 Hey guys, so after much questions, I'm going to share some of my thoughts on this bag. So the original pattern for this bag is called a sew-together bag by Sew Demented and I will link it in the description below. I'm not going to give you full instructions because that's not fair to the creator of the pattern, but I do have a document of notes that state how to make this version because this is an enlarged bigger version of the original bags only about, I don't know, two-thirds maybe of this size. It also doesn't have these zippers like this. I think the zippers only stop about here which means when you open the bag it only opens like this. Now I really wanted the bank to open all the way so right away I saw a hack from someone else and I don't honestly remember who but it said to extend the zipper all the way around and attach it down here and if you do that then the bag opens flat but if you do that then the bag opens flat like this. There we go. Which is much more handy. Now it was originally designed for a sewing notions bag but I right away knew it would be applicable and useful for a number of different things. I really wanted it for a daily drawing bag downstairs although I have an art big art room upstairs. I do a fair amount of daily drawing and writing downstairs at night after dinner and so I don't want to have to drag stuff all over creation in my house so I wanted a bag of a minimal amount of things to work with downstairs. I could just live downstairs and this has worked really well. The problem for me with this bag is that when company comes over I usually have so much stuff in it although I do try to keep it at a minimum that I just I can't get it closed all the way. I actually had to empty it to get it for this video right now because there was just no way it was going to close all the way. So I made the pattern bigger and again what I did to make it bigger are in the notes and the document which is linked below for you all. I staggered the height of the pockets rather than having them all be at the same height. I put pen loops with elastic on the front of each pocket before I sew the pockets together as part of the assembly of the pockets when you get to the point where you're attaching the zipper and the lining. The next thing I did was put a decorative strip of fabric here and then pen loops. Each pocket has about 12 pen loops. I also put two buttons back here and then two elastic bands on this back part and that makes it so this back part doesn't lie flat and it creates sort of a fourth pocket for which usually I have my journals in and the front part is a landing pad for things like my eyeglasses. So that up until now has worked really well but now it's time to make a different kind of bag because when company comes over I just can't, I can't do this, it won't close and even if when it does close I would like something that I can just grab with maybe handles and put on the floor or put in the closet. Otherwise it's on the couch next to me and again when company comes over that's inconvenient because then there's one less place for people to sit. I don't need it to close completely like this one does because I never take this bag traveling. This is not a travel bag for me. When I'm traveling I do like something that closes completely because I'm a germaphobe before the pandemic so that's a thing. I also wouldn't want to take a chance of losing like my favorite ballpoint pen or anything although that's funny because it's a big crystal but anyway. So it doesn't need to close all the way and I kind of would like something I could just like zip straight up with handles so I decided to redesign the bag and I've got it almost done and we are going to cut away some clips of how I did this and what I've done and how I've gotten to the point where I'm at right now and we're ready to finish the bag right about here. Hey guys can you see me? Oh cow I can't even tell. Yeah there we go. I know this is a weird camera angle and I apologize for that but it's the best angle to see what's on the table and that's the most important thing. So I decided to redesign my sew together bag to be something that was more like an open top tote that still opened flat or mostly flat at least on one side aka the front what I'm going to call the front side but that permanently stayed straight up on the back side where the journals are going to be and then when a company came over I could just zip the sides up do a couple buttons or snaps and lift it up by the handles. So I'll explain what these are in just a minute. This is the base for my new bag. So up until this point it's the same basic bag as a sew together bag and again I am going to list the pattern in the description below along with my notes for my original enlargement of said pattern. I also in my notes have a video link. She has a series of videos on how to assemble the bag that is really helpful if you watch before you get started. When I started working on this tote bag version up until this point again it was the same basic bag. The addition being I added this pocket this will be the front side and I added these pockets because I have usually like jelly roll pens and stuff that I use that aren't going to fit up here necessarily and I want this additional pocket for pen space and then when it closes up it'll be like this the sides will zip and there'll be two handles and I can just lift it up and put it next to the sofa on the floor or in a closet when company comes over which you know right now it's COVID so not a lot of companies coming over but our we have a little bubble of people that we see which includes our daughter and son-in-law and you know when they come over and the dog is here she wants to sit on the couch and my drawing bag's in the way so yeah anyway I designed these two so what so you get to this point this is still the basic bag so the next step is going to be attaching a handle so you're going to take the inside which isn't sewn to the outside yet and I'm going to take some of this strapping material I have this giant roll because I used to do a lot of tote bags for sale for arts and craft shows and I was an artist cooperative space and stuff so there's a way to do this that will give your bag more strength you could just attach straps to either end but then it's only being held by here and that's if you have a lot of stuff in your bag and it gets a little bit on the heaviest side that's a lot of weight to put on just two or four points of stitching if you take your strapping which we're going to do and we're going to lay it out put that there I'm going to lay it out here on this um the outer part of the of the bag figure out how long I want the straps which I don't think I wanted them to be very long make sure they're even ish and cut a piece that's like this like a giant oval stitch it down here and here that's a lot of stitching places to hold the weight of whatever's in the bag I would stop to sew a square and an x at the top of both of these long rows of stitching to give it extra holding power I'm going to do that and then I'll talk to you about the sides of the bag which were those pieces that you saw at the beginning I'll be back okay so we've got our handles on and I didn't sew them all the way from to the top I'm about three inches from the edge because I really think I want the handles to not be this color I think I want to cover them with some of the fabric um nothing wrong with this you could leave them like this I think I want to take the extra step and take some scraps of fabric and I think the blue and I think I want to cover them with fabric so I'm going to measure how long the handle is not going all the way down the three inches maybe going down one or two inches and make a tube to cover the handle and and then I'll be right back I have some scraps that might just work so I'll be back boobs to cover the straps need to be about 22 inches this little scrap was not big enough but I have this little bit left the strapping is about an inch yeah it's an inch so I need about two and a half inches and use this how long is this it's 12 this is 12 so it's at least 24 it's more than that so that'll work strips straight and I think I'm going to cut them about three inches that gives me room to play with I have two of those then we're going to take each one of these pieces close the cover on that so I don't cut myself um and we're going to press them about a quarter of an inch to a half an inch on each side and we're going to press it like that and then we're going to press it in flat and half again so that we can at the sewing machine really easily just do this and then sew the edge up here like that all right so I'm going to get some pressing done I wouldn't I wouldn't press it in more than a quarter of an inch if you want to press it in more than that then I would cut it wider all right I'll I'm going to do that I'll be back once you have the bias tape edging made sort of a bias tape ish edging only it's cut on the straighter grain because that's what I had anyway so this is what it looks like pressed unfolded and then I'm taking my strapping I'm lifting up one of the short folded little edges and wrapping it around the strapping so that when I machine stitch this edge together oops I see I'm wrapping it around the strapping I'm tucking it in make sure I get that one here and then bringing this this way so that when I sew this edge together there's no chance of any strapping showing I'm using these Wonder Clips I got asked about these last night they're called Wonder Clips they're by the Sewing Notions Company Clover and you can get them at any sewing store is going to have them and of course Amazon and all of that I would say if you're buying them at a sewing and or craft store if they have coupons get it get them with a coupon they are a tad a little bit pricey but they work really well and they work for this kind of project sewing project they work better than any other kind of clip that you might use binder clips are a bit unwieldy and can be challenging to use for this so they come in two sizes that I know of they may come in more than that these are the little ones there there is a really big one I have a few of might need to break those out later so anyway I'm going to get these wrapped and I'm going to get this sewn I have to figure out what I'm going to do with this top edge because covering the edges in the way the pattern originally says won't work because these straps are in the way I have an idea brewing in the back of my mind but I think before I do that or do anything with that we'll work on getting the sides attached which I have to make longer because I made them too short for it to open nice and flat the way I want so I am going to get these clipped get them sewn and we will move on to the next thing and I'll be right back so we've got our handles on and now my dilemma of course is how to finish the top edge when I finish the bag but before we get to that I'm going to figure that out last if I have to rip end up having to rip the stitches out that's fine the next thing we need to do is we need to figure out the size so when I cut the sides they're too short and it doesn't open flat so I'm going to actually add some pieces to the bottom of the sides I have a little bit of zipper and I really want to use all the zipper that I have and actually now that I'm thinking about it sewing the top together yeah I think that's actually going to work the way I'm thinking in my head with the handles anyway so what we're going to do here is we're going to use some of our scraps and we're going to cut a green strip like we did with the blue so we're going to cut a green strip and I'm going to sew it here we have this piece of blue that already has some fusible fleece on it it's going to go here I'm going to cut a piece of the floral fabric that'll be sewn to the back side and then everything will get flipped this way and top stitched across across and down to extend out these sides to the maximum length because I did all this work on the sides because I need like another like inch at the bottom that's a lot of this is not going to show so it wasn't too concerned how messy my stitching was necessarily it's not going to show it's going to be way at the bottom of the bag and a lot of it's going to cut off I'm going to cut off a semi circle like this I would recommend if you're going to make this tote bag that you cut these pieces about this big anyway and then spend some time clipping it to the sides and clipping it around I want to cut this off I want it to be smooth you don't have to do that you could pleat it or take a tuck down here but I will tell you there's a lot of layers of fabric and batting here on this edge and without this extra piece this is sometimes difficult to sew so you want to cut off as much as you can I think I will try to give you some measurements of what I cut off in the meantime our handles are on I've got the inside pin to the outside I cut off one two three four five about five and a half inches off of the side piece in the back because it extended like this so that when the bag was open the front would be flat issue it's not going to be completely flat it's going to be more like that when the when the sides are on but the back would stand relatively upright because I don't need it to open flat because that's where my journals are going to be so I cut that off you're going to want to again play with this and get it pinned and adjusted to be what you want it to be right now I'm going to go down all the sides both sides and sew the two pieces together I have the handles tucked in between the layers because I'm not sewing I'm going to leave this open at least for now until I figure out how to trim it all right I'm going to get my inside sewn to my outside and I'll be back okay once you get the shape of the side piece right and you may have to fiddle with it a little bit then clip it in or pin it in and we are going to sew the sides to the body of the bag now when you do this you need to make sure you've got a good strong sewing machine that you're using a really sharp denim or even maybe an upholstery needle there's a lot of fabric here and some spots are thicker than others go slow don't rush and take your time I'm going to go get that done I'll be back okay hopefully I did this right we'll find out in a minute so I've got the sides sewn on they seem semi even you're gonna it's going to take a lot of manipulation to get this sewn on down here and around the curve and everything you can see there's little bit of leeway with the pattern piece that I'm going to of course I've traced the finished size for you the finished size includes the zipper you have some manipulation room but hopefully I did it correctly let's unzip it and find out as you can tuck the sides in like this there's no spots where I didn't catch the fabric which is more important so make sure that you caught the fabric everywhere which I did there's one actually one little tuck right there and I'm gonna I'm gonna just leave it so this is our almost finished bag so that's pretty good I have plenty of room for my journals and my pens and now I'm going to be able to zip it up and move it when company comes over so and I did it again so I'm going to I'm going to what am I going to do I'm going to fix the zipper pull again I'm going to trim the excess seam allowance around here and then I'm going to iron the trim and then I'm going to be done for the day and I'll work on it some more tomorrow so I'll be back okay I wanted to bring you guys up to date so I got the edging around the two sides just like I said I was going to I machine stitched it with the raw edge towards the open edge of the fabric and then I wrapped it around and hand tacked it down with a blind stitch if you're watching this clip you already saw a little clip of me doing that so I got both sides done now I'm working on the top we're almost done so because we have the straps here again normally I would do like I did here and just wrap it around but the straps are in the way so we I took a little piece of the blue fabric and just wrapped it around this side and this side either side of the strap and then I've pinned it together and then we're going to take a piece of the green here and do just like we did here I'm going to fold over the edge next to the strap on either side though so that's tucked in and then I'll machine stitch it down and then wrap it around probably wrap it around this way and hand stitch it down and then we'll do from here to here here to here and repeat that on the other side of the bag I think that's how that's going to work maybe and then we have to do something about tabs tabs on here so I want to put like a button or something I have more turtle buttons so I'm going to get the top edged and then we'll think about the buttons and I'll be back I just wanted to show you really quick and by the way I'm watching Shannon Greens live in the background between takes while I'm creating the bag so for the piece of green trim that's going to go between the straps on either side this is the piece and I cut it to fit between I made the little blue pieces at the base of the strap a little wider to allow for some you know leverage I don't have to be exact with my measurements but what I did with a little piece of trim rather than leave the edges raw was I opened it pressed it in about a half an inch and then repressed it back again in half now we're going to stitch this down and then when I go to hand stitch the trim on I'll wrap it all around like that and stitch it down hand stitch it down like I did on the sides and I'll also sew the two little blue pieces to the strap and to each other when I'm doing that also so I'm going to get to it I'll be back okay before we sew this whole mess down this is what it looks like so I've got a strip from here to the end of the zipper on the side between and then out from the end of the strap to the zipper on the other side we're going to sew all the way around and sew these down ideally I'm going to get right to the bottom of this blue in between but we'll see you know or on the stitch line we'll see what happens I am going to sew from this front side which is not what I normally do usually stitch it actually I might want to switch these around and no I'm going to sew it from this side and I'll flip it over and hand stitch it on the inside that's usually the opposite of what I do for whatever reason but do what works for you but I'm going to stitch it from this side just because I want any stitching that's right here to be sort of semi okay and not super messy I don't care if it's messy on the inside but yeah so we're going to get it stitched down and then get it flipped over and hand tacked and then we'll be back to see what we're going to do for a side button closure at the top and also I was playing with this and pinning it last night and I think I'm going to tack like right here I have it pinned but I think I'm going to tack this right here so that when it's open most of the flexibility goes to the front pocket and not any to the back because I don't care if the back doesn't open all the way I want it to stand up but I want the front to be able to do this so we're going to hand tack that down plus bonus that'll give me an extra little pocket on each side it's a good thing all right I'm going to get that done and I'll be back okay you guys I'm so excited it's done now I know this video and the just the distractions that's that's a that's a Fred is my husband the instructions are sort of haphazard at best but I literally was redesigning the pattern on the fly as we're filming this I didn't make like a mock-up bag before I started filming this is the bag it's probably the only one like this I will ever make but if you decide to take the hints and tips and inspiration from this video and make a traditional sew together bag or a large size one like this one or a tote bag I would love to see and if you would share what you do you can tag me in a post on Instagram or Facebook if you're in one of my art groups on Facebook a life of art and self-expression or my creative year you can tag me in a post there and post pictures there I would love to see what you do if you do a video like message me the link or email me the link because I'd love to go watch your video and see how you do this but anyway this is the new bag and I'm going to fill it up on camera so it's all done I did take and it's not super neat but I did some zigzag on either side of the handle here to just sort of close off the green and make sure it's really attached to this blue strip now I could have done it a lot neater of course and I could have hand stitched it it would not look nearly so messy but I really just wanted my bag done and I'm okay with this you know at some point if I wanted to put a little decal there or a um a yoke fabric yoyo or do a little embroidery you know at some point I I can I'm not super concerned about it though it's really the only thing on the bag that's like not you know compulsively neat in my opinion but anyway it's all done I did add a little this little tab with a buttonhole literally I got to tell you guys this is the first time and these buttons are a little fiddly because they're shaped like turtles but it's going to hold and it's not going to come off but this is the first time I've done a machine buttonhole literally in years maybe a decade or more because I don't really garment construct anymore and when I do I don't do buttonholes like I don't I know I never do buttonholes anymore so I had to sort of to be honest read this instruction instructions and refresh my memory how to do a buttonhole but this just ensures that the zipper is not going to pull open and if it does the two sides aren't going to fall apart I may at some point put an elastic loop on the zipper pull and just like when the zipper is up just wrap it around the button and then button the button just to ensure that the zipper doesn't pull down by itself but anyway so I did that I love the turtle buttons I got them before anybody asks I've had them a long time I think I got them at Britex in San Francisco I think that's where they're from I did so this part um shut and I put another turtle button right there where I sewed it to just kind of cover up the stitches and that's the back where the journals are going to lay and then this is the front and when it's on the sofa it's going to be like that how cute is that we're going to fill it up I'll be right back it's perfectly and it's going to be great easy to to wrap up and pick up when people come over and keep all my stuff contained and also provide me with a nice workspace when I'm downstairs doing my drawing I love it um that's it for today I'm I'm going to catch up my notes before I post this video live so the document will be linked below which includes the original um uh notes on how to make a bigger version of the sew together bag uh in this size and again you just want to cut a really long zipper um so that you have these two loops on the side and you want to double pull zipper ideally which is what this is and then you can just pull it all the way open and it lies completely flat um if you want to tackle the tote bag I'm going to make some notes and measurements on the pattern pieces as I can um along with this video I'll link it in the document um because there's going to be some stuff that's just I'm not going to be sure how to write it down if you decide to make one of these um and um or you improve on it at all change the design I would love to see what you do so please please let me know um I think that's it for right now so if you have questions comments or concerns leave them down below you can also uh email me of course and if you're in one of my facebook groups you can message me over there tag me in a post um don't forget to like share and subscribe stay safe stay healthy stay creative and go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later don't forget to support the free content if you can not only on my channel but all your favorite creatives they all usually have an Etsy store or patreon or something so including myself but so check out the video description for relevant links ways to support and all that jazz and then go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later bye guys