Photo by Patricia Holdsworth Photography

Here’s a quick and easy project just in time for back to school!  Spend an otherwise lazy afternoon whipping up a new inexpensive tote to help you carry all those pricey textbooks around with you during frosh week in style.   If you have about a meter of a strong weight polycotton and some treasured scraps you can whip this up without even having to make a trip to the fabric shop.  This is a such super simple project it’s great for beginers and experianced sewers alike.

Pattern:

All you have to do is print off a picture of a bird (or draw one if you’re artistic), cut it out and turn it upside down to use as a pattern to cut the fabric out.  Tip: It helps if you use an iron on a low to mid heat to press the paper to the fabric.

Cut out the pattern in the fabric, taking your time to ensure that you don’t accidentally cut off a leg or a beak.  If you think you’ll want a front pouch pocket as well, measure that out with the help of a ruler and cut out that piece as well before setting them aside.

Bag:

The basic tote bag is incredibly simple.  Chose the dimensions of how big of a bag you want.  Now, add an inch to all sides of this plan for a seam/hem allowance.  Cut two squares (or rectangles) out of your bag fabric.  I suggest using a heavy weight cotton or polycotton fabric.  You want to make sure this bag doesn’t tear or give way under pressure.

Take one of the squares and lay it out on a table, position the appliques and pouch on the front of this square to your liking before pinning them down securely.   Zig zag stitch, or use another firm binding fancy stitch if your machine allows for it,  around the edges to secure each one to the square of fabric.  You may also want to handstitch the appliques on if you picked a particularly complex design.

Now place this first square face down atop the second, matching the face sides of the fabrics and sandwiching the appliques between the fabric.  Pin together along the edges before sewing the two sides and the bottom together.   Unpin and then double fold the top open edges down to create a hem, stitch around bottom of hem.

Handles:

To cut handles, simply cut two strips of fabric roughly 4-6 inches wide and as long as you would like your handles to be.  Fold in half lengthwise and sew up oneside to make tubes, pull them inside out so the face side of the fabric is showing and then fasten to the inside of the bag at the hem to secure.