How to Make a Tote Bag: Step By Step. Shopping Tote Bag | Market Bag Sewing Tutorial.
To make this tote you need: 13 fat eighths of Oakshott Lipari, 3/4 yds of 42″ wide fabric to use as lining, and 1 1/2 yds of 20″ wide fusible interfacing.
FRONT: Cut 1.5″ strips on the long edge of a fat quarter (so your strip is 1.5″ x 18″) of 13 different colors of Oakshott Lipari. Sew them together using a 1/4″ seam allowance and press all the seams to the same direction. (All seam allowances in this project are 1/4″). I picked in order Porticello, Malfa, Rinella, Lentia, Dattilo, Lisca, Stromboli, Lipari, Canneto, Gallina, Volcano Bleu, Scari, and Marina.
Cut 4 strips of the rainbow that are 1.5″, 1 strip of 2.5″, 1 strip of 3.5″, 1 strip of 4.5″, and 1 strip of 5.5″. Set aside 3 of the 1.5″ strips. Rotate the 2.5″ and 4.5″ strips 180 degrees so their rainbows are opposite of the 1.5″, 3.5″, and 5.5″ strips.
Sew the rainbow strips together and press. It should be relatively easy to get the corners to line up because you can nest all your seams. (The odd rows will have their seam allowances facing the opposite direction from the even rows.) Your pieced front will have a finished size of 15.5″ x 13.5″.
BACK: Cut a 5″ x 14.5″ rectangle of fabric from 2 colors (outside stripes) and a 4.5″ x 14.5″ rectangle of fabric from 1 color (inside stripe). Sew them together along the long edges and press. Sew one of the extra 1.5″ rainbow stripes to the top and press. Your pieced back will have a finished size of 15.5″ x 13.5″.
SIDES: Cut 4 rectangles of 4.5″ x 14.5″. Sew them together in pairs along the long edge. Grab your remaining two 1.5″ strips of rainbow and rip two a seam in each to separate 5 colors from 8 colors. Sew the rainbow of 8 to the top of each side and discard the rainbow of 5. Your pieced sides will have a finished size of 15.5″ x 8.5″.
BOTTOM: Cut 2 rectangles of 4.5″ x 13.5″. Sew them together on the long edge and press. Your pieced bottom will have a finished size of 8.5″ x 13.5″.
I strongly recommend that you fuse a piece of fusible interfacing to the wrong side of each part of the tote. This will help your tote stand up to more wear and tear and protect your lovely piecing. You will need 2 pieces of 15.5″ x 13.5″ (for front and back), 2 pieces of 15.5″ x 8.5″ (for sides), 1 piece of 13.5″ x 8.5″ (for bottom), and 2 pieces of 3.5″ x 18″ (for the handles, next step).
HANDLES: Cut 2 rectangles of 3.5″ x 18″. Fuse fusible interfacing to each piece. Sew one long edge to the other on each rectangle to make two tubes. Turn them right side out and press them flat with the seam in the center back of the flat handle. Topstitch along the long edges of each handle to help them keep their shape and structure.
LINING: You will need to sew a lining for this bag like you sewed the outside of the bag. You will need 2 pieces of 15.5″ x 13.5″ (for front and back), 2 pieces of 15.5″ x 8.5″ (for sides), and 1 piece of 13.5″ x 8.5″ (for bottom). I used a heavy satin since it felt like the correct level of luxury to play off the Oakshott, but I strongly recommend NOT using a slippery fabric and sticking to cotton.
Once you have the lining sewn, turn it right side in and place the main bag right side out inside of the lining. Sew them together along the top edge using a 1/4″ seam allowance and leaving a gap of several inches. I recommend sewing a second layer of stitching across each handle for strength.
EDGESTITCHING: Turn the lining to the inside of the bag through the slit you left at top. Tuck the raw edges of the unstitched gap in and edgestitch along the top of the bag. In this bag I also edgestitched along all the other seams to add a bit of extra strength and structure to the bag.
I’m proud of the way that the rainbow wraps around the top of the bag. A simple detail, but one that adds a lot of pop to an otherwise pretty simple bag.
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