tote tutorial
STEP ONE
Gather all of your materials. You will need about a yard of fabric of both your exterior and inside fabric, a 7 inch zipper, thread, pins, scissors, measuring tape, and a sewing machine.
step two
Cut out your pieces. You will need two 14in. by 16 in. rectangles from your exterior fabric, and two 14 in. by 16 in. rectangles from your interior fabric. Next, cut two 2in. by 23 in. rectangles from your exterior fabric. Do the same for your interior fabric.
Now cut your pocket pieces. Cut two 9in. by 9in. squares from your exterior fabric. Cut one 14in. by 7in. rectangle.
step three
pin one piece of your 23x2 in. exterior fabric to one piece of you 23x2 in. interior fabric, right sides together. repeat with the other strap.
Now sew the long edges of the straps together following the pressure foot. Don't sew the short ends together. Then flip the straps inside out.
Repeat this with the other strap.
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step four
lay one of your zipper pocket pieces right side down in the center (towards the top) on the ride side of one of your interior pieces. Draw a rectangle for the opening for the zipper. It should be just long enough for the zipper to show through but the ends do not. It should also be a little shorter in height compared to your zipper.
inside the rectangle on each end make arrows and a line going through the center, like this
>-------------<
now stitch around the outer rectangle, not the >-------------<
cut along the >-------------< without cutting your stitching.
step five
pull the pocket piece through the opening you just made.
push the sides of the pocket piece under so that you get an open rectangle. fit your zipper underneath this and pin in place. stitch around the rectanlge, sewing the zipper in place.
this is what it should look like on the wrong side.
now place your other zipper pocket piece right side down on top of the piece shown in the picture above. stitch around the pocket piece, sewing both pieces together. only stitch the pocket pieces together. do not stitch onto the interior fabric.
now you should have a zipper pocket!
step six
now its time for the other pocket, which will actually end up being three pockets. take your 14x7in. rectangle and fold over the top (long side) and stitch down to make a finished edge.
position the rectangle across the middle of the interior fabric piece (the one without the zipper pocket), edges touching. pin in place
fold over the bottom edge of the pocket piece so that it is even and stitch it down, sewing it onto the interior fabric. now, sew two straight lines down the centers of the pocket piece and through the interior fabric. these determine the sizes of your pockets.
step seven
put both inside pieces right sides together and pin in place. make sure that on both pieces the pocket tops are pointing the same way so you dont end up with an upside down pocket.
sew around three of the sides, leaving the top open and a 4 to 5 inch opening on the bottom side.
step eight
put both outside pieces right sides together and pin in place, just as you did with the inside pieces in step seven. sew around the three sides, leaving the top open and do not leaving an opening at the bottom.
step nineflip the exterior fabric piece that you sewed together in the last step right sides out. push out corners. this is what the outside of your tote will look like. if you arent happy with something, change it now.
step ten
this step may sound confusing, but just read carefully. take your exterior piece (that you just flipped right side out) and put it into your interior piece. your interior piece should not be flipped right sides out. push the exterior piece in until the tops of both pieces line up.
step elevenline up side seams on both pieces and pin in place. now tak one of your straps and pin one end right side down where you want it onto your exterior fabric. now pin the other end of the strap. we pinned our edges 3 in. from the edges of the interior/exterior pieces. do the same to the other strap on the other side.
tuck each strap between the interior and exterior fabric pieces.
step twelve
now stitch around the entire top of your tote. your stitching shuold go through the exterior, interior, and straps. be careful to not sew the tote shut, the tote should be open.
step thirteen
now for the fun part! remember that 5 in. hole you left in the bottom of the interior fabric piece? reach in and pull the exterior fabric through the hole. by doing so, you will be flipping your tote right sides out.
this is what your tote should look like now. don't tuck the interior in yet - you're not quite done.
step fourteen
now you still have a hole in the bottom of your tote. tuck the poking out fabric into the hole to make a finished edge and stitch it closed close to the edge. you can machine stitch or slip stitch (hidden stitch).
step fifteen
tuck your interior fabric into your exterior fabric, and viola! you've finished your tote!
if you have any questions about this tutorial, email us:
diystickyglue@yahoo.com
(C)Sticky_Glue 2006