Maker Monday: Self-Drafted Tote Bag for a Me Made Gift

I do love a me-made gift, so for a close friends birthday recently, I took out my sewing machine to create a reversible bucket tote bag as part of her gift. 

I had some lovely spot fabric in my stash and I had previously picked up some shower-proof fabric from Barry's fabric Superstore in Birmingham for £1 a metre (a treasure trove of wonderful material - if you haven't been, I highly recommend a visit!) to place on the inside. As the bag may be used on the beach, a thought a wipe-able fabric would be useful for the sand!

This bag is quite large but you can create a tote bag as big or as little as you want; mine has diagonals at both bottom corners, but you can make it square, rectangular or curved. I would think about what you would like to use it for and decide the size from there. 

By cutting an outer and lining layers, there was no need to neaten the edges as they would be hidden on the inside when they're 'bagged out' (aka turned inside out!)

I sewed the outer bag side, diagonal and bottom seams together first, and then did the same thing on the lining layer. 

For the straps, i sewed the 2 long edges together for each strap piece as i wanted 2 handles for the bag before turning them through, rather than an over-the-shoulder strap. 

I also tried the viral Instagram hack to turn the straps through...have you seen it? It involves a piece of string through the middle of the strap first and securing it at one end. Then sewing the long seam as normal and using the string to pull it through to the right side. This was a game changer for me and much faster than any other method! 

I pinned the straps in place on each side of the outer bag (they should point downwards) and placed the lining bag inside that - this will 'sandwich' the straps in the seam - then sewed all the way around the top edge of the bag, leaving a small gap to pull the bag and straps through to the right side. Push the lining down into place in the inside of the bag. 

The final step is to turn the edges in at the opening at the top edge of the bag, and topstitch the complete top edge to conceal it. 

Et voila! The bag is finished.