Simple Tote Bag Tutorial

Need a quick and simple tote for your next beach trip?
Here is a photo tutorial of how to make a quick and simple tote bag for your goodies and supplies. 

 

Materials:

Medium to heavy weight cotton fabric. 20″ wide by width of fabric. This vintage print is exactly 36″ wide, which is great, if you use 44″ wide fabric you can cut it down, or just have a taller bag.  

Nylon webbing.  Also called belting. Coordinating colors work well, but far be it from me to crush your rebel creativity!  For this Simple Tote, I used 2-1/2 yards.  If you want a taller bag, or longer handles, use 3 yards.

Of course the usual, sewing machine, thread, needles, marking tool, scissors, pins yadda yadda. She who sews, knows!

Choose your fabric 20×36 and webbing 2.5 yards

Finish the ends of the webbing to keep it from fraying. Fray Check or melting with a soldering iron work well.

With chalk or a fabric pencil, mark lines down the center both horizontal and vertical. (Up, down, side to side. Hummz sounds too much like exercise)

Chalk Marks, nope not a double line, I would never do that!

On the Short edge, fold down one inch and iron, then fold down one more inch and iron. Do that to both edges. This will be the top of your tote.

Both short edges ironed.

Stitch one quarter inch from the bottom edge of the fold.

Stitch again one quarter of an inch from the top edge of the fold. Do this to both ends.

Mark the Simple Tote again half way between the center and the outside of the long edge. Place your webbing inside of that mark and at the center edge of the short side.

Like this.

Now go all the way around pinning every few inches.

Stitch around the webbing to secure it to the tote.

When you get to the end, cross box the stitches like this for added security.

Once webbing is stitched in place, line up top edges and stitch from top to bottom on both sides.

It should look like this:

Edge finish so the fabric doesn’t fray. I chose pinking sheers, but you could do a simple zig zag on the edge.

Pink pink pink those edges!

Turn it right side out and TADA you have a Simply Gorgeous Simple Tote

 All packed and ready to go to the beach! (Life needs to be fun too!)