i dug around in my stash and came across the echino that i was hoarding, that you saw me use for a couple of the pouches that i posted last week, and thought it would be perfect. i could make myself a tote, and participate in the My Precious QAL at the same time! i had a lot on my plate, as usual, so i thought i'd just whip up a super simple totebag, the kind that there are multitudes of tutorials out there for, usually swearing that they'll take half an hour or less.
as if!
in the beginning, i had faith. i dug through my bins of notions and found some black strapping, which is quicker to use than making straps out of fabric. i found a bright pink sheet that perfectly matched the pink on the echino, and i cut out two pieces of the lining and the outer fabric. i veto'd interfacing or stabilizer, because it was supposed to be a quick tote, something that i could easily toss into another bag, etc.
i sewed the two echino pieces together, boxed the corners, and that's pretty much when the plan began to unravel. i started to think that since i was using such awesome fabric, that i'd been saving for so long, i should at least put a pocket in the tote. might as well make it useful, right?
and in order to make the pocket useful, it should probably have a zipper in it. and i have about six million zippers, so that's cool.
except for the table, rubbermaid bins and shelves in front of my carefully organized zippers, blocking the way.
i set the tote aside for a few days and worked on other stuff, contemplating the effort of moving everything around in my studio, and wondering what had possessed me to store my zipper stash in such a ridiculous place. eventually i caved and went out and bought a damn zipper.
it was at then that i realized that i would want to finish the edges inside the pocket. i contemplated setting up my serger, but decided that it would be too much work, and i'd be better off lining the pocket. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING EITHER. two minutes to set up the serger versus an hour to do the damn pocket? obviously the 60 minutes is shorter than 2 minutes, right?
so i was an idiot and lined the pocket. and since i was at it, i might as well make a long narrow pocket to hold pens, but of course i wouldn't compare the length of the pocket to the length of a standard pen, that would be too smart. so now i had a somewhat excessively long narrow pocket.
but whatever! i have precious fabric! i have strapping! i have pockets! i have lining! after i added the pockets, i sewed the rest of the tote together lickety split, and there ya go! i had a tote bag!
![echino bag](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7219/7179195069_79f258253d.jpg)
i totally wish i'd done fabric straps now. oh well.
![echino side](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5463/7179193283_45f37be3e5.jpg)
![echino pockets](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/7364422046_4f093bdfde.jpg)
![0me and the bags](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7084/7179192091_155b6b2e63.jpg)
and for perspective, me with multiple totes hung off my shoulder. i'll be blogging that other tote soon too.
and then it took me a month to take pictures, and i totally missed the May linkup for the My Precious QAL. whoopsidaisie. on a positive note, now it's done in plenty of time for the June link up, right?!
i'm linking this up to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and Manic Monday at SewHappyGeek, and tomorrow i'll link it up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SXXJivUrMPc/TTyc0BtCOgI/AAAAAAAAATo/gjpMbeySFpU/s1600/sewmodernmonday-1.gif)
![Sew Happy Geek](http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa424/sewhappygeek/MMblogbuttonv2.jpg)
![Fresh Poppy Design](http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/freshpoppydesign/fabrictuesdayfinalcopy.png)
4 comments:
giggle
it is a lovely tote! maybe you can find some really long pens?
You can still add fabric to your handles. Just cut a strip the width of the strapping and then fold under the raw edges a 1/4" and top stitch on. I did that on a class tote and I was really pleased with the results. I needed the strength of the strapping but the fabric made it 'pretty'!
How your post made me laugh...the half hour turned few days bag! Love that Echino fabric! =D
Very cute bag! I am all too familiar with the "I could not be bothered to excavate my supply, so I will buy a new one" issue. At least you have organized rubbermaid totes and such. I have a craft explosion.
I still want that skirt you are wearing in that pic.
btw - solve the super long pen pocket issue by pinning a cute 1" button onto the bag, sealing off the extra length at the bottom!
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