Just a quick note: I’m moving to temporary housing today and my friend Sarah M. is filling in with a fabulous tutorial. I hope you enjoy this fun tutorial and send her lots of love.
Hello new friends! I’m so happy to be here guest posting for Leslie today. I wish her the best of luck on her big move. I had the privilege of meeting Leslie at Quilt Market last fall. We kept running into each other at all our favorite designers booths. What can I say, great minds think alike!
If you read my blog you know I love to sew!! I love the challenge of figuring out how to put things together. I love to experiment! Unfortunately things don’t always come together as planned and sometimes projects are a total flop. Today I want to share with you my favorite piece of advice…
Don’t be afraid to try something new! Don’t be afraid to experiment!
Even if you fail, you’ll always learn something along the way. And if you succeed there is no greater sense of accomplishment. One of my favorite things to do is take a tutorial and put my own spin on it. I have a little example to show you today of how I did just that with my old Summer Tote tutorial.
I was in need of a new beach bag for the summer but I wanted to change it up this year and add a few features that I found it was lacking. Here is my new and improved Summer Tote!
I made this one out of Tula Pink laminated fabric which made it a little trickier to sew than normal. I haven’t sewn much with laminate fabric so that was interesting! Here are a few Laminate fabric tips that came in handy.
I also added side pockets, ’cause you know they’ll come in handy!
I widened the body, cutting it at 16” x 20”. I also gave it rounded corners with a little help from a cereal bowl. Of course I had to adjust the bottom/side panels and ended up cutting a long strip 6” x 49”. I attached the side pockets to the strip before sewing it all together. I cut the side pockets at 8” x 6” and placed them 8” down from the top.
I added a layer of felt for interfacing on the lining. It is not necessary but I just wanted to see how it would turn out. The felt made the french seams bulkier and so they had to be trimmed down before finishing the seams.
Because I experimented a little, I ended up with a bag that is just what I needed. Have you found a pattern or tutorial that shows you how to make something that is almost what you need?
Kyle says
May 31, 2013 at 4:36 pmCute bag! and always satisfying to get exactly the features you want.
Irene says
May 31, 2013 at 6:53 pmNice beach tote. Pretty fabric too, i’ve never sewen with laminated fabric. Your tote would also be great to put quilting projects in to carry to class or to a get together with fellow quilters. It would be very nice to be able to wipe the tote down instead of putting it in the washing machine.
Thank you for sharing.
Leslie says
May 31, 2013 at 10:08 pmI do love this tote. I think it would also be great for carrying groceries. Especially with the felt in the handle.