Custom Design Tote Bag

Sewing Optional

Custom Design Tote Bag using Quick Fuse Fabric - Sewing Optional

Create a unique tote bag for your hobby or message using iron on fabric sheets.

Express yourself or shout out your avocation with a designer tote bag to carry your supplies.

This one is for my choir books and the panel has one of my favorite phrases, "She who sings, prays twice."

With a ready made canvas tote bag which you can pick up in any craft store, this can be done in no time at all - depending on how much time you want to spend making your design statement.

I did this with my friend Deb in mind. She requested decorated tote bag ideas with no sewing required.

Tote Bag Materials

Canvas tote bag
1 June Tailor Quick Tailor Quick Fuse 8 ½ x 11-inch Inkjet Fabric Sheet
Digital layout of your design - I used Photoshop CS4 and Scrap Girls digital products to do mine
Iron
Optional: 1 ¼ yards of trim or ribbon for the border, matching thread and sewing machine or needle to sew by hand

Decorating the Tote Bag

Compose your digital design in an 8 ½ x 11-inch document. Print using Borderless (or the smallest borders your printer allows) onto a Quick Fuse Fabric sheet. Let ink dry completely.

Follow package directions to iron the design onto your tote bag.

Non-sewers (and Deb) can stop here. LOL.

Optional Trim Directions

Trim is a nice finishing touch as an embellishment, as well as to make a prettier transition between the Quick Fuse panel and the canvas fabric of the tote bag.

Sew the trim around the edge of the Quick Fuse sheet by hand or follow the machine sewing directions below.

Machine sewing is a lot faster than sewing by hand but it's a little tricky to sew a large panel onto one side of a ready made tote bag.

Leave enough loose trim to sew along the left vertical side. [ The left side will be the last side sewn. ]

Pin the trim in place along the top and right vertical side, carefully mitering at the corner.

Start sewing at the top left with a couple of backstitches to lock the thread. Sew along the top; then down the right side and across the bottom almost to the left side, again carefully mitering the corner.

You will need to bunch up the bag as shown above to machine sew the bottom edge.

Before turning the last corner, pin the loose tail of trim along the left side, mitering the top corner and creating a mock miter to cleanly finish the bottom final corner. Cut off any excess and machine stitch to the left bottom corner, then up the left side. Backstitch to lock, cut and trim loose threads.