MAKING - basic tote bag

My friends daughter's daycare is having a sock hop and silent auction. I am making a few items for the silent auction. This is one of them. It is a library bag or child size tote bag.

This pattern idea is a nice basic bag idea for whatever size bag you are making.

I will explain the suggested dimensions later.

First step, sew the strap! You can get a good idea of your tension and desired stitch while sewing the first seams. Also, they are hidden, so if you goof up, its not a big deal.

When you flip the strap right side out, fold it flat with the seam centered on one side. Iron if needed.

*tip* for things like this I don't set up my ironing board, I just iron on a folded up towel on the floor.

Sew the 'top' edges of the fabric down about a half inch. Iron if needed.

Fold your outside and inside of the bag, wrong side out, fold them in half lining up your newly hemmed edges.

Flip the liner material right side out and tuck the out side (wrong side out) into the liner. Push the corners into place. Line up the top edges so that the ends are flush. You can sew the liner pocket a little bit shorter if you want to, but just make sure that the base of the bag nests together properly.
Pin if needed, iron if needed.

*tip*  you know how your stapler has two options of how the staple staples? Flip the base plate so that it bends the ends of the staple outwards. That is a pin staple. You can use it instead of sewing pins. Just staple that shit in place! When you need to remove the "pin" just pull on one edge and it slides right out.

Take your strap and tuck and pin it in place. Make sure its not twisted all funky.

Here is the last real step! Sew around the perimeter of the bag opening. This attaches the straps (reinforce if you think it's needed) and seals all the raw edges inside your finished bag.

(I hate raw edges on items made of woven materials.)

I sewed two rings around the bag opening, one at about 1/4 inch down and another just a smidge down from there. I decided I also needed to sew as close as I could to the edges connecting the liner to the exterior of the bag.

Flip it right side out! Yay, it's done and looks great! Buuuut... it kind of flops open more than I want it to.

Here's a solution! A snap! I bought a tool to press snaps on at Value Village today. I sewed this bag tonight so that I could try the tool out without wasting a snap.

Here is the finished product. It is made of white baby wale corduroy with trucks, trains and airplanes on it. The liner is a yellow circle calico type pattern cotton material. The snap is solid red on one side and a silver "o" on the other side because it took me a few tries to figure out how to press the snaps on and I may have screwed up my other red snap bases.

 

extra tips and rambling...

When I would affix snaps like this in the past, I used a snap set if I had one (and could find it) OR a wooden thread spool. I have a piece of wood that I use to put under things that I hammer. I would hammer the snap into place over the wood, sometimes I would do this in the stairwell of my building because that isn't someones ceiling. If I hammer a snap in place in my apartment I do it onto the piece of wood over a folded towel on a rug. It is good to have a designated craft towel and 1" x 6" piece of wood at least 2 feet long. You can use that piece of wood for other things like snapping scored plexiglass (it's long enough to brace the board on a chair seat with your knee) or to attach smaller things you are sawing (while bracing on a chair with your knee).

MAKING - little acorn friends - craft time

I like acorns. I also like putting faces on things. This could only naturally lead to putting faces on acorns.

Here's how I do it.

Start with some clean acorns.

Their hats tend to fall off, if the hats aren't loose, I like to twist/tilt them loose. It seems like they are going to fall off anyways, so why not beat them to it.

You can use glue to put the hats back on, I chose to use black puff paint. The acorns had some black discoloration and this blended right in.

I used nail polish to give them rosy cheeks.

I used a small tipped pen with waterproof ink to draw on their cute little eyes and mouths.

Here are a few with their dry cheeks and happy smiles.

To help preserve their faces and make them all shiny and nice, I painted a liberal coat of clear nail polish on the nuts.

Here they are all glossy and happy and done.

Lately I have been into painting the stems gold. I use Testers enamel paint (the kind for model cars etc...).