Another Tote

Yes, I have a tote obsession right now.  This one I made from a man's L T-shirt.  The local thrift store has T-shirts for $.99 and they were 25% off.  The lining fabric was from my stash.  Total cost out of pocket right now for this tote - $.75 plus tax.  Yay!  And this is only because my dear husband was not willing to part with any of his Ohio State T-shirts for my project this time.

Cut a piece from the front & back of the shirt to the desired tote size.  I cut 15" x 15" pieces to make a 13" x 13" x 3" finished tote.  Let me say, however, that I really dislike working with the stretchiness of knit.  I am going to have to get used to it and practice I guess.

I ironed medium-weight fusible interfacing to the front and back T-shirt tote pieces.  It was a bit tricky and you can see I wrinkled the front a smidge in the middle of the logo.  Grrr.  Then I cut matching lining pieces from the other fabric - same dimensions.  I ironed fusible fleece to those for padding, but I think next time I'll just use interfacing also - maybe some heavyweight so it's a bit stiffer.

I cut the pocket piece from a sleeve and the tote handles are the side seam areas that were left after cutting out the large pieces from the shirt.  They're a bit short - I'm going to have to work on that next time. I didn't pad the handles for this one, I just used some interfacing inside them to help stiffen up the knit.

Overall, I'm fairly happy.  I'm thinking that I need to cut up an old UT (that's University of Toledo, not University of Tennessee) shirt from college and make one for my alma matter.

If I get around to it this week (things are a bit crazy - my youngest has a surgery consult this morning during my oldest's ballet class, for example - I'm not looking forward to surgery on a barely 2 year old, even if it is for something routine like a hernia behind her belly button).

Well, I'm off to today's races.  Hope you've been inspired to try making your own upcycled tote from these posts!

Upcycled Tote

Here's a tote I made last night.  It started as a man's size L button down shirt (thank you to my husband Mark for his donation to this project) and some ancient quilting fabric handed down to me from my mom (only used about 3/4 yds of the 7 yds I have - more pink projects on the way I think!)

I basically just cut the shirt apart at the seams, cut the top yoke and collar off and then used the fabric to cut out the pieces of my tote like I would on regular fabric.  I just made sure that the front piece of the tote had the buttons and front shirt pocket on it.  I also used no-sew hem tape and ironed it in between the buttons on the front shirt placket so that it didn't gap and show the interfacing.

I ironed Pellon 978 fusible fleece to the gray shirt pieces to give it a bit of padding, and then on the pink lining pieces I just ironed on midweight fusible interfacing.  The inside has two pockets - one that is about 9x9 (finished size) that holds a couple of diapers and travel wipes really well and another that is about 6x9 that holds small stuff like gum, cell phone, ipod, etc.  The outside pocket of the bag is the pocket of the shirt, which I embellished with pink grosgrain ribbon (I ironed this one at the end with no-sew hem tape - next time I will sew it on before assembling the bag) and a faux bow.

The tote is modeled after the "Charm Party Tote" pattern from Quilts Illustrated, just for dimensions, basically. I think I'd honestly like the tote to be a bit taller and narrower so that more buttons show - I think I'll offset the buttons to the side of the tote if it's taller.

Not bad for a first attempt I think.  Right now I'm on a kick of converting men's dress shirts into other things - girls peasant dresses, totes, and I'm thinking maybe even a shirt for myself sometime soon.

I'm linking this up to the "Get Your Craft On" day at Today's Creative Blog, "Tip Me Tuesday" at Tip Junkie, and Do It Yourself Day at A Soft Place to Land

Here's what my girls did this morning - the box from our new bathroom vanity is now a house.  Kate ate her breakfast in the house.  Claire screamed that she couldn't also fit in the house at the same time.  Sigh.