TOTE BAG TUTORIAL totally totally!!!

Yesterday I thought of doing the simplest bag I learned in Bag Making class. Only I skipped through preshrinking the fabric (washing and ironing it w/ fusible pelon). Fusible pelon is readily available on palengke, just mention yun ung shiny on one side.

Mom's scraps of medium to light weight cotton canvas

For years I haven't bought a single tote bag for myself cause I know I can easily whip one out from my mom's scraps of fabrics. I'm not strict-by-the-books kind of gal w/ sewing, I taught myself lang from an early age. So I want this tote bag to be easy. I first cut my canvas with measurements below. Dimensions are in inches.

Once again I should have iron it, but its for my lunchbox lang so why bother :-)
I folded first the handle into half then sewn the folded edges together...

I sewn this handle on the body measuring 1.5 inches from the center, so the handle is 3 inches apart from each other.

The inside lining is then sewn on top of it sandwiching (gandang term) the handle in between.

I did the other handle next without the fuss of taking pictures again. Kinda tricky holding the camera on my left and my right hand holding the fabric right there, I'm right handed and pasmado so ang saya! I next fold the main body facing the right side. Then sew both sides closed.

I drawn and cut next 1.5 square inch on the bottom corner of my bag. 

Belated I realized that without full lining, the edges will be messy so I cut 2 random size canvas to cover my edges... Thank god I took photos cause I'm having a hard time na with my english! X )..

I folded the edges of those two and sewn on top of my raw ends.

I then sewn the opening of my bag. First the top then the folded edges of my short lining.

Instead of gusset (term for the fabric added on the sides of the bag that determines the bag's width) I use darts to add body to my bag, hence the cut off square on the corners.

You can see that the raw ends are already natatastas so I sewn it shut near its edges on the right side of the bag.

we're sooo close!

I then turned the bag inside out and sew my darts shut hiding the raw ends inside, making the insides all neat and not prone to ripping when washed.

After completing my oh-so-easy to follow steps, you'll came up with this bag right here.

10.5 in H x 9in. L x 4.5in. W... perfect for my lunch box!

I think I did this for less than 3 hours, it'll be much shorter than that for you guys! Because you won't  have to figure the sizes and take pictures along the way. Hope I can inspire you guys to sew your own bags! Its the littlest details of a home made bag that makes yours differ from those of mass produced ones. Let me know what you think of my first tutorial!!!


Until my next post guys!ciao!!!