Fluffy Ruffly Tote

Lately I have been in love with several different craft blogs.  While drooling over all the adorable tutorials available, I found a Fluffy Ruffly Tote tutorial on Tatertots and Jello.  So cute, so easy!

Supplies:

Craft Tote

Fabric (for ruffles and optional flower)

Thread

Cutting Board 

Straight Edge Board

Rotary Knife

Sewing Machine 

Scissors 

First cut 5- 5" by 51" strips of fabric.  

Next hem one strip of fabric on all four sides and hem the rest on both short sides and one long side (you won't see the raw edges, but for less fraying you might want to hem all four sides on all the strips of fabric).  Pin the sides down if you need help with holding the hem- I did!

Now you will need to run a basting stitch along one long side of each strip of fabric.  (Basting stitch- a straight, long stitch.  I set my machine to a 4 stitch length).  

If you have trouble basting on a machine like I do, you can use a needle and a thread.  Just run a fast stitch along the top of each strip of fabric.  Pull the thread to create the desired ruffled look or simply pleat and sew as you go.  

I'm not going to lie, I just pleated my strips of fabric as I sewed it to the tote.  Be sure that you remove the removable portion of your sewing machine when you sew the ruffled strips to the craft tote so that the tote will fit and glide around as you sew. It took me an entire day to figure that out -had to ask Mom.

  

Now sew four ruffled strips to the tote starting at the bottom of the craft tote.  The ruffles need to be placed on the tote so that the ruffles look layered-fully covering all the raw edges if you did not hem all four sides.  

  

The tutorial didn't include a fabric insert for the tote, but I made one for mine with the polka dot fabric I previously made a very cute fabric flower out of.  All I did was cut the fabric around the shape of the craft tote an 1" or 2" bigger.  

Because my tote expands at the bottom, I also cut out a bottom panel.  I traced around the bottom of an open tote 1" or 2" bigger.  

(Note the pointed ends, this is important!)

As you can see I pinned the bottom to the tote sides as if you would be able to open the insert like the tote. If you would like to add pockets to the insert leave the sides unpinned for now.  

For the pockets I just cut the fabric a little bigger than my cell phone and then the other is wider for other items.  Now align the oppposite sides of the fabric together, sew three sides of the pocket together and then hem both fabric panels at the top (do not sew the tops together).  Pin pockets onto the inside of the tote insert and then sew directly onto the insert stitching around three sides.  In the picture below you can see that only one side of the open top is sewn to the insert (leaving the opening for the pocket).  

  

Sew the bottom of the tote insert to the side of the tote insert, quickly stitch up the two sides and hem the two tops of the tote insert (leaving the top open).  

Then I carefully pinned and pleated the top ruffled strip to the tote along the very top of the tote. Trying to sew with all those pins was a little ridiculous. I had to re-pleat a few areas as I sewed the last ruffled strip to the top of the tote to cover up the tiny blood drops (Ouch!).  

Then I had created a matching fabric flower to add some girlie embellishment.  I cut a 4" by 16" piece of fabric.  Folded the fabric in half long ways, and then took a short side and folded the top corner down to the middle of the strip of fabric and then one more fold bringing the same short side of the fabric in an inch or so (this creates the center of the flower).  Then I wrapped and pleated the fabric around the flower center until I got the desired flower look.  Then I stitched the flower secure and added it to the 

ruffled tote.  

At this point I realized the handles didn't match, so I cut the craft tote handels off.  I wanted longer straps for my purse, so i cut 4" by the desired strap length.  Then folded all the sides in about an inch and sewed them secure.  I then Folded the 2" piece together creating a long 1" strap and sewed to secure.  Finally I stitched them to the same spots as the previous handels were.  Make sure the straps lay the way you want them to and are the same length. 

Finally, it was time to sew in my tote insert.  I ran a quick stitch with my machine over the top of tote and  called it good.  (Notice this picture the handles had not been changed out yet, I took the pictures out of order because I changed my mind :) oops!)

The finished product was PERFECT! (If I made another one I will probably hem all the sides-less fraying.)

I love this new addition to my purse collection, she is so fun to "tote" around!....I'm hilarious! :)

Love,

Amanda