Making a Cotton Tote Bag

Yesterday I took a trip up to the loft and managed to find a sack of fabric that I've been searching for for MONTHS. All the fabric pieces I had were pretty small, around 'fat quarter' size. I also had some plain cream coloured cotton, so i decided to make a couple of cute lined cotton tote bags :-). They're pretty easy if you have spare fabric laying around, you can even use old bed sheets, curtains or clothes if you want. There's some basic instructions about how I made them below.

Step 1

First I started by picking out some fabrics that would look cute together. I decided to use two different ones for each of my bags, because I like how they look with a different pattern on each side, you can pick two pieces of the same fabric if you’d like. Next, I cut two rectangles of equal size, about an inch bigger than the size that I want the final bag to be.

Step 2

Next I cut two rectangles of the same size out of my plain cotton. I find it’s easier to get them the right size if you iron out the creases in the fabric and then lay one on top and cut around the edge of the one underneath.

Step 3

I then cut two handles for my bag. I used cotton tape for my handles, you can get this in lots of different colours and thicknesses. I think my handles were about 120cm long, but you can adjust this for however long you want your own.

Step 4

Next, I pinned each end of one handle on to one of the plain cotton layers.

Step 4

After pinning, I sewed each end in place. I used my sewing machine for this, but they’re very easy to hand sew if you don’t have one.

Step 5

Next, I lay the plain piece of fabric on top of the printed one, folding the handle down inside. It should create a sandwich, with the handle in the middle. It’s really important that the printed side of the fabric is facing the middle of the sandwich. After positioning my pieces I sewed across the top of the rectangle and down each side, making sure not to sew the bottom shut.

Step 6

I then turned my fabric inside out. One side of the bag is now finished!

Step 7

After completing one side, all you have to do is repeat steps 4-6 for the other side, using the remaining two fabric pieces.

Step 8

Once you’ve completed both sides, it’s a good idea to iron them so that the seams lie more flat. Next, you need to position the ironed pieces so that they are on top of each other with the printed sides facing inwards.

Step 9

Next, you need to sew down each side and across the bottom of the bag. Make sure not to sew across the top!

Step 10

Finally, turn your bag inside out! And you’re all done! (Ironing the completed bag to flatten the seams makes a great finished product).