Today’s (re)purposed project uses some of the small strips that I salvaged from the vintage quilt. Not only am I reusing some of the patchwork but mostly some canvas from a previous project. This series is all about (re)purposing what I have to work with. I really only bought thread, buttons, interfacing for most of the projects, and some of that I had on hand as well.
This great sturdy tote will be good to carry a lot of things. I would even use it as a beach bag. Canvas is such a tightly woven fabric that sand would not be able to work its way through the fibers. Because of the tight weave, it doesn’t absorb water like a looser woven fabric making it a good choice for the beach.
I had a generous amount of canvas to reuse, so a large tote it is. Honestly I don’t remember the exact dimensions and I have already delivered it to my friend, but I would guess about 16 by 18 inches or larger.
The construction is basic. Front and back are sewn together with the bottom corners boxed. Same routine was used for the lining after some pockets are sewn in for convenience. Notice that the lining I used is the backing from the wedding ring quilt and used to line the zipper bag. Nothing wasted is the motto.
The lining is placed inside the tote wrong sides together, the top of the canvas is clean finished, turned over the top of the lining, and top stitched in place.
The handles are canvas also – just a long strip of canvas folded over and top stitched closed. After marking the placement of the handles on the tote, I simply top stitched them in place using some reinforcement techniques. You can see the markings from my blue water soluable marker.
Prior to adding the lining to the tote, I made the patchwork roses from strips of the old quilt. They are hand stitched in place using a running stitch and then topped with a button in the center.
Viola’!
Would you use this as a beach bag?
Wishing you a sunny day, Faith
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