Hi there, lovelies! It's been a while since I last wrote a tutorial for this blog. Life, more often that not, gets in the way of blogging and a working mom like me needs to have her priorities set. As some of you may know, I have a 10h/day work load, with one day-off dedicated to doing the groceries and other things like going to the bank, pedia, etc. And everyday, I have to juggle taking care of the kids, the household chores, and my sanity ^^) Unlike before, I rarely find time now to blog. I have lots, I mean lots of tutorials to cross off my list. I still have to find time to post each tutorial. One day, I will.
But for today, let me share with you a tutorial for this easy-peasy Quilted reversible tote I made for this summer. I bring this tote to work to hold my packed snacks, a bottle of water and my on-the-go medicine kit.
This is a quick and easy way to make a quilted reversoble tote beacause we are skipping the whole quilting thing. I know, it's sort of cheating but Quilted CottonFabric really makes things easier and faster especially for busy moms like me. So, yes. For this project, I used a quilted cotton fabric lovingly sent to me by my sister, Laarnie, who lives in Japan. Thanks sis!
This is the other side of the tote. I used linen for this side. Plus it has two front pockets. Pockets always come in handy, don't they?
Now, let's go the the tutorial. Here's how you make your own tote. The dimensions will depend on your needs. It will depend on how big or small you'd like your tote. The measurements I used are the following:
Linen fabric for pocket (1 pc) 30 cms (l) x 36 cms (w)
linen bag handle
First, let's make the pocket.
Fold the pocket piece in half crosswise, right sides of the fabric together. Sew Straight Stitches all through the sides leaving an opening of about 3" so you can turn the pocket later.
Above, you can see the unsewn part. Clip the edges as shown above.
Turn the pocket piece.
Sew the pocket close by topstitching.
However, as an afterthought, I decided to sew a linen ribbon on top of the pocket.
Now, get the linen fabric for bag piece and sew the pocket on it. Since the pocket is wide enough, I decided to sew Straight Stitches on the middle to have two smaller pockets instead of just one big pocket.
Fold the linen fabric in half crosswise, right sides of the fabric together and pin as necessary. Sew StraightStitches on each side. If you like, serge or sew zigzag stitches to keep the fabric from fraying.
Fold the fabric piece in such a way that the side crease is aligned with the bottom. Sew straight stitches 4 cms. away from the edge.
Clip the edges as shown above. Serge or sew zigzag stitches on the edges you've clipped.
Repeat the same steps with the quilted cotton fabric.
Pin the handles on the quilted cotton piece.
Attach the handle to the bag using basting stitches.
Now, it's attached to this piece.
Place the linen piece inside the quilted cotton piece, right sides of the fabric facing together.
Pin as necessary.
Make sure the handles are pinned in place so it won't get caught later when you are sewing.
Sew straight stitches all the way, leaving 3" unsewn so we can turn the bag later.
Turn the bag inside out.
Pin and...
Sew the opening close by sewing straight stitches all the way.
You can reinforce the handles by sewing a big X on it.
Now you have a reversible tote!
I hope you liked today's tutorial. Seriously, it took me longer to write this tutorial compared to actually sewing the tote!
Why don't you make one or two of these this weekend. Mother day is just around the corner. This easy and quick projects will make a nice handmade Mother's Day gift!
