Sewing: Quilted Tote Bag

Coming at you with a new DIY that I think you’ll love! Whether your a beginner in sewing or you’ve been doing it for a while this quilted tote bag wont take you long and looks amazing. If you are newer to sewing like me this took about three days total but you could definitely get this done in a weekend or even a day depending on your skill level and time available. This was my second sewing project after not sewing since middle school and even then I only sewed a pillow and a button onto a piece of scrap fabric so beginners are welcome in this DIY! You will learn multiple skills that you can bring into other projects like quilting straight lines, batting, making pockets, and the obvious one how to make a bag.

Selecting Your Fabric

Choosing your fabric is an important first step. Think about how you want your bag to function. What do you want to put in the bag? Does it need to be waterproof or stretchy? For my quilted tote bag I knew I wanted to use a quilting cotton with my floral Ikat pattern on it. Spoonflower has a ton of fabric options to choose from. I purchased their Cotton Poplin which is great for quilting, clothes and home accents. Depending on the size you want your tote bag to be you can determine how many yards you will need. You can use this handy yardage calculator if you need help! I got one yard of fabric for mine and still have enough left for possibly a makeup bag for mini tote. Be sure to iron your fabric before you begin cutting.

Shape the Tote Bag

If you are going to make your own template like I did leave about half an inch on each side for your seam allowance and depending on your fabric type you will need to account for some shrinkage from quilting the batting to your fabric. If you want to use a pre made one there are a number of tote bag templates you can buy on Etsy and independent sewing shops that let you print out a ready made template. My tote is a basic rectangle with 3 inch squares cut out of the two bottom corners. This will help shape the bag later.

I used a rotary cutter with my cutting mat to cut around the template. You can also mark with small dashes onto your fabric and use fabric scissor to cut your fabric. Take your time here and make sure you are cutting straight lines so when we start sewing everything together it lines up perfectly. You will use your bag template to cut your the fabric as well as your batting. I used 45x60 inch batting for my tote.

Quilting Together

Once you have your fabric and batting cut you can attach them together with the batting on the wrong side of the fabric. You can use pins or clips to keep everything together while you sew. Your first line is important since its the one you will use to guide all of the others. There are foot attachments you can buy to add onto you sewing machine that lets you line up your fabric to easily make straight lines over and over. I just used my cutting mat and marked on my fabric going from the top to the bottom a single straight line. When you sew on top of that line your thread will cover the marks. Once both of your sides are quilted its time to sew them together.

Put your two fabric pieces right sides together and sew the two sides and bottom leaving the top and corner notches open. Once you have sewn those together youll line up the corner notches together and sew them. This will give you the bags shape.

Something to Hold

Now that the body of your bag is ready its time to make the quilted straps. Grab you fabric is cut two 3 inch wide strips. On average a strap is between 20 and 30 inches long but you can customize yours to fit exactly how you want. Also cut two 1 and half inch strips of batting. This will be sandwiched between your fabric. Going over to your iron fold a 1cm lip down each side of your fabric straps. This will create a clean look once it is sewn together. Once you have that fold your fabric in half with the 1cm lips folded in and iron your strap. Put your batting in between your fabric and sew close to the edge on the side that have the 1cm lips. Once both of your straps are sewn pin or clip them to the top of your bag leaving about two inches sticking up that will be hidden later inside the bag. When lining up my bag straps I lined up the seam i just made on the strap with one on the quilted seams of the bag making a mark where other seams on the bag could continue into the strap. This little attention to detail I feel like elevated the bag more then me just quilting the handle and attaching it to the bag. It created an almost seamless transition from bag to handle.

Once you have your mark on each end of your strap take it over the your sewing machine and quilt a line connecting those marks together. Now that you have your quilted straps you can connect them to your bag with pins.

Making Pockets

Now that the other shell of your bag is made its time to make the inside! I grabbed two pieces of 18x21 fabric quarters from JoAnns to make the inside. You can use your bag template to cut the two inside pieces. For the pockets you can make them whichever size you want. I made one large one that could fit a notebook and one smaller one for a phone or wallet.

To create the pockets your going to fold and iron down a 1cm fold on the sides and bottom as well as the top a half inch. Sew the top down creating a clean seam for the top of your pocket. Once the top is sewn together your going to place and pin your pocket down to the inner liner template right side up. Pin in place and sew along the sides and bottom creating a pocket. Repeat that step for your other pocket. When your pockets are sewn place your two inner fabric pieces with the pockets facing each other and sew the two sides and bottom. Leave a tree inch opening at the bottom so that your can pull the bag through later.

Inside Out

Once your inner liner is sewn it time to put it all together! Place the other part of your bag inside the liner matching up the seams and middle. Make sure your straps are out of the bag with the ends tucked inside so they get sewn in. Bring your tote bag to your machine and sew around the entire top seam with a half inch seam allowance. Once your bag is sewn together pull the bag through the three inch hole you left in the bottom of the liner. After that you can place the liner inside your bag. The pockets should be showing and your bag looks almost complete!

To finish of your quilted tote bag you need to sew along the top rim about half and inch to an inch below. This will help hold down the liner and create a clean top to your bag. Let me know how your quilted bag turns out and Id love to see it on social! Im at @joloudesign on IG. Happy DIYing!