t source any of them cause I can’t remember them, if you’ve got a bag tutorial on your site chances are I’ve read it!), with a bit of my own touches thrown in. The thing that amazed me most when I actually got it was the whole step shown in Fig. 5. and 6, it’s the easiest way of making a “roomy” bag as it creates a square bottom without having to actually cut one out and sew it on!! Also if you’re going to do a complicated design or something on your bag its best to use four pieces of fabric (as opposed to the two used in this tutorial i.e. two for the outer fabric and two for the lining). If the design you’ve got in mind is something simple like just sticking a flower in the corner then I suppose you could still use two pieces. Oh yeh I’ve drawn little diagrams too, after all a picture = a thousand words right?..

I’m not going to use measurements for this tutorial as the measurements in tutorials are never the ones you use (well for me anyway). Basically you need one rectangle of your outer fabric and one rectangle the same size for the lining (these will be folded in half, so you want the measurements to be double the size of what you want your final bag to be). For the strap you want two equal sized strips, again these will be folded in half lengthways so you want the width to be double the size of your final strap width. (See Fig.1. for what you need)

Let’s start with the straps and get them out of the way. You need to take each strap and fold it in half lengthways so the wrong side of the fabric is on the outside, then stitch the open length up whilst leaving the top and bottom open (see Fig.2. on Fig.2 I actually drew the stitches on both sides, but if you’ve folded it you only have to stitch up the open side, NOT both, just the open side). Do this for both straps. You then need to turn each strap inside out so the right side is facing outwards, the easiest way to do this is to turn the bottom of the strap upwards, so abit of the right side is showing. Then carry on pushing the strap inside itself, it’s kinda hard to explain but you’ll get it when you do it.

Now the bag itself, take one of the rectangles and fold it in half width ways, so the wrong side of the fabric is facing outwards (see Fig.3.). You can iron the fold if you want to and then you need to sew each of the sides, once you’ve done this for both the lining and outer fabric you should have something similar to Fig .4.

Now this is quite a tricky step to understand but when you’ve got the bag in front of you, it’s easier to get. Take one of the bag pieces and put it in front of you, hold it from the front with one hand and the back with the other hand. Now pull the front and back apart and turn the bag to the right, so you have something like Fig.5. (With the seam showing being the one you sewed in Fig.4.) Make sure both sides are equal looking and neaten the bag up as much as you can.





Now from the bottom point you need to measure an inch and a half upwards then draw a line across, put a pin on the line to make sure it stays put (making sure you don’t go through to the back of the fabric). Fig.6. indicates where you should draw the line across and then you need to sew across the line. Make sure you don’t sew all the way through the fabric as you need to repeat the step on the other side of the fabric, as well as for both sides of the lining. So you should have sewn four lines across, two on the outer fabric and two on the lining fabric.

After you have done the above step you can turn the bag to its normal shape i.e. the two side seams are on the side rather than in the middle (it should look something like the dark green bag in Fig.7.). Now you need to turn the lining back inside out, so the right side is facing outwards, but keep the outer bag with the wrong side outwards. You then need to place the lining inside the outer bag as shown in Fig.7. Line up the side seams of both bags and pin in place if you want.




Then take the straps and insert them between the lining fabric and the outer fabric, with an inch or so of the handles poking out on each side (see Fig.8.) Pin in place and sew a seam along the top edge, as indicated by the dashed line in Fig.8. However leave a few inches open so you can turn everything inside out (indicated by the solid line in Fig.8.) it doesn’t have to be between the handles it can be wherever you find it easy. Almost done!!

Now pull the lining out of the bag and turn the whole thing inside out, it’s quite a shock to see it all come together. If you’re going to be using the bag quite often, or are going to use it to carry heavy things then you may want to reinforce the handles, using a box and cross type design as shown in Fig. 9.

Now you need to sew up the gap you left, fold the raw edges inwards and pin/iron in place. Then sew a ladder stitch on the raw edges (as in Fig 10), ensuring the seam doesn’t show on the outside of the bag. You should now have something that hopefully resembles a fully lined and bottomed tote bag!! (Something along the lines of Fig .11!)

If anyone tries this out then let me know how it goes, it’d be good to know how successful my first tutorial is!!