Ahh… do you feel that Oklahoma/most of the central US? That, my friends, is the first heat wave of the year! Woo. That’s about as enthusiastic as I can get about the heat. I’m much more of a sweater weather person and I was spoiled by the cooler weather last week!!
Back to the heat… 🙁
I finally broke down and bought some oil cloth today at the craft store. Okay, it wasn’t THAT expensive. It was on clearance so I don’t feel that bad about splurging a little. I’m going on a cruise later this year to Central America (or as the cruise line likes to call it “Western Caribbean”) and I thought this fun “splash resistant” fabric would be perfect!
I say splash resistant lightly, mostly because I don’t think you could submerge the bag half way in water and everything would be dry. I might try it for fun but not test it with my nice camera or anything inside. Because that would be bad… BUT this will be great for the pool deck and lounging around outside!
I tried really REALLY hard to follow the tutorial that I went off ya’ll but it didn’t quite happen. I ended up yelling at my seam ripper. It wasn’t pretty. A little advice before you get started if you are sewing oil cloth for the first time: go slow, your fabric will get stuck on occasion and don’t be afraid to use pins sparingly. Like I said; I wouldn’t submerge this tote under water so it’s okay to have a little hole here or there.
Supplies:
Oil Cloth – 1 to 2 yards depending on how big you want your bag to be
Coordinating thread
Sewing machine
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Time: 1.5 hours (depending on how fast you work)
How to do it:
You will cut six pieces – (2) 18″x18″ panels, (2) 12″x18″ pocket panels, and (2) 4″x60″ straps
Sew a 1/2″ seam across the top of all four panels/pockets
Take your 4 panels and put them all right side together panel-pocket-pocket-panel, like your bag is inside out. Sew across the bottom a 1/2″ seam
Lay the panels flat with the right side facing up.
Take your 2 strap pieces and sew them together to make a loop. Be sure not to twist it!
Once it is sew together into one big loop, lay it flat and fold along the piece both sides into the middle and then in half so you have one 1″ think strap.
Once you have it all folded down, match the seams of where the strap was sewn to the bottom seam of the bag, CAREFULLY pin to the bag.
Starting from the bottom seam you will go around the strap twice- once one the outer side and once on the inner to make the strap sturdier.
Once the strap is sewn in place, put the right sides of the bag together and sew the side up.
Flip right side out and you’re done!