mom-6

Awhile back somebody mentioned using the blue totes from Wal-Mart as the basis for a quilted tote.

That idea intrigued me and I have done one, but am not totally happy with the way it turned out.

If you've also done one of these, please share your helpful hints on making one.

Did you take the Wal-Mart tote apart or just line it and add an outer fabric?

How did you do the quilting if you did inside pockets?

earlylace

someone showed me how to do it, but it was for a crocheted bag, but I don't remember now how it was done now.

mygirl66

I have used the bags from Jo-Anns as a pattern before, and used denim to make the bag. It turned out pretty good, but I think I made the straps too big.

thequilterslink

http://tipnut.com/35-reusable-grocer...free-patterns/ here are 35 grocery bag patterns,maybe something here for you.

Yarn or Fabric

I have a huge list of reusable grocery bags and tote bags all nicely organized on my web site...
You are welcome to go and find one.
For market bags, I use the one from Joann's site. It's quick and easy.
For singlet bags, I use an adjusted tutorial from Craftster (I don't like the way she did the handles so I did my own tutorial to make them and put it on Craftster but that tutorial got burried.

http://yarn-or-fabric.weebly.com/

Kellie G

I have several quilted quilt squares that were handed down to me that my grandmother made many years ago, she is 97 now. I took the square, folded the edges in approx 1/2" and sewed it all around the edges to the front of the bag, covering the logo. You could use any "test" blocks or make some specifically for the bag. I would put a little batting behind it and quilt it to the bag if you want. I also took some of the squares and made a pocket on the front: sew each side and the bottom leaving the top (which I stitched down first) and put a velcro closure on it.

DebraK

Great resource site. Thank you!

mom-6

Thanks for all the cool ideas!

The one I did used the blue reusable tote from Wal-Mart as the 'interfacing'. I did a lining with pockets sorta like in all those cute bow tucks bags everybody likes. The outside and the covering for the handles were home decor fabric. I followed the design of the outer fabric to do some minimal quilting on the upper part of the bag above the pockets.

It wasn't that hard to do, with a couple of exceptions...my first pieces I cut to cover the straps were too narrow as I forgot to allow for the thickness of the strap in addition to the width of the straps. The other oops I had was when quilting the upper portion of the bag I did not have the lining securely pinned down and ended up taking most of it out and redoing it so the lining wasn't wrinkled.

Also because of the way I constructed the bag, the triangular 'flaps' where the bag is squared off at the bottom had to be tucked in and the straight end handstitched closed. I'm going to see if I can come up with a way to do this step before everything is all done so it can be done on the machine.

All in all I think it came out pretty well for being a prototype experiment.

Will try to get a picture for you! As you can see in the second picture my lining is still a bit loose, but I'm going to not worry about it!