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Monday, July 23, 2012

Sew easy tote-from a skirt and a belt

It's summer, and if you're like me, you really don't have a lot of time for making stuff.  But also, if you're like me, you're prone to "making stuff" withdrawals.  So here is a super easy project that you can whip up in no time.

Step 1.  (and this is the really hard part)  Go thrift store shopping.  Or yard sale-ing.  Or root through your closet.  And find a cute little mini skirt and a belt that no one is wearing.  I've made these using adult size skirts-this tutorial features a child size skirt.  If you go with an adult size, I recommend staying with a small size as the larger sizes tend to get too wide for the length-which will just make your bag very awkward.
Step 2.  Turn the skirt inside out and sew the bottom of the skirt together.  I sewed this seam twice to reinforce it.
Step 3.  (optional)  Sew a triangle at the bottom corners of your bag.  This will help to give it more of a base.
Step 4.  Prepare your belt.  I had to take a seam ripper to mine to take it apart and remove the hardware.  (Save the hardware, you can use it in another project.)
         Then, I cut my belt in half.
Step 5.  Pin your new handles to your bag.  Usually I carefully measure everything.  Today I just eyeballed it and pinned them in place.
        Sew the handles in place and you are done!  Wasn't that super easy?