Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Homemade Gift: Hope Quilted Tote



My niece graduated last weekend, and I made her a special tote for the occasion. I used the fat quarter pack I had picked up at Goodwill for $2. There were 5 fat quarters in there, and I got 3 of these totes from the pack. (The other two were used as birthday gifts for a few of my Sunday school teens.) I only added in a little bit of green gingham and the blue lining fabric. Of course, I spent a little bit of time planning it all out so I knew I would have just enough fabric.

To make this one a little different, I went with a patchwork design. I really like it, and I'll probably be using it again!



I also added a zipper, something I've been wanting to try for awhile now. I've been adding zippers to clothing for nearly 20 years, but I've been intimidated by the idea of adding them to a handbag. No more! These are even easier than putting them in clothing. There are great instructions at Instructables.



Of course, I added a bunch of pockets to the inside, using the green gingham to contrast so she could find the pockets easily.



I added a clip to the zipper, since it's not a regular purse zipper (with a larger zipper pull). For this tote, I added a cross charm, but you could add nearly anything - including a decorative keychain.

I'm having a lot of fun with these purses, and they're going over very well. They're a little addicting, in case you can't tell!

I'm linking to Fiber Arts Monday and

 http://www.thethriftyhome.com






A Marvelous Mess


3 comments:

Esther Asbury said...

Beautiful job on the zipper!

Robin Ange said...

Very cute idea! Thank you so much for linking up to Upcycled Awesome at www.thetshirtdiaries.com

the gathering girls said...

Very nice....I haven't tried a zipper on my totes yet, but I want to soon!!

 
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