-->
DISCLOSURE: This blog contains Google Adsense ads and affiliate links to Creativebug via which potential commissions are earned when visitors click through.

Search This Blog > > >

Saturday 27 February 2016

Customizing a Free Tote Bag Pattern [Pt 1]

Customized Sew4Home Market Tote crafted by eSheep Designs
Front of my customized tote bag... for starters,
I added the twist lock and the decorative grommets...
The journey that I'm documenting here began with a tote bag so it seems natural to revisit a tote bag as I explore an activity that's recently caught my interest... customizing and changing found patterns.

I last did this by spinning out my own version of a free messenger bag pattern that I found at Robert Kaufman.

Free tote bag patterns — even more so than free messenger bag patterns — can be found virtually everywhere, don't you agree? Heck, with almost any amount of sewing experience, a person can easily create his or her own basic tote bag. As you might suppose, however, I wanted something a bit more stylish than "basic", but also definitely less "featured" than the Professional Tote.







Let me back pedal a bit. When hubby and I were in Mexico earlier this year, I found myself heading down to the beach to our favourite palapa carrying an armful of stuff and my purse.

Why, I asked myself, do I not have a good beach bag tote?

Customized Sew4Home Market Tote crafted by eSheep Designs
The back of my customized tote, where I changed it to a zippered pocket...

The thing is, I actually have two that can be considered as such. Store-bought years ago, they now have permanent employment as storage containers. One holds stuff that I need to take on vacations and the other is currently filled with fabric. Because of how they're made and what they're made of, neither would travel well in a suitcase.

Customized Sew4Home Market Tote crafted by eSheep Designs
View of my tote's 6" wide base... double the pattern's original size...

So, that was reason number one why I needed to make a beach tote.

Reason number two? At the end of my recent post about the Wave Purse Organizer, I mentioned that I was going to create a large version of the organizer for use with tote bags. And if I'm gonna make one, I may as well have a place to put it!

Customized Sew4Home Market Tote crafted by eSheep Designs
Interior of my customized tote...  the D-ring attachment is mine... I actually eliminated a pocket
since I am going to make and use a large version of my Wave Purse Organizer with this bag...

With that decision make, it was then a question of which tote bag pattern did I want to use as my foundation?

Sew4Home ultimately won the day. I have seen a variety of tote bags on their site, but one project from March of 2015 stuck in my mind: this trio of "market totes". (The design is similar to the ChrisW Designs' pattern — Abby's Alley — that was released last December, which I also found quite attractive.)

Customized Sew4Home Market Tote crafted by eSheep Designs
A detailed look at the inside of the two exterior pockets of my customized tote...

So what did I customize?

The first priority was to change the size to fit the purpose. Since this is going to be primarily a beach bag, I wanted something bigger. And by bigger, I mean in terms of the base depth/width. The Sew4Home market tote finishes out with a 3" wide base. To me, that's barely a book bag, so change #1 was to double that to 6"... again, it's not something that I intend to carry around for everyday use, but for on the beach (or shopping), it's the perfect size.


Check out Creativebug's Bag of the Month series for free...

and continue for only $4.95 a month!
[affiliate link]


For an idea of scale...
Change #2 — increasing the depth of the exterior pocket panel — was done for two reasons. First, the solid blue fabric that was destined for the top part of the bag was not the most exciting looking stuff. Had I another interestingly patterned fabric that I could showcase against the bright blue floral, I might have stayed with the original dimensions. But I didn't, so I did not want a lot of the plain fabric to be showing. Second, since it was going to be a bigger bag, I thought that a deeper pocket would also be more functional.

Change #3 was to revamp the pockets, which involved removing two and adding another. I always have to have a zippered pocket and I wanted it on the outside of the bag. I wanted the inside to be plain, dull, boring; well, I wanted it to be devoid of any organization so that I could eventually add some with a removable organizer.

The front pocket that was otherwise essentially the same would be deeper as a result of change #2, but because I wanted it to be mainly one large storage space, I also added a twist lock in the middle (where the original pattern called for a division)... maybe that's change #3A.

Change #4 was to alter the way the straps are attached. Instead of just sewing them onto the bag, I wanted to make use of some decorative grommets that were rescued from an old purse. (And I suppose change #4A is that I used a different method altogether of constructing the straps.)

Change #5 was to add a magnetic snap closure to the top.

Oh, and I guess change #6 was that I added a D-ring to the inside of the bag for clipping on keys and such.

Other modifications aren't really visible: I used fusible fleece only for the exterior pocket panel; everything else was interfaced with Decor Bond. (I used less fleece for the fact that I wanted the bag to fold down as easily as possible and not take up much room in a suitcase.) I also added a piece of Peltex to the bottom of the bag for support.

Interested in making the tote with all of these modifications? In a couple of weeks, I'll be back with part two of this post and will spill the details on how I brought about these changes.

In the meantime, I guess I need to start planning a large version of my Wave Purse Organizer...




2 comments:

  1. This looks just like Abby's Alley by ChrisWDesigns ..with a zipper pocket added ?? http://www.chriswdesigns.com/collections/sew-sell/products/abbys-alley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I changed more than just a zippered pocket, but yes... I mentioned the similarities in my post. In case you missed it, the Sew4Home version predated Christine's pattern by 9 months, although I don't know where their initial inspiration came from. :-)

      Delete

You have the power to brighten my day. Leave me a comment; I'd love to hear your thoughts... you can even remain ANONYMOUS! And rest assured that I acknowledge all comments, either here or via email. (That is, if you don't see a response from me here, I would have responded privately to the person.) Spam or generic comments with unrelated links, however, are promptly removed... and I may take appropriate action or report you to Google. Thanks for reading! (✿◠‿◠)