My new tote bag

Hey, there.....I hope you all are enjoying a fine August Monday. I'm starting to feel the impending doom of school upon me. This is my last week of FREEDOM......; )

I recently did a big sewing project.....kind of a first for me! I made a tote bag with a lining, zippers and a pocket. Wow. As a new seamstress, this was ambitious for me. But...I do feel that you just gotta do it and learn from it.

I found this great tutorial at Sweet Verbena, a great DIY/sewing blog written by Katy. I'm looking forward to trying out a few more of her tutorials. Click here to see her tutorial. There is no way on God's green earth I could show how I made it, step-by-step!

I started with a pink print and a taupe contrast fabric. I used home dec fabric for both of these for durability.

Here are all of the pieces cut and ready to go (probably the trickiest thing for me to do).

Sewing on the casing...

The straps for the handles. I cut them a bit too small and they were awful to turn inside out!

The hole I cut for the zipper.

My zipper.....turned out a little wonky. Thanks be that it is on the inside of the bag.

Here is the lining with zippers, before it got put into the bag.

And....the lining inside.  The spot on the right is the only part I struggled with!

Here is my cinch bag.

Not bad for my first one!

I'm loving my new bag!

Party Time......

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