I wanted something that slid easily over our shoulders, so many tote bags we own have handles that are too short. The finished adult bag is roughly 13″ tall and 14″ wide at the top, the child bag is roughly 9″ tall and 9.5″ wide at the top. Bohemian Carpet Bag – A Purse Pattern Review.The best knitting project bag sewing pattern.If you like sewing bags, you’ll like these other posts too! I used the same fabric, but with two different size scales! I’m no pattern designer I used the new myfabric option (this is the art deco flamingo in midweight linen/cotton blend) from JOANN. This post was sponsored by JOANN, which means they supplied materials and compensated me for my time, but all opinions are my own. My daughter loves collecting rocks and hauling her stuffed animals around so I thought I’d design a size for her too, aren’t we cute with our matching bags? I usually use larger pieces as cleaning rags, or use them to make the recycled t-shirt potholders pictured below.I had so much fun with this tutorial and am excited to share an easy tote bag pattern! I tried to make it as simple as possible to follow but still end up with a nicely finished tote. Wondering what to do with your leftover scraps? Tie the straps in knots, or tie bits of t-shirt scrap to the top as embellishments Turn the bag right side out when tying the fringe. Now turn your t-shirt right side out again and voila, you’re done! Then I take the remaining strand on the right set and tie it to the next set of strands, and so on and so forth until all the strands are tied. Then I take the other strand from the middle set (the one with the arrow pointing right) and tie it in a knot with one of the strands on the right set. What I do next is grab one strand from the middle set (the one with the arrow pointing left) and tie it in a knot with one of the strands on the left set. In the photo above you see three sets of fringe that have been tied in knots. Now if you lift your bag you’ll see that although the pairs are pulling the bag together, there’s a hole between each pair. Take your first pair of fringe and tie it into a knot, then tie two more pairs. Okay, this is going to sound really complicated, but it’s NOT, promise. I cut my slits about 3/4 to 1 inch apart. You’ll want to cut both the front and back layers together because they need to match up for the next step. Now grab your scissors and cut slits from the bottom of the shirt up to the line marking the bottom of your bag. Keep in mind that depending on the fabric used, your tote is likely stretch and become longer when it’s filled with stuff. Determine where you want the bottom of the bag to be and trace a line across. If you haven’t already turned your t-shirt inside out, do it now. Step 3: Determine how deep you want the bag to be I ended up trimming this one a bit to make it more oval. I used both methods and personally, I like free-hand cutting better because I prefer a slightly oval shape to a perfectly round one. If you’d like, you can turn the shirt inside out and trace the outline of a bowl before cutting. Or, if your material is too thick to cut them both at once, you can cut one, then fold it in half and use the cut side as a guide for the next sleeve. If you’d like to fold the t-shirt in half you can cut both sleeves at once so that they are identical. Sharp scissors, preferably fabric scissors.Old t-shirt – The thicker the fabric, the sturdier the bag.The took no more than 10 minutes from start to finish, and I love how they turned out. At all.įortunately, I came across some no-sew ideas that Katie and I adapted to fit our style (which, if you’re curious, generally favors the color red and anything Snoopy). They’re 100% washable, and when they’re no longer useful as bags I can cut them into rags to clean with. My local thrift shop was selling cute t-shirts for 99 cents apiece that were practically begging to be upcycled into a farmer’s market tote.
The cashier took one look at our reusable bags and, um, insisted on giving us new ones. Apparently, they don’t like the look of them after they’ve been repeatedly dragged along the ground by children who “help” unload the groceries.Īnyway, I’ve been looking for an easy-to-carry, washable alternative for the kids to use, and over the weekend I came across the perfect solution. So, the other day my husband stopped by Whole Foods after picking up produce, meat and cheese from our local farmers market.