Fabulous Farmer’s Market Tote:
Go shopping at the farmers market in style! This bag holds all the
groceries you can carry. There is a divider inside the bag to keep
everything organized. The hidden slip pocket on the front side of the
bag is perfect to fit your wallet, phone and keys. This bag works well
with laminated cotton or oilcloth, but you could also use home decor
fabric or just simply lightweight quilting fabric. If you do, I
recommend interfacing the exterior fabric pieces as stated below in the
instructions.
All seam allowances are ½” unless otherwise stated. All measurements
given are height x width. Please read all instructions before you begin.
You need:
- Exterior fabric: 1 1/8 yd (44″ width)
- Lining fabric: 1 yd (44″ width)
- 1 piece of hook and loop tape (self-adhesive or sew-on): 1”
Helpful hints:
- I made this tote completely out of laminated cotton. If you decide
to do so too, please be careful when ironing parts of your fabric while
sewing. I usually place a kitchen towel on top of the fabric, which is
folded twice. I like to sprinkle the towel a little bit with water and
used less steam than usual. I also don’t use the highest setting of the
iron and I don’t press too long at the same spot.
- I also recommend using sewing clips instead of pins as they won’t leave holes in your laminated cotton or oilcloth.
Cut from:
Exterior fabric:
- (2x) 16″ x 12.75” – main body
- (2x) 16″ x 9” – side panel
- (1x) 9″ x 12.75” – bottom panel
- (1x) 10″ x 21” – interior divider
- (2x) 29″ x 5.5” – strap
Lining fabric:
- (2x) 16″ x 12.75” – main body
- (2x) 16″ x 9” – side panel
- (1x) 9″ x 12.75” – bottom panel
- (1x) 10″ x 21” – interior divider
- (2x) 8″ x 9” – slip pocket
I didn’t use any interfacing on this tote since I used laminated
cotton throughout and intended a slouchy look. If you use lightweight
cotton fabric you might want to interface parts of your tote. In this
case, cut the following pieces from fusible interfacing:
- (2x) 16″ x 12.75” – main body
- (2x) 16″ x 9” – side panel
- (1x) 9″ x 12.75” – bottom panel
If you don’t need to fold your tote when not using it, you may also
think about interfacing the interior divider with heavy stabilizer. In
this case cut the following piece from heavy stabilizer:
- (1x) 10″ x 21” – interior divider
Interface the wrong sides of the exterior parts of your tote.
Instructions:
a) Make the straps
- Fold one of your strap fabric pieces in half lengthwise, with the
wrong sides together and press. Open up again and fold both long edges
towards the middle crease and press again.
- Now fold lengthwise again, matching the long folded edges and press
again. Topstitch along both long edges, approx. 3 mm (1/8”) from the
edges.
Repeat the folding and stitching with the second strap fabric piece.
- Place one of the straps onto one of the exterior main body panels.
The outer edges of the strap should be placed 2.5” in from the side
edges of the bag. The loop of the strap should face to the bottom and
the raw edges of both main body panel and straps should be aligned. Pin
in place and baste the strap end to the main body using a ¼” seam
allowance.
- Repeat for the other strap and the other main body panel.
b) Prepare the slip pocket
- Place the hook part of your piece of hook and loop tape onto the
right side of one of the slip pocket pieces. It should be positioned in
the center and 1” down from the top edge. Tape it down or sew it onto
the fabric (depending on what kind of hook and loop tape you are using).
- Repeat with the loop part of the hook and loop tape and the other slip pocket piece.
- Take one of the slip pocket pieces and put it onto one of the
exterior main body panels, right sides together. It should be positioned
centered on the main body panel and the top edges of both fabric pieces
should be aligned. (Since you already attached the straps to the
exterior main body fabric panels, your slip pocket will partially cover
the straps).
- Pin in place and stitch along the top edge using a 1/4” seam
allowance, starting and stopping 1/2” from the outer edges of the slip
pocket fabric piece.
- Repeat the previous step with the second slip pocket fabric piece and one of the lining main body panels.
- Set both main body panels aside.
c) Make the interior divider
- Take both of your interior divider pieces and put them right sides together. Pin in place and stitch along both long edges.
- Turn right side out and press. Top-stitch along both long edges using a 1/4” seam allowance.
- On both the top and the bottom edge, measure and mark 6” in from
the side edges. Fold the divider towards what will be the wrong (=
inner) side of the divider.
- Top-stitch along the folded edge using a 1/4” seam allowance.
- Repeat the 6” markings, folding and topstitching on the other side of the divider.
This is what you should have after folding and top-stitching along both folds:
- Take one of the lining main body side panels and place it right
side up. Put your divider right (= outer) side up onto the side panel.
Match the side edges of both fabric pieces and position the divider
approx. 1” up from the bottom edge of the lining side panel. Pin the
divider in place and stitch along the side edges using a 1/4” seam
allowance.
This is what you should have after stitching both side seams of the divider to the lining side panel:
- On the lining main body panel with the slip pocket piece attached,
fold the slip pocket over so that the wrong sides of both slip pocket
and main body panel are now touching. Topstitch along the upper edge of
the slip pocket, starting and stopping 1/2″ from the outer edges.
- Repeat the previous step with the other slip pocket piece on the exterior main body panel.
d) Assemble the bag lining:
Take one of the lining main body panels and place it right side up.
Take one of your lining side panels and put it on one of the side edges
of the main body panel, right sides together, the edges of both pieces
should be aligned. Pin in place and stitch along the edge, but stop 1/2″
up from the bottom end (this 1/2″ is important later, when you are
going to sew the bottom panel onto the bag).
- Repeat with the second side panel and the other edge of the main
panel (when stitching the side panel with the divider attached, make
sure to fold the divider together so it won’t get caught in the
stitching).
- Take your second main panel and repeat the previous steps.
On the picture above you can see one of the lining main body panels
with the two lining side panels (one of them includes the interior
divider) already attached. You can also see how the side seam stops
about 1/2″ from the bottom edge.
- Place the bottom panel with its four edges onto the bottom edges of
the bag, right sides together. Pin in place and stitch along the first
edge, starting and stopping 1/2” from the edge. Since you left the seam
open by 1/2″ when sewing the side panels to the main body panels, you
should be able to have your bottom panel seams start and stop exactly at
the end of these seams (see on the next picture – note that I chose
exterior fabric for the bottom panel of my bag lining).
This is what your bag lining should look like on the inside after stitching all the pieces together:
e) Make the bag exterior:
- Repeat step d) to assemble the bag exterior.
f) Finish the slip pocket:
- Place your two slip pocket fabric pieces right sides together
(since they are already attached to the exterior and lining main body
you will have to bend those parts out of the way for this step). Pin in
place and stitch around the three edges of the slip pocket. Make sure to
start and stop the stitching right beneath the topstitching of the top
edge of the slip pocket pieces.
g) Assemble the bag:
- Due to the finished slip pocket, the bag exterior and the bag
lining are already attached to each other. The bag exterior should be
right side out, the bag lining wrong side out. Put the bag lining into
the exterior. The slip pocket will be hidden between the layers. Make
sure to fit the lining correctly into the exterior. Match the side seams
and flatten the bottom panels, so that the lining sits snug inside the
bag.
- Fold down the seam allowance of the top edges of both exterior and
lining towards the inside. Pin in place and stitch along the top edge
using a 1/4” seam allowance. Start and stop right before you reach the
slip pocket.
Congratulations, your fabulous farmers’ market tote is finished!
Check out Anna’s Pattern Shop to see more lovely bags!
