Tote Bag Tutorial

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Finishing off the top.

When making the pattern piece I allowed 1 ¼” at the top.

Press raw edge under ¼”.

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Press under again 1” this time.

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Sew in place close the edge.

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If you find the ‘top’ of your fabric has more give than the ‘bottom’ fabric. Hold your fabric like this. Your thumb is on the underside and the rest of your fingers are on the top. You are holding the fabric ‘up’ with your thumb and pressing down with the rest of your fingers. Practice on a scrap of fabric before doing on your project. This helps to ease the 2 pieces together.

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Straps

The following is my way of making a 1” wide strap. I hate to turn tubes, so I have figured this way out myself.

With right sides together, using a ½“ seam allowance, sew one long seam on the strap. Press seam open. Press each raw edge in ½”. In this instance you will meet the 2 seams up.

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Press the opposite side the same way.

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Now fold in half on the seam line and matching up each pressed edge. Press in place.

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Sew the seam on the outside close to the edge. And topstitch the opposite side of the strap close to the edge so both sides match. Finish off each end of the strap. I suggest running a short zigzag stitch across the ends. Do the same for the other strap.

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Positioning the straps on the tote bag. Take your ruler and from the center of the side seam, measure in and make a mark 3” in.

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Take one of your straps and place the outer edge of the strap on the mark and the strap going to the inside of the tote bag. Pin in place.

In the following picture, my finger on the left is on the side seam and the strap is to the inside of the little blue mark I made. It is kind of hard to see.

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Sew in place. I used a ‘box’ stitch. Do the same to all 4 ends of the straps. Remember you want one strap on each side of the tote bag. Don’t have your straps going from the front to the back, this will limit your top opening to get things into it.

If you chose to use webbing

With a match or a lighter, gently melt the ends of your webbing. This will stop it from fraying. Position and sew in place the same as the fabric straps.

Tip: With either fabric straps (cheaper and they will match) or webbing, SEW SLOWLY You are going through a lot of thick nesses. I also recommend using at least a size 14 needle when doing this.

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A ‘box’ stitch is when you stitch around in a box. This is to reinforce the strap. You can also stitch and ‘X’ in the center of the box if you like.

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Here is your finished Tote Bag!

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