klswift

there are many free patterns at allfreesewing.com and allpeoplequilt.com (they have many bags, purses and other items). To make it easier to launder, you should not line it and either double stitch your seams or french seam them. To make them sturdy, make a continuous strap and loop it under the bottom, up the side, make the strap and then go down again to create the second strap. This allows for strength under the bag and not just pulling on the straps. If you are having trouble figuring out the 'boxing the corners', push a cereal box into the bottom of a pillow case and see how it forces the corner to fold. If you stitched that line, it would 'box the corner'. Most of the bags that I make, I cover a rectangle of plastic needlepoint canvas with fabric and use this as an insert into the bag to create a flat sturdy bottom. This can be removed for washing. (Extra tip, for a quick gift, make some plain tote bags but attach your extra orphan quilt blocks to the outside. Folks think it is wonderful and you have a way to get rid of your extras, your try-outs and just the ones you didn't like !)