Christmas Making

I made several tote bags for Christmas presents this year. The first two were commissioned by my mother-in-law for her sisters. We had a fun time shopping for fabrics while we were in North Carolina this past summer.

One of her sisters likes bright pinks and flowers.

Fun flowers and a pop of pink!

Her other sister leans more towards blues and greens.

Is that some piping between the blue & green? Why yes, I think it is!

I really enjoyed making these tote bags for my aunts-in-law! I have been enjoying making the totes, and I still want to make more.

I've learned from each one. Piecing techniques and quilting techniques are among the things I've practiced. I've worked on adding trims and piping. I've experimented with handle length to get a good shoulder tote, and hopefully got some that are a good length to be carried on a walker. I've used my surger on a lot of the interior seams, and I feel like that has mostly worked well for me. I even added pockets when I worked on the tote for my brother.

In the next projects, I want to add more pockets, and some loops to hook key rings to. I want to add zippers as well, to some. That may be as a closure at the top, or it may be in an interior pocket. I've been looking at some of the zippered pouches and clutches and I really like the way those zippers look. I've also seen a technique for a covered zipper on a pillow back that I think would work well for a side pocket zipper.

I've got a tub of fabrics, which is brimming over, all intended for tote bags!