Project Repost: Super Simple Mommy & Me Tote

I know most of you guys have seen this tutorial (I got lots of link love on it a year ago), but thought I'd put it up anyway.  I think we are going to make a larger version this year for a tote for the grandma's for Mother's Day...will share when we get them done.

This coming up week is our spring break.  I have a couple of kinda big projects I wanna do and lots of playing too, so I won't be posting much aside from a spontaneous Teeny Tiny giveaway I decided to do on Mon.  So come back and check it out!


So here is a project K and I did last year:
My big girl of 5.5 years is learning to sew. So for her first project we decided to make a simple little tote. This is for a school friend whose birthday party Kalla is going to this Friday. We are giving her a couple of Bare Books and Bare Crayons (which my 2 oldest absolutely LOVE themselves) and decided to make a personalized tote to put them in.

I used some off white twill fabric and cut a piece 10" X 20". I taped masking tape in the middle and folded it under a cutting mat and taped the top half down and let her make a picture with fabric markers. She drew a stick picture of her friend and sky, grass and stems for some felt flowers I had on hand. Kalla picked out some fabric for a dress for the girl. I cut a small triangle with the fabric and ironed it on with wonder under lite and then a topstitch. I hand stitched on the felt flowers. Then I cut a piece of fabric in the same print as the dress for the lining 10" x 20".

We also picked out a ribbon to make a bow for the girl's hair and I sewed it on after sealing the ends. Kalla also drew a big rainbow for the back and I sewed on some fun colorful buttons (back not pictured).

We folded the fabric in half to be sewn. With my machine on the lowest speed I let Kalla sew the sew the side seams of the tote and liner.

Turning the outside fabric right side out, we fit the lining into the bag and straightened it up. I folded and pinned the opening down to make a hem along the top. Then I sewed it down.

We made a simple strap simply by cutting a piece of twill 26" X 3". I ironed it in half and then folded the edges in and ironed then pinned down.

I then sewed along all the edges with dark pink thread.

Then I secured each end onto the outside sides of the tote with a stitch all the way around. It would be cute to sew a big bright button here too for extra embellishment.

This particular bag is for a gift and we put the books and crayons inside. We have one cut and colored ready to make one for Kalla. She has multiple girls on hers and they are waiting for their dresses at the moment. :)

This bag can be made a bit bigger to make a pool/beach tote or library tote.