How to Sew A Heart Tote Bag

I wanted to offer you a DIY “full of love”: the heart tote bag. Very simple and very effective in case of a bout of blues, one look at your bag and your smile will return…

For this DIY heart tote bag, you'll need:

– 1.5 hours!
– Download the PDF pattern here,
– 60 cm of fabric,
– A sewing machine and an iron,
– A pair of scissors,
– Coordinating thread and a needle.

Start by taking the first heart and one side, and pin right sides together, starting from the tip of the heart.

Do the same with the other “side” of the heart so your two sides overlap, nothing serious, you will come to notch flush with the seam later. Pin up to the notch indicated on the pattern, and fold the end of the side over once 1 centimeter, fix with a pin, the return will be maintained thanks to the passage under the machine.

 

Now stitch around the edge of the heart to hold the first heart and its sides together, and as with the  patterns, there is a 1/4 inch seam allowance. If necessary, use the width of your presser foot as a guide.

 

For the tip of the heart, take your pair of scissors, and cut along the seam to the tip, once the first side is cut, do the same with the other side, as shown in the picture.

This is what it should look like! Now take the second heart, align the points of the hearts with each other and start pinning the sides to the second heart, still right sides together.

For machine stitching, start at a high end and at the point, finish your seam on the latter (no, it's not sad...)!

Now for the handles, nothing could be simpler, just fold your strip in half on the wrong side using the iron and make a stitch 1 cm from the edge. Then turn your strip over by sliding the right side to the wrong side.

You're left with a rather unimpressive sausage, but the iron's magic will work! Flatten your work and let's move on to finishing the bag. Take the "half-hearts" and hem them with the iron to create a 1 cm fold, then a second, then machine-stitch everything.

Now you have all your bag elements that we are going to assemble together. Pin the handles on the rounded hearts of the bag, don't panic, there are notches on the pattern that show you the location. Be careful, however, to make your handles protrude a few centimeters, about 3/4 cm as in the image. Take your "half-hearts" and pin right sides together on the large heart, following the curves carefully.

Machine stitch everything, and using a pair of scissors, cut a notch between the two rounded corners of the heart. Then turn everything inside out; you're almost there! Iron your rounded corners well to make your bag perfect.

To finish this tote bag like a pro, here are a few tips: topstitch the rounded edges of your bag a few millimeters from the edge! And to reinforce the handles, I recommend making a small cross with the sewing machine. And one more little trick, if you want your bag to be really rigid, you can also iron-on the heart and half-heart sections!

One last finishing touch, and then I promise it's done! Hand-sewn the two small ends of the half-hearts inside your bag using a needle and thread! And TA-DA!