HOPEhasWINGSvalentinestote

~LETS GET STARTED~

~BRENDA'S VALENTINES DAY TOTE BAG~

I made two of these tote bags for the little girls at the shop where my friend works on the weekends. Their Grandmother own the shop and their Mother works there on weekends. They come with their mother and do projects and sew and always have something in a plastic bag they tote along. So we decided to make the totes for Valentines Day thinking this way their Mother wouldnt have to carry all of their stuff for them.

They loved them!!

They were alot of work but well worth it in the end because

they came out very nice. One of the girls likes monkeys and one of the girls likes elephants so we put a monkey on one tote and an elephant on the other so they could tell them apart.

We used designs from

Bunnycup.com (My favorite designer) and

Oregon Patch Works -Juju's Designs

This shows you what the lining will look like inside the tote..

I chose the dots because they had all of the same colors as I chose for

the embroidery..I always choose my colors and seldom use the color chart. That way I can utilize my fabrics with my projects.

I created this pattern myself so its not perfect!

Feel free to make any changes to need to to fit your own style or needs.

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This is a very simple tote to make if you take your time and measure properly. You can make the bag as large as you want simply by enlarging the square ends and changing the length of the side pieces.

We used a 7 inch square end and 12 x 7 inch side piece.

Use a square rule to measure your ends ..

Its important that they are perfectly square if its going to sew up evenly.

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EX: If your use a 10 inch square your side pieces have to be 10" wide.

You can make the length of the bag as long as you choose but the width of the side piece has to be the same as the square on the end.

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So, if you used a 10 inch block for your 2 ends you would cut your side strips 10 inches wide and how ever long you want the tote

to be (I suggest 5" longer than the width at least) x 3 pieces.

(2 side pieces and 1 bottom piece).

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For the top of the tote where the zipper opening will be...

You will cut (1 piece)

**11 inches** wide

by how ever long you want

the tote to be and cut that piece in half.

You will add the extra 1 inch because after you cut

it in half you will fold over 1/2 and inch on each piece to

form a finished edge to sew the zipper to..

(On the interfacing pieces you will cut off that 1 inch)

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The first step is deciding what size you want your tote to be and picking out your fabrics and embroiderys..

once that is done you are ready to begin..

Make your embroiderys on a piece of fabric that is considerably larger than your want your finished square to be..I use a square that is 5" larger than my intended square. So if Im going to use a 7 inch block for the end of my tote I will cut out a 12 inch block of white weavers cloth.

(I always do my embroidery on WEAVERS CLOTH whenever

I use white to embroidery on..) On your side pieces make the strip 3 inches longer and 3 inches wider.

JUST TO BE SAFE!!

In the same size as your outer pieces you will need to cut out pieces in stiff interfacing and pieces in a matching lining fabric for your tote.

~Here we are going to work on the inside of the tote first~

Wow, the worst part is over now..

This is the fun part because once this part is done you are almost

finished with your beautiful tote bag and you can sit back and admire it and then take pictures of it and send them to your friends.

~LETS GET STARTED~

Now that you have mastered the lining this will be simple.

We are going to start with the two pieces you have cut into half for the zipper. Press under a 1/2 inch flap on each piece. Using your zipper foot

attach your zipper. Make sure to use a zipper that is long enough to go to

the length of the tote all but about 1 inch or so to the end. any more than that and you will have a gaping hole to deal with.

Lay that piece aside for now.

Sew all of your pieces together like you did the lining.

Follow your directions from above for the lining.

Dont forget the 1/4 inch seam allowance!!

When you get to the part where you are going to sew the zipper piece to the square fold the square in half to find the center and match it up with the center of the zipper matching the corners of course..

Keep going until you have the entire outside of the tote sewn together.

Turn right side out and put your lining inside of your tote.

Pin the top of the tote so that you can stitch down the lining to the zipper. make sure everything is even and the corners are punched out inside the tote. Line up seams and make sure it looks nice.

Finish it off with a nice hand stitching job!