Tote Bag

July 5, 2015

After sewing a bunch of clothes, I decided to try something a little different and hopefully quicker.  I found instructions for a cute tote bag in a library book (Sewing to Sell, by Virginia Lindsay) and figured it was simple enough for me to follow along.

As I've been learning, the most tedious, time-consuming part of sewing is cutting fabric.  It took a while for me to cut the canvas drop cloth into straight, even pieces.  Once that was all done, assembly was relatively easy.

I bought this fat quarter at Nomura Tailor House in Kyoto and had been wondering what to use it for. I decided on this bag, since I could carry it around and see it everyday. 

You may recognize this yellow fabric from Sewing Project #4.  I'm not sure I like this combo of fabrics, but it was the best I could come up with.  I decided to add it to just one side so that I could see just the pretty aqua flower fabric when I feel like it.

I had been planning to put a magnetic closure in but am not sure how to do it without ruining the bag.  I don't want it to show on the outside, so it'll have to go into just the lining.  I've been using the bag to tote my sewing projects around, and so far no problems.  The bottom canvas looks funny to me because it sags so far down.  Maybe I did that incorrectly...