Sweet Little Tote

Look at this sweet little tote I made!  Good news--you can make one too, because the pattern is FREE from http://www.wendigratz.blogspot.com/.  The name of the website is Shiny Happy World, and I love it because it is, well, shiny and happy!  Wendi Gratz is on a mission to teach people to sew, and many of her patterns are free, and all of them are cute.

The pattern for this tote is well-written and easy to follow.  It is easy to sew, too, because there are no pesky pockets or zippers to contend with!  The pattern also tells you at which point to add your own decoration, so I found this kitty embroidery pattern at Urban Threads ( http://www.urbanthreads.com/).  I downloaded it, printed it, traced it onto the fabric using a light box (but you can hold it up to a window) and embroidered it using the stem stitch and two strands of embroidery floss.  The whole project took less than 2.5 hours from start to finish, including finding and adding the embroidery. 

This tote is small, only 7.5" tall and 8.5" wide--just big enough for your lunch, or your latest small sewing project, or your child's coloring book and crayons.  Wouldn't it make a nice gift, filled with goodies?

Speaking of filling it with goodies, my friend Susan and I are planning to organize a swap on Craftster in the near future called "Craft this Tote and Fill It!"  I can't wait to see all the different fabrics and embellishments everyone comes up with for their totes.  If you want to join in the fun, just sign up at Craftster at http://www.craftster.org