Teacher Totes

Before school ended a few weeks ago, I made these tote bags for Kate's teachers. I love bags like these. They are perfect for just about any use - books, groceries, pool, projects. I made them out of canvas from my stash and left them unlined so they really came together quickly. I took photos as I made them so I am happy to share the pattern with a tutorial. Yippee! The Teacher Tote Tutorial can be found on the Tutorials & Patterns page or go ahead and click this link to download it now.  If you make one or more, please post a photo of it on the House on Hill Road flickr page so I can admire your good work.

A few notes: If you wanted to make this out of quilter's cotton, you should probably line it. It won't be sturdy enough if you don't. I didn't go into details of how to do this, but it's basically the same as constructing the exterior of the bag.  Cut your lining pieces 2 inches shorter in length than the exterior pieces (so 17" wide by 18" long), sew the lining like the exterior and then place it in the bag BEFORE you hem the top edge. Line up the side seams and fold the exterior of the bag over the lining. When you topstitch the top hem, it'll catch the lining and keep it in place. Easy peasy.

Additionally, you'll see on the tutorial that you can make and sell as many of these as you like. It's a basic tote, not original to me by any stretch. Just please, PLEASE, don't use my photos or content without asking me first. I don't think that is too much to ask, do you?

I'm going to take a little blog hiatus. Back here in a couple of weeks, if not sooner.