Barbie Tote

L got barbies for her birthday. Before she only had one, so I didn't have a storage problem. But now she has 5, plus accessories. I was going to go out and buy another plastic bin, but because of the budget this month I was going to have to wait till March. Then I realized I can make something. I was going to make a fabric covered box with all the cardboard packaging there was, but that went out with the recycle trash can. That's when I decided I can make a bag. L and C love their bags. L calls them purses and C says they are for supplies.

Here is the fabric that was just left over from some blankets I made a couple years ago.

I love the purple one in the middle, but there isn't much. The strawberries are cute to. There was enough of that for part of the bag, so I mixed it with white and for the inside did the pink with lady bugs and butterfly's on the right.

I cut out 2 rectangles 12 x 16 for the front and back of the strawberries, then the side panels and bottom panel. The sides are white, 16 x 6 and the bottom is 12 x 6. This is all in inches. I cut out the exact same sizes for the inside (lining) pieces. 

There was some extra white that I decided to make pockets with. I sewed those onto the lining first. I have no idea how you are supposed to do pockets, so I do whatever I'm in the mood for that day. For these, I folded down the top and zig zagged across. Then I pinned the pocket to the lining with a pleat in the bottom and I zig zagged around the sides so I wouldn't have to fold under the edges. They turned out nice and there are no messy edges.

To make the top gather, I sewed a piece of elastic on by stretching it across and zig zagging over it. A surger would make sewing so much more fun. :-)

The next step was to piece it all together and sew. I pieced in a funny order for the lining as you can see. The strawberries are the small sides of the lining and the pink are the big sides.

For the outside, I did it in what I think is the correct order. I sewed all the sides together.

Then I pinned and sewed on the bottom.

After that, I sewed straps. I took 2 strips of white, folded it, sewed the edge and flipped it right side out.

I put the lining and the outside of the bag together, right sides together and slipped the straps in like this.

oops! This picture (below) is wrong. It should have right sides together. I think I was just looking at it and took a picture. So you would have right sides together and put the straps in. Sew all the way around leaving one of the small sides unsewed for the opening to flip it.

See the opeing...

Now iron the seams and top stitch around the top edge closing that little opening. I love top stitching. It just makes it look much more finished. I pin my opening closed to make sure it doesn't slip around.

So here is the little strawberry, barbie tote.

This is the inside with the pockets. One is gathered and the other isn't. I wanted to do them each different.

This little bag took me the time it took my kids to watch 101 Dalmations. It was movie night Saturday night. We do it for the kids once a month with some friends and the adults do game night, but it got canceled due to sick kids. Mine had their hearts set on the movie so I let them watch. So, not too long anyway.