Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Totes Cute Tote Bag

When we order in fabric we ask, "What would you make from it?" before we buy it. If the fabric doesn't talk to us, we don't get it in. We had always planned to make a kid's version of the You Sew Girl Small Tote and Satchel but we were waiting for the perfect fabric. This ultra kawaii animal print fabric from Cosmo just screamed "Totes Cute Tote" when we saw the sample :) The fabric is a heavy canvas base cloth so it is very durable and the rich red background colour looks great teamed up with our Indigo Denim.
Difficulty
The Small Tote and Satchel pattern is a great project for a beginner as it contains lots of tips on the basics of bag making and sewing. For more advanced sewists it is a quick and easy project that can be whipped up in an afternoon / evening session (I think this one took me 3-4 hours in total).

Interfacing
After my Alexander Henry Mirage Carry All Bag blog post, Nicole from You Sew Girl suggested that I try using Medium-Heavy interfacing paired with H630 wadding. This would give me the structure I was after but not be as bulky as the Medium Interfacing paired with H640 wadding combo. I am happy to say that this is now my favourite way to interface my bags :)


Options
Most You Sew Girl patterns come with a number of different finishing options. I have made the longer version of the bag, with a flap and internal zippered pocket. I think it is always nice to have a least one pocket on the inside for storing little bits and pieces. I particularly like the red zipper against the blue fabric. If you can't match a zipper to the main colour of a fabric don't be afraid to try matching it to one of the other colours in the print.
I have used plastic looplocs and tri-glide with 38mm webbing to make an urban style adjustable shoulder strap. You can find the tutorial on how to make an adjustable bag strap here.
Like all of Nicole's pattern the Small Tote and Satchel is very versatile and allows you to make many variations using just the one pattern. These are just a few of the variations that Nicole has made, you can find more images as well as descriptions on her website.

- Ky

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