MY VERSION OF KI'S TOTE

In an earlier post, Ki from Junk Revolution is giving away a tote bag. Me, I hardly ever win anything, so with that in mind, I decided to my own version of a tote. I have had alot of people give me their old clothes. I have bags and bags of old clothes. Well, I take those old clothes and cut them up to make rag rugs out of them. The oldest recycling in history. I purchased a Union 36 loom a couple of years ago to make my own rag rugs and when friends and family found out, they started cleaning out their closets. Now they're all in my attic and every corner of the house. So instead of using them all for rag rugs why not make my own tote.

About a year or so ago, I bought a whole bunch of fabric samples from JoAnn Fabrics and they seemed to be the right size for a tote. So I got out a couple of samples and sewed them together for a sample tote. Very little cutting, just sewing. Well, the fabric is pretty thick and hard on my 25 year old sewing machine. So off to my stash of clothes. I found several 'scrub' uniforms and started with those. Alot of cutting and mixing and matching but I think they turned out ok.

Here's my fabric sample one. I didn't change the thread in the machine to match it. I was just using this as a sample tote anyway. It's nice and thick but not too heavy. I may try to do another one but like I said above, it's kind of hard on my machine. It really needs to have a lining in it tho. The material is fraying. I used a zig zag stitch, so it shouldn't fall apart from the fraying.

These two are made from 'scrubs'. The darker one was the second one I made. I was pleased at how it turned out so I tried another one and that's where the kids/pink one came from. This one I lined the inside with the pink. The scrubs are pretty thin and that's why I decided to line that one. I am pleased with that, too. I think I am going to line the others from now on.

This one kind of fell together. This one is made out of scrub bottoms. Each leg had a pocket so I cut them up so I could have a pocket on each side of the tote. Sorry you can't see them in the picture. I'm not done with this one yet. I plan on adding other things to it. Not sure what yet, but probably applique or something like that.

I've got an old chenille bedspread that I would like to try to make a tote out of. It will probably be hard on my machine, too, but I'd like to give it a try.

Hope you enjoyed my version of Ki's tote.

Cindy (tinta)