Making the Tote Bag - Part One

OK... here we go. There will be 22 pictures in this lesson... and a lot of explanation to go with them. I'll do it in two pages, for the sake of more reasonable download time.

Many of you have made sewing totes before, but trust me, here we are dealing with a muc heavier duty project. The size is larger and the fabric heavier. Study the directions and go slow. Take your time and enjoy the process.

Size of the Tote

It would be oh, so nice if I could simply say, "Make your tote to these dimensions." However, machines and their cases come in many sizes. The best I can do is tell you how to measure and how much extra to allow for the seams and such. The actual size of your tote will depend on your needs.

I used a standard full-size Singer bentwood case, as representing probably the most common machine in the community. This size will probably accomodate 3/4's of all of the hand cranks out there, since many are not full-sized machines anyway. However, be prepared to find that the older Singers in the rectangular, as opposed to bentwood, cases may be larger, and those of you fortunate enough to have a White FR handcrank will probably find that larger, as well.

The dimensions of a full-size Singer bentwood case are almost 9" wide x 13 1/2" high x 20" long. I wanted to have an inch extra in length and width, so I was shooting for a finished tote dimension of 10" wide x 13 1/2" high x 21" long. I ended up just a smidge shy as I somehow made my second seam of the french seam a bit wide. My finished dimensionsa are 9 3/4" x 13 1/2" x 20 34". Near enough to perfect to keep me happy.

When I started measuring, for seam allowances for the french seams I used 1", and for the larger doubled over "hem" at the top, I used 2 1/2". Keep these dimensions in mind and watch how the numbers work out as we build the tote.

Cutting the Pieces

Your tote will consist of four pieces: two end pieces, one middle section, and the strap.

The middle section is one long piece. It's dimensions will consist of the bottom width (no seams there) plus the height needed for the two sides, including the foldover top hem. For my project, I cut a piece of Sunbrella 42" x 23". This represented 10" for the bottom and 16" (the 13 1/2" I wanted to end up with plus the 2 1/2" hem allowance at the top) for each side. The 23" dimension represents the 21" finished size desired plus 1" seam allowance for the french seam at each end.

For the ends, I cut two pieces 12" x 17". The 12" dimension represented the 10" finished width I wanted plus two 1" french seam allowances and the 17" represented the 13 1/2" height dimension, plus the 2 1/2" top hem allowance, plus the 1" seam allowance for the french seam at the bottom.

Understanding those numbers is vital. If they aren't clear to you, read them again and again. If necessary, take some paper or spare fabric and try it out in miniature.

The remaining piece is the strap, and here again, dimension is critical. The strap has to start in the middle of the bottom, run out to the edge, up one side provide a carrying handle at the top, then run down that side, across the bottom again, up the other side, provide a second carrying handle and then run down that side and back across the bottom to meet it's beginning. How long or deep a carrying handle you want is pretty arbitrary. We used the empirical method... worked a strap under the bentwood case and brought it up and folded it over and said, "That looks about right...". Of course we had to double it because the strap will travel its route twice to provide your handles. In our case, we figured 13 1/2" (side), plus 10" (bottom), plus 13 1/2" (other side) plus 20" per side for a handle. That made a total of 57" per side or 114" of strap. We had a whole role of 1 1/2" wide cotton webbing (working in a marine upholstery shop really is handy for this sort of thing), so I cut off 114" and was ready to start.

From this point we go with pictures:

 

This is the basic cutting area of Windrose Interiors, my wife's business. Doesn't everyone have access to a cutting table on which you can roll out 60" wide fabric? And steel rulers and tee squares in 3', 4', 5', 6' and 7' lengths? Here you see a Sunbrella remainder rolled out for me to start cutting. (The sewing machine at the right is a walking foot Juki commercial... it ain't a treadle, kiddies! This thing won't just sew your finger, it'll stitch its way up your whole arm before you can blink!	Here are the four pieces of the tote: 114" of strap webbing, two light brown Sunbrella ends (12" x 17") and the darker brown main or middle section (42" x 23"). Note: it is really important that you carefully establish and mark the center of the 114" length of strap.
Sorry about this picture, but it's important. What you are looking at is the middle piece. I have folded it in half and run a crease in it... that is the light colored center line between the two pencil lines. The somewhat less prominent light line to the left of the center line is a partial crease from some previous handling of the fabric. What has happened here is that I established the center of the middle section, then established where the middle of the carrying strap would be. We established that the carrying strap centers would be 7" apart, basically again by empirical method. That's what looked right to us. These two pencil lines are each 3 1/2" from the pale center line.	Here the strap has been sewn on, but don't leap up and do it. You have to observe a couple of points first... The most imporant one is this: DON'T START STITCHING UNTIL YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE THE STRAP LAID OUT WITHOUT A TWIST IN IT!!! It's just really nice if both sides of the strap are the same...
WARNING: DO NOT TAKE THIS STEP UNTIL YOU HAVE READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS!!!!! Again, too close with the flash, but I wanted you to see this. This is the start and finish point of sewing the strap on. The strap will be sewn on with a seam along each edge. If you look really close, you can almost see another fold line that established the cross-wise center. The strap starts at this center, i.e. the middle of the bottom, centered on one of the two pencil lines, and is stitched up to a previously marked point 5" BELOW the top of the piece. I lined up the butt joint (don't overlap) and started the seam about 2" below the joint. When I reached the joint line, I backed up and went forward a couple of times, then sewed on up to the spot described (5" below the top edge). At that point an "X Square" is sewn in to tack that spot down and then you stitch back down to the joint again, go back and forward a couple of times over the joint and then keep going on the strap, up to a point 5" below the other edge, make another X square and then proceed back to the joint and finish off. You have now sewn on one side of the strap. Now, on the remaining strap, find your previously marked center point and align that on the middle of the other pencil line. Tack it down and start there to duplicate what you did on the other side, except that you don't have to worry about a butt joint. Stitch to the point 5" below the top, make your X square, stitch back down the other edge to the point 5" below the other side's top, make another X square and stitch back to the middle. See next picture.	Here is the underside of the butt joing in the middle of the bottom. You can see what I meant by tacking down the butt.
Here you see the top edge of a side, and how the stitching down of the straps was stopped 5" below the top edge. You will want to mark these 5" points on the previously drawn pencil lines so you know where to stop and where to make your X squares.	Here is an X square as seen from the bottom.
The next thing you need to do is establish where the bottom corners will be. (Remember that first picture in the How to Make a French Seams series?) Measure down 16" from the top on each side and make a pencil mark. (Why 16"? Figure it out... 2 1/2"hem allowance plus 13 1/2" you want for the finished side.) If all is going well, there should be 10" (the desired finished bottom dimension) between your pencil marks. Make a small cut 3/4" in at each of these four pencil marks, as indicated here. (Note: This is where I went awray... I cut in 1" rather than 3/4" and was thus slightly off in my finished size as my french seams were a bit wide.)	Refer back to that first French Seam picture above if you don't understand what has happened here. Working from one of the cuts I just made, I have opened up the center section and aligned one side and the bottom. I don't pin this stiff canvas, but rather use these clips... a standard upholstery technique in Ann's shop.

Link to "Making the Tote Bag - Part Two"