This year for Mother’s Day I decided to stop roaming the mall in search of something special and instead make something. I did a search online for Mother’s Day sewing projects and one of the first things that came up was a tote bag. So I read the page and realized it’s not that difficult and I’d give it a try. The end result came out far better then I expected and I’m very proud of what I made!

If you’d like to read through the directions I found then Click Here

Here is the final result! Something far better then what I had imagined. Now when I first started sewing I said to myself I wasn’t going to make projects like this. But I’m actually very glad I made this. It’s given me such a confidence boost to make something and have it look so good. I’ve made several of the zippered boxes and I was going to make another one for Mother’s Day but then I thought that would be boring. So I decided to make this and I’m glad I did.

I watched a couple YouTube videos in the past and these types of projects seemed pretty similar to the zippered boxes I’ve made, minus the zipper. So I went to Walmart and got the supplies I needed for the project.

Materials Needed

• Fabric: I got 4 fat quarters at Walmart. 2 for the outside of the bag and 2 for the lining.
• Ribbon: For the straps I wanted to find some nylon webbing but there wasn’t anything so I decided to use some ribbon instead. I found a dark brown that looked like burlap.
• Fleece Iron on Interfacing: I used the same iron on fleece interfacing I’ve used for the zippered boxes. I like this because it give a soft feeling to the finished product and it gives the bag a nice shape.
  

Construction Notes

One of the biggest challenges right off the bat was the ribbon for the straps. Just a single piece of ribbon would not have held up when the bag was loaded with any sort of weight in it. To solve this I made two straps using the lining fabric. I folded over a piece of the lining fabric twice the width of the ribbon plus seam allowence. Then I sewed this together and turned it. Then I topstitched the ribbon to one side. If I remade this bag I would have put ribbon on both sides of the strap. This would have provided a more finished look when the bag is sitting on the table and the straps are folded down exposing the lining fabric backing.

The rest of the construction was as easy as following the directions in the link above.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun and easy project. This may be something you need to have a little bit of practice and confidence in operating your machine. The advantages to this project are you will learn some important techniques for making projects like this that can be applied to most other projects. I highly recomend trying this project for yourself!