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Sew a simple Tote Bag

sewshiny
Apr 15, 2016
2 min read

Level of difficulty: Easy

Hope you've had fun trying the pattern designs for the Drawstring Pouch.

Another pattern for beginners to practice sewing straight lines is to put together a Simple Tote Bag. This can be done within 30 mins! I personally prefer double lined (i.e there's an inner lining) patterns as it can hide the inner working sewing lines and makes the end product much neater. Double lining also gives you the option for a reversible tote bag!

There are 2 main patterns for tote bags. Most of the sewing community use the 1st pattern. For beginners, I would recommend you to start with 2nd pattern. Once you've got comfortable with sewing the tote bag , you can also try matching different fabric to make a 2-tone tote bag.

1) The Slot In Pattern

For this pattern, you first sew an outer-bag and inner-bag. Once done, you slot in the inner-bag into the outer-bag, and then sew both bags together. When following this pattern, it is important to make sure that the measurements for both the inner and outer bags are precise so that you can sew both pieces together without excess cloth sticking out. You may wish to follow this tutorial for the step-by-step instructions: http://www.madeeveryday.com/2012/07/tutorial-reversible-lined-color-blocked-tote.html

Source: Made Everyday

2) The Flip Out Pattern

This pattern is similar to the Drawstring Pouch pattern in the earlier post. Instead of sewing the outer and inner bags separately, we sew the inner and outer fabric together first, then flip the bag inside out. This pattern does not require you to be precise in measurements and you will still get a as professional looking bag as that of pattern 1. You may wish to follow this tutorial: http://www.craftingfingers.co.uk/archives/beginner-friendly-tote-bag-tutorial/