Speaker A
Hi everyone, welcome to Sewing With Color, where we're going to be making this very chic and very practical bow tote.
Learn to sew a chic and practical bow tote with Christine Lindebak, perfect for beginners and customizable with various fabrics and colors.
Key Takeaways
- The bow tote is beginner-friendly and quick to sew.
- Customizable with various fabrics and color combinations.
- Includes an optional zippered security pocket for added functionality.
- Makes a great personalized gift, especially for bridesmaids.
- Step-by-step guidance ensures a professional finish.
Summary
- Christine Lindebak introduces the bow tote, a stylish and practical bag suitable for all sewing skill levels.
- The tote features a slouchy look with long straps that tie in a bow at the shoulder and is fully lined with an optional zippered security pocket.
- Christine shares ideas for color combinations and fabric choices to personalize the bag, including cotton linen, denim, and home decor fabrics.
- The bag can be made as a thoughtful bridesmaids gift with customizable strap and lining colors.
- The tutorial includes step-by-step sewing instructions, starting with installing the security zipper pocket.
- Supplies needed include about 1.25 yards of fabric, an 8-inch zipper, zipper foot, and matching thread.
- Christine encourages creativity with color and fabric scraps to make unique, stylish totes.
- The video emphasizes the bag’s versatility for everyday wear and special occasions.
- Detailed sewing techniques such as marking, pinning, sewing, clipping corners, and pressing are demonstrated.
- The free PDF pattern is available for download to follow along with the project.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
So whether you're new to sewing or you've been sewing a long time, you're going to love making this tote.
Speaker A
It goes together really easily, so it's a great project for beginners, it also makes lovely gifts, which I'll show you in just a second.
Speaker A
So before we dive in, I wanted to take a quick second to introduce myself in case we haven't met before.
Speaker A
I'm Christine, founder of Sewing in the City, I've been sewing my entire life since I was like five years old.
Speaker A
And my sewing skills actually led me to a 15-year career in the fashion industry.
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And several years ago, I made the big jump from corporate and I started Sewing in the City.
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Where you can find my PDF fashion sewing patterns as well as online courses that show you different sewing techniques.
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So the bow tote is has a nice kind of slouchy look, it has these long straps which tie in a bow at the top.
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So right at your shoulder, there is, it's fully lined and you have the option of adding a zippered security pocket inside.
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So I'm going to walk you through all of that and that's the bow tote.
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So I don't know about you, but I am not necessarily going to be wearing head to toe pink every day.
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Um, but I love this color and so adding this bag to a simple outfit of jeans and a T-shirt.
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Is a great way to incorporate a little bit of color into our wardrobe.
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So I've done it in this hot pink.
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I also have done it in this printed, like a little cheetah print.
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This was actually a duvet cover that I found at IKEA.
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And I just thought it would be such a chic bag.
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I do kind of wish I would have experimented with some color more color into this bag.
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Maybe a different strap color or a different lining color.
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I ended up using white in this one.
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Um, but I think it looks so chic back to color in my wardrobe.
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So with this green shirt, it looks so cool.
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I think it would also be really good with just a like a crisp white button down and jeans or white jeans.
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Um, you can see how these bags are really fun and easy way to put a little bit of style and color into kind of our everyday wear.
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Then this sample.
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I wanted to make just to show how beautiful I think that this bag would be as bridesmaids gifts.
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So the body of the bag I've done in this just really beautiful white linen.
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Um, and then done the straps in a contrasting gray.
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So you could do the straps in your bridal colors with the white linen.
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I think it's such a beautiful gift.
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You could make these for your bridesmaids and add inside maybe some slippers and a dressing gown.
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Or, you know, other things for the survival kit.
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This could be kind of the a gift bag as well as a really practical bag to use.
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Um, while you get ready for the wedding.
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Isn't it just so beautiful?
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Um, and I think that this bag shows the like the color combinations that you can do a little bit better than the others.
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Um, so obviously the gray strap with the white, you could also do a different front and a different back.
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You could do a different color lining inside.
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Um, these straps, there's two straps, so you could do, um, you could do one strap one color and the other strap another color.
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Especially if you're going to be using scraps, it's a great scrap busting project.
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Um, you can really like the sky's the limit with what you can do as far as color combinations.
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So I love color, I love looking at Pinterest for inspiration.
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So let's take a quick look at some of the different color combinations that you could do with your bag.
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So you could do different shades of blue.
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So I love this kind of tonal effect.
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So maybe you do the body of the bag in one blue and then the straps in a lighter shade of blue.
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You could do blues and greens, again, going into that kind of tonal look.
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It's so beautiful.
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What about this houndstooth print with a mint green?
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I think it's such a beautiful combination, especially as we go into fall.
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Then with pink.
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I love pink, you could do pink and gray, you could do pink and rust.
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Pink and red, like Sarah Jessica Parker are all great color combinations.
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Then even gray with a little pop of orange, maybe doing a gray bag with an orange lining.
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I think it would be so lovely.
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And then, of course, lavender and purple, I think would be such lovely bags.
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You could pop yellow, even some green with it.
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I love color combinations that have purple included.
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Okay, so as far as fabric goes.
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I have made most of my totes in a light or medium weight cotton linen.
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Um, you could go as heavy as a denim or other of your heavier weight home deck fabrics.
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I think with a heavier weight fabric, you'll just have a little bit more of a structured bag.
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Whereas the lighter weight cottons are really kind of going to give you that slouchy look.
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So really the sky's the limit and have fun playing with your scraps.
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And putting together different color combinations.
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So for supplies, we're going to need in total about a yard and a quarter of fabric.
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Um, at 45 inch wide.
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You're going to need an 8-inch regular zipper.
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So you'll need a zipper foot for your machine.
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Um, and of course, thread to match.
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You can download the pattern for free using the link somewhere on this page.
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And as far as fabric pieces, you're going to need two of your straps, you're going to need one of your pocket bag.
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It's optional, if you don't want to put the zipper, you don't have to.
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So you would omit the pocket bag.
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But I'm going to walk through doing the security bag.
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Or security zipper pouch.
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You're going to need two of the lining and you're going to need two of the outer bag.
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So in this case, I'm going to be doing them all in one color, but of course, have fun with your color combinations.
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And do exactly as you wish.
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Okay, so now I'm going to take you over to my sewing machine and we're going to walk step by step through assembling our bag.
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So for our very first step, we are going to be working on the security pockets.
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We're going to be putting in the zipper this way.
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So I have one of my lining pieces as well as my pocket bag.
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And using a ruler and in this case, a white chalk, if you have a lighter color, you could use a blue chalk or maybe a water soluble pen.
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And I've just transferred the stitching line from my pattern over to both my pocket bag and my lining on the right side.
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So now what I'm going to do is take the right side of my pocket lining and put it with the right side of my lining.
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And I'm going to do my best to match up these markings.
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There we go.
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And then I will pin this in place.
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And now what we're going to do is just to the sewing machine.
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We're going to sew all around this box.
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Okay, and now as I come to one of the corners of our box here, I'm just going to stop with my needle down, make a pivot.
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And then do the same thing on the other corner, needle down and pivot.
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That gives us a really nice and neat square.
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And I'll just finish sewing this and voila.
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Okay, so now I'm just going to clip these threads.
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And now we have our box that we've sewn right sides together.
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Now, I'm just going to take my scissors and just clip right in the center.
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And at the corners, I'm going to show you what I'm going to do.
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Just clip right into each of the corners.
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Like so.
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Okay, so we are actually going to be turning this inside out.
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And that's going to give us a clean, um, a clean edge for our zipper.
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Oops, I'm still in there.
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Okay.
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I'll take my pins out.
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And now we are going to, we've clipped this not so neatly.
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But, um, I am going to just turn the pocket bag to the wrong side of my lining.
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And voila, we're going to need to press this a bit.
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But this is going to give us the opening where we're going to put our zipper right behind this.
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So I'm going to take this to the iron and give it a really good press.
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I'm going to work out these corners so they're nice and crisp.
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And I'll meet you back here and we'll install our zipper.
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So now you can see I've pressed my pocket bag to the wrong side.
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And we have a nice clean opening here.
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So all I'm going to do is take my zipper, the right side of my zipper is up.
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And I'm just going to place it right under our opening there.
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Um, and I'm going to put the zipper pull right on one end and I'm just lining this up and centering it right in our little opening there.
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Um, and that looks about good.
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So I'm going to place some pins here just to secure it in place.
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And then all we're going to do to attach this zipper, this is probably the easiest zipper we'll do.
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Um, I'm just going to literally top stitch right around our opening.
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And that's going to secure our zipper.
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And give us our little pocket within the bag.
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So I'm going to take this to the machine and we're going to top stitch it down.
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So the very first thing I'm going to do is just change my foot from my regular one to my zipper foot.
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So the zipper foot just allows us to get nice and close into, um, the zipper.
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So we can top stitch it down.
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Um, so I will start probably right here in the center and I'm just going to get as close to the fold here as I can.
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Um, and maybe about an eighth of an inch from the edge.
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And I'm just going to.
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Stitched around.
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And now you can see we have our opening here.
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So the last thing we're going to do is just take our pocket bag and fold it right up.
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Matching the top edges and the side edges.
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And then we're just going to sew all the way around the three sides.
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So the bottom, um, just is folded up.
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I'm going to match all of these edges.
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And that way we will make our pocket bag.
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Okay, so you can see I've sewn around the three edges of our pocket bag there.
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And now if we test this out, you can see we have a fully functional pocket there.
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So this is on our lining piece.
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So now we're going to take both our lining piece as well as our outside bag.
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And we're going to match the pieces up right side together.
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Matching all those raw edges and then what we're going to do is sew both.
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Let's see, so we're going to sew here on the side seam and then here on the lower side of the bag.
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And then also on this side.
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So these, um, the side of our bag with the little insets, that's the bottom.
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So we're going to leave this top fully open.
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So I am going to do the same thing to my outer bag, sew down the sides as well as the lower part.
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And I'm going to use a half inch seam allowance when I sew these.
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And then we're going to meet at the ironing board and press them open.
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Okay, so I've gone ahead and sewn the three sides of both my main, uh, outer bag as well as my lining.
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And so now what I'm going to do is just press all of these seams open.
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Um, I love to do a good press on these just because it's going to make our finished bag all the more crisp and neat.
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So I'm just going to go through and press all of my seams open.
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Okay, so I've gone ahead and pressed all my seams open.
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So we have nice neat seams on the outside.
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And now we're going to keep this right sides in because now we're going to do the fun part.
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And give our bag some shape.
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So I'm just taking one arm inside and matching up the side seam with the bottom seam.
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So just taking this little square and making it into, um, the corner of our bag.
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So I've just matched up my seams.
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Again, this bag is really forgiving, so if your seams, um, you know, are not quite perfect.
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Don't even worry.
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This bag is really forgiving.
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So I'm just going to match up those seams there.
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And I'll do the same thing on the other side.
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Just match up our seams there.
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Right in the center.
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And then, let's see.
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It looks good.
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All right.
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And give it a pin.
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I'm going to do the same thing to the lining, um, and get these pinned and ready.
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And then we're going to sew all four corners.
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Using a half inch seam allowance.
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Okay, so the most important part here is we're going to start and stop with a good back stitch.
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Make sure the seam is nice and strong.
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And I'll end here right off the edge with a back stitch.
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And I'll keep doing that to my other three corners.
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Okay, so I've turned my lining right sides out.
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You can see now our bags are, our lining and our outer bags are starting to have a little bit of shape.
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So I've gone ahead and turned my lining piece right side out.
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I've left my outer bag still right sides in because now what we're going to do is match right sides together.
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And we're going to sew our outer bag to our lining along the top here.
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So right sides together, I'm just going to take my lining piece and slide it right inside my outer bag.
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And first I'm going to start with matching up my side seams.
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So I'll match those.
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And then.
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Uh, just pin these.
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And now if you want, you can go ahead and add a couple more pins throughout the top.
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Just to hold it nice and secure.
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So when we sew this top seam, we're going to actually leave an opening about three or four inches on this top seam.
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Which will allow us to turn the bag inside out.
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Okay, so when I start sewing, I'm going to start with a good back stitch here.
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Just to secure the seam.
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And I'm just going to sew half of an inch all the way around the top of the bag.
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Okay, and now as I come close to where I started sewing here.
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I'm going to leave about four inches.
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Um, so I'm going to back stitch and just leave a nice opening here.
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And that's what we're going to use to turn the bag right side out.
Topics:bow totesewing tutorialChristine LindebakSewing in the CityDIY tote bagbeginner sewing projectfree sewing patternzippered pocketfabric color combinationsbridesmaids gift idea
