Reversible Tote Tutorial

It's Day 6 of...

Yesterday I showed you the third craft of this Crafty Christmas Countdown--a reversible tote bag.  As promised, here is the tutorial...

In case you are just now stopping by, click here to read more about this blog event.

Supplies:

*Felt and coordinating fabric

*Basic sewing supplies (thread, pins, scissors...)

*Sewing machine

*2 pin backs (for the pinwheel flowers)

*Pencil and paper

Directions:

1. With pencil and paper, draw out a pattern that looks like this.  Mine is 14 inches wide at the bottom, 4 inches wide at the top, and 8 1/2 inches long down the middle.  Use the pattern to cut out four pieces of both the felt and the coordinating fabric.

2. Place the fabric pieces into pairs.  With right sides together and edges matched up, sew each pair together by sewing along one of the straight edges.  (Tip: You will need to use pins throughout to help keep things lined up properly.)

 You will end up with four pieces (two felt pieces and two fabric pieces) that look like this...

3. Place the fabric pieces right sides together and sew along the curved edge only.  Do the same thing with the felt pieces.

4. Place the fabric section inside the felt section.  Fold the top, straight edges of both the felt and the fabric pieces under about an inch.  The raw edges will be folded together and hidden.  Use pins to hold it in place.

5. You will do the same thing to the top, curved edge of the tote, but you will need to cut a little of the excess fabric away first to allow it to fold nicely.  (Tip: Folding this edge takes a little patience since it is curved.  Just keep working with it until it lays the way you want it to.)

 6. Create straps for you tote and pin them in the middle of your folds on each side.  (Tip: To make the pattern for the straps, I taped two 8 1/2  in. by 11 in. pieces of paper together.  Using the pattern, I cut out two rectangular pieces of fabric. With each piece, I folded in the small edges about 1/2 in., brought the long edges in to meet each other in the middle, folded it in half lengthwise, pinned it in place, and stitched around the outside.)

7. Once your straps are pinned in place, you can stitch around the entire top of the tote--pulling pins out as you sew.

Now you have a cute reversible tote that you can use with the felt or fabric side facing out.  To find the tutorial for the flowers, click here.

Happy Sewing!