Tote #8: Tote Swap Bag!

Hey happy bag-makers! Have you ever participated in a swap?  This last month, I joined a a bag swap as part of a facebook sewing group I’m in.  I’ve never done a swap before and it is a lot of fun!

The group administrator Anna did the bulk of the work and she did an awesome job!  She organized the page, paired people up according to smoking/non-smoking, pets/no pets and sent us each our names and some friendly reminders along the  way.  We then contacted each other and exchanged some fun facebook messages to get to know each other, and then it was sewing time!

I went to a local fabric store and picked out the  perfect fabric for my swap-partner.  Then I went to work designing a bag just for her.  She lives in California so I thought a great big beach bag would be a good choice.  Sewed it up and was ready to go!

One problem.

I can’t find a box that will fit it.  It’s not that high, but it’s wide and nice and deep. Ha, I have a gigantic toilet paper box in the garage that would work but frankly that is actually too large and would break the  bank to mail.  Sooooo……

I sewed another bag this week.

I am here to blog about that one.  Next week I’ll write about the gigantic beach bag.

I dug through my “stash” and found this print that I fell in love with from Rashida Coleman-Hale.  Sigh.  I love it just as much now.  A little whimsical, a little sophisticated, fabulous design, and in teal and red. What’s not to like!!?

I put a large pocket in the front for a book or magazine to take to the beach.  You can see the seams on either side of the  pocket.  The rest of the exterior is made from one piece that extends from the left seam around the back and to the right seam.  I thought this would be a fun construction method and I have to say I liked doing it that way.  I did the interior with two pieces the same size so those seams are on the ends.  If you do this, just remember to mark your sides so you can match them up at the end since you aren’t matching up seams!  I didn’t and wish I had.

I wanted this bag to STILL BE LARGE, just not that large, ha ha. So the interior is nice and roomy.  I stuck with a snap enclosure ‘cuz I always overfill my beach bags with towels and stuff and I actually prefer the snaps to zippers for bags like this.  You can see it is nice and roomy!

I use a 1/2″ seam in the interior and a 3/8″ seam for the exterior so the lining sits nicely inside–no bunching!

This tote measures 12″ high by 19-1/2″ wide (14-1/2″ wide at the base) and is 5″ deep.

I hope you like this week’s tote and I especially hope my swap-partner likes it!!