Sew Along with Pattern 521 – Crochet Tote

Today Paulette will show you the first part of this pattern, the quilted tote bag. This bag is good for lots of uses, not just crochet! The caddy for your crochet hooks is also quite versatile, and we’ll show you that in an upcoming video. You get both parts in the pattern: Crochet Tote and Caddy Quilted Organizer Pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM_PqzuyZBI

Video transcript:

hi everyone I’m Paulette Morrissey from tulip square and this week I’m going to make to show you how to make this cute little tote bag it was designed to be part of a set for crochet but it’s a handy tote bag for just about anything and this has been one that a few people have requested that we make a video of so we’re going to go ahead and make it so I’m going to head over to the sewing machine if you would like a copy of the pattern it will be in a link up here or up here I don’t know at the end of the video so let’s head over to the sewing machine and get started

all right to get this tote bag going we’re going to need the fabric for the main part of the tote we’re going to need a layer of batting and a layer of backing so I’ve got all three of these pieces set here together and they’re all smoothed out and ready to go and

you can get the measurements and everything and what you need for this will be in a link the pattern will be in a link at the end of the video so you can check that out there if you want to but I’m just going to go ahead and do some simple quilting on this now you could just do some lines or some decorative whatever you want I’m just going to do some simple meandering across the whole thing and for this pattern

to make the tote you do the quilting first and then you cut the pieces out and put them together so we’re going to do the meandering first

well I’m cutting big pieces like this when I’m cutting a piece that’s this big I like to take it to my ironing board and iron it and then I just mark with a pencil and a long ruler I use this long ruler and I just marked with the pencil where I need to cut and I’ll cut it up like that it’s easier and when I get to the smaller pieces I can use my rotary cutter but for the bigger stuff I just use scissors and get it all cut out

so that’s what I’m doing right now 

okay so once you’ve got your quilting done you’ve got all your pieces cut out according to the pattern and you’ve got your binding

cut and pressed and everything I don’t cut them into the pieces the pattern length says I just leave them the whole length of this strip and I cut them as I use them

I’m going to start by sewing the binding to the two short ends of the main tote piece

so I’m just going to sew a quarter inch seam along here both ends

okay and once I’ve got those sewn down I’m just going to turn the whole thing over flip them to the opposite side and

stitch them down real close to the edge I need to both ends like that so that you’ve got this on one side and this on the other side now the only difference

when you’re sewing binding on a piece like this or pretty much on anything it doesn’t matter if you sew the binding to the right side or the wrong side as long as you’re consistent but the difference is this

On the side you sew first like where I sewed it first 

to the right side I did the first stitching to the right side okay that will end up to look like this

with a little row of stitching below the finished binding edge and the opposite side

will have the stitching on the binding

see the difference one gets it visibly on the binding one gets a little row below the binding

so depending on what look you want for the outside of your tote

that’s the side you would stitch down first if you would rather have this little visible seam along the binding on the front of your tote then you would instead of sewing the binding to the front you would sew the binding to the back and fold it over to the front and it would look like this on the front

I hope that’s not too confusing

once you got the tote pieces with their binding done I’m going to sew binding on these two strap pieces and they’re going to get binding on both edges both long edges so I’m just going to sew the pieces down on each edge like this and then turn them to the other side and stitch them down just like I did on the tote piece so I’m going to go ahead and do both of the straps okay next you’re going to take a pocket piece you’re going to do this to both pockets and we’re going to sew binding around three sides two short sides

and one long side and leave the last long side with no binding

so I’m going to do the same thing

I’m going to sew along here I’m going to come to the corner sew along here do this corner and then cut the binding

When you’re sewing corners of binding on anything on a placemat or a quilt or anything here’s how I do them

stop sewing about a quarter of an inch before I hit this edge

take it out from under my sewing machine then I fold this up

so this edge and this edge are even with each other really nicely nice even straight line and then I like to take a little ruler and lay it so it’s parallel to this edge up here that I just sewed along

hang on to that and then I take this piece and bring it down

it gives me the perfect fold up at the corner right up here so then I’m just going to sew along here

I’ll show you that one more time on the next corner

okay I’m stopping

just before about a quarter of an inch before I hit this edge

about like so

Take it out from under your sewing machine

turn it

line these two edges up even with each other nice and parallel

lay the ruler up here

right along that top edge bring this down

making sure this these two are even here

pull your ruler out

and sew that quarter inch seam

now you’re going to turn the binding to the other side

and stitch it down and I’ll show you how you get to the corner what happens when you get to the corner doing it this way

I’ll just stitch that down along the edge real close when I get close to a corner I’m going to take my thumb

and go on the back side and bring it forward like so with kind of a little cup here then I’m going to take the next edge not done here yet I’m going to take the next edge fold that and you can take your fingernail

just poke it until you’ve got a nice mitered corner here you just keep sticking your fingernail until it makes an even miter

go right to the bottom miter point and then pivot and sew the next seam

 so then when you’re done you’ve got yourself a nice miter you got a nice mitered corner on this side and when you turn it over you should have a nice mitered corner on the other side as well

now we’ve got all our binding done now it’s time to put the thing together

okay now on the outside of your tote bag

not not the lining side but the outside you’re going to measure in

so it’s it’s sides are you’ve got two and a half inches on each side and it’s down 9 inches from the top I believe

and I’m going to run a row of stitching right across here a nice generous quarter inch to catch that whole bottom edge

once you’ve sewn that bottom edge in place you need to fold this up nicely

and just pin it down

Now I’m going to flip the whole tote bag around and we’re going to do the same thing

at the opposite end

making sure these pocket edges line up with the pocket edges

from the first pocket and this is also the same distance from the top

I’m going to do the same thing with this one I’m going to turn it up

and pin it in place

I also backtacked on the ends of these seams and it doesn’t hurt to do the seam doubled because it is going to be the bottom of your pocket so you do want them nice and sturdy and not going anywhere

now I’m going to stitch obviously the edges of these pockets are all open so I’m going to start up here and I’m going to sew

from here all the way down right along the outer edge of this binding and across here and do the outer edge of this binding

and all the way across and I’m going to do that on both sides so I’m securing both of the pocket sides down and then this is going to make a line right where your bottom of your tote bag is this is what it looks like after you’ve sewn one of those seams

I’ve gone from here all the way down this pocket across this space here and up the next pocket

Then I’m going to flip the whole thing over and do the other sides of the pockets here so now what you want to do is decide where you want to put your dividers

do you want this to be one great big pocket on the outside or do you want it to be two pockets or three pockets or a big pocket and a small pocket or whatever you’d like so what I’m going to do is I’m going to take one of the pockets

and I’m going to make it I’m just going to divide it in a half

so I’m just going to put a pin here so I have something to follow

just something and make sure you backtack at the top and the bottom of these seams so I’m just going to sew that line right there

so now I’ve got two big roomy pockets on this side and you don’t have to make your pockets the same on the other side you could make it be three pockets or you could make it be the same two or you could make it be a small and a wide and that’s what I’m going to do I’m just going to go in about 4 inches from one side

that would make a nice pocket for my phone if I wanted to carry my phone with me so I’m just going to go in about 4 inches and if you don’t want to stick pins in it

okay let me see if I can find something here

you can just put a little mark here which will barely show and a little mark here and on this busy fabric you’re not going to see this line

I’m just going to stitch down that line 

okay now we’re going to add the handles

We’re going to pin them in from the edges

remember all the dimensions for this are in the pattern so I’m not going to blather off some dimensions if I’m not sure they’re right so you’re just going to go in and pin one end here

now when you pin your handles the main thing to remember is you’re pinning them lining side up so there’s one little bump like this make sure you don’t twist it anymore than that so that when it’s sewn down it comes up and it’ll be correct

So I’m just going to pin those two there

I’m going to make sure that I have an equal distance here and here

and then I’m going to do a couple of really strong rows of stitching on both sides here

this is just below the binding you can see I’m just right below the binding

and then I’m going to do the same thing on the other end but I’m going to make sure they match up with exactly where I put these

I’m going to fold the handle up and I’m going to stitch right across

right across it onto my like just about on the lower edge of my binding

now you got a nice sturdy handle

and you’re going to turn the thing around and do the same thing on the other end and make sure your handle line up with the first one

after I pin it I’m just going to double check that it looks like it lines up with the other half

I’m going to sew those down attach that that strap the same as the first one

now if you want to now that you’ve got the basically the body of the tote put together if you want to serge your two side seams just to keep things from fraying go ahead and do that they’ll be on the inside your tote but you might want to just do a serge stitch or a zigzag stitch or something to keep the edges kind of neat if you fold the corner of your tote down

Centered nicely the two points will be the bottom corners of your pockets right here and here

You can see that stitching comes from that bottom of that corner pocket and here’s the bottom of that corner pocket 

so what you’re going to do is sew right across from that corner to that corner do two rows of stitching

so you’ve got it stitched like this

so it’s coming to both of the corners of the of the tote bag and then you’re just going to do the same thing on the other end and maybe it’s easier to see it from the back side where you can see the two corners of the pockets here and here and kind of flatten it out there I like to turn it over and stitch it face up so I can make sure that I’m leaving those little flaps flat the seams

and then just flatten the whole thing out

stitch that again straight across here

now with these corners you can do one of two things you can leave them the way they are you can cut them off

you can cut them off and serge them

whichever is your preference I’m just going to snip them off just

you can also just leave that corner now in the bottom of your bag it just adds bulk so I’m just going to snip them off

Now you turn your bag to the right side tuck your corners in

Like so and see how they come nicely to the corners

where your pockets are and remember this it’s it’s done now and you can use it for your it’s a nice crochet bag but it’s also a good market bag a good tote bag for any other kind of projects you’ve got four pockets on the outside and a great big roomy area in the inside nice for art supplies if you’re going to do that also

with the accessory caddy that comes with this pattern even though it was written for crocheting and to hold crochet hooks and all the accessories for that it’s also perfect for holding a bunch of pencils or a bunch of paint brushes if

if you’re any kind of an artist if it’s very handy for that and you could do this for an art tote

so there’s your tote all finished ready to go

all right so now you know how to make this tote bag it’s a cute little bag nice size not too big not too small big roomy spot in the inside two pockets on one side two pockets on the other or you can make more pockets if you would have liked

but it’s not just for crochet remember that you can you can use it for anything you need a tote bag for and in a future video very shortly I will also make the little caddy that holds all your crochet needles and all your extra accessories which is also really great caddy for

brushes or paint or pencils and things like that if you’re doing artwork and going to an art class or something it holds a lot of stuff like that so it’s handy for a lot of things not just crochet so I hope you enjoyed this video and if you did please hit the Subscribe button and the like button and the notified little bell if you’d like to be notified when we put up new videos and the link for this video nope the link for this pattern would be up in this corner somewhere and remember that YouTube likes it when we get subscribes and likes so we appreciate that you do that for us okay and have a good week happy sewing I will see you next week with a brand new video bye-bye