Tote bag from recycled materials

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Do you have some leftover fabric and you don't know what to do with it? 
Lets recycle it!  




For this little side project you will need:

- sewing machine
- fabric (use leftovers)
- scissors
- thread
- chalk (or something to draw with on the fabric)
- tape measure
- iron

I have some of this black cotton and white crochet curtain. (Yes, this was that curtain. Small, on half a window curtain.) Now, lets give it new life. 

To make a tote bag you're going to need 4 parts. 

Cutting parts


1. part. Back panel. 
From the main fabric cut a rectangle. 50x46 cm.


2. Part. Front panel.
Cut a crochet part. 28x46 cm.  My crochet has 28 cm width.


3. Part. Two front parts.
Cut 2 rectangles that go around the crochet. 12x46 cm.


4. Part. Two handles.
Cut two rectangles. 10x66 cm.


Sewing handles

Fold the fabric in half on a short edge and iron it.


Take two corners and fold tham inside to the middle fold and iron again. Once you get that fold in half again and iron. 


Sew 5 mm on both side to get is sturdy. And with that handles are done.


Front panel

Arange 3 front panels how ever you see fit. Keep one thing in mind. You don't want crochet part at bottom or top. 



Once you sew them up serge the edges so that they don't fray. If you don't have a serger there are some other ways you can sew the raw edge. You can zig-zag stitch it, french seam it, cut it with pinking shears or bind it with the bies tape. 


Back panel

Lay front panel on top of the back panel right sides facing each other.


Sew around leaving top side open. Serge the edges.


You can leave the bag like this, or you can make the bottom flat. 
First you need to flaten the corner. Mesure from the tip 5 cm inward and draw the line. Do that on both corners. 


Sew along that line and surge the edges.


Rim of the bag

Mesure 4 cm from the top of the bag and draw a line. On the line that you just made find the middle. Mesure 10 cm from the middle on both sides. 



Fold and iron on the long line that you draw. 


On the lines that you just made put the handles. The edge that you just irond fold inside and pin everything together all around the rim. 



Once you have it pined sew 5 - 10 mm from the edge. 


Next step is to sew on the top. Same as the bottom 5 - 10 mm. 
Once you get to the handle flip it so that it goes out of the bag and sew over it. 


To make the handle secure sew a X shape in the middle of the fold you just made.


And that is it. You can iron the bag. 


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